People Australia

George Mitchell,  (1851-1917) tinsmith and trade union official 

Birth: 26 March 1851 at Warmington, Warwickshire, England, son of Richard Mitchell (1813-1885), labourer, and Mary Ann, née Carter (1818-1886). Marriage: 29 December 1875 at Birmingham, Warwickshire, to Sarah Matthews (1846-1912), born in Birmingham. They had four daughters and one son. Death: 14 December 1917 at Balmain Hospital, Balmain, Sydney, New South Wales; late of Annandale Street, Annandale, Sydney, previous residence Balmain. Religion: Congregationalist on immigration document: Anglican on death certificate. 

• Arrived in New South Wales as an assisted immigrant, with wife and eldest daughter, aboard the Pericles on 10 November 1878: occupation given as labourer. By the birth of their only son, Sydney Ernest (1879-1950), the following year, the family was living in Balmain, where George mostly remained for the rest of his life.
• He soon began working as a tinsmith. At a meeting held at Kelly’s Hotel, corner of Pitt and Bathurst Street, Sydney, Mitchell was elected founding honorary secretary of the Tinsmiths’ and Sheet Iron Workers’ Trade Society later known as the NSW Amalgamated Tinsmiths and Sheet-Iron Workers Society.
• Elected delegate of the society to NSW Trades and Labor Council in 1883.
• Was a member of the Cromwell Lodge, No. 12, of the PAFSA [Protestant Alliance Friendly Society of Australasia], Balmain.
• Held office as secretary of the tinsmiths’ society for sixteen years, then later for a further six years. Was the unions’ permanent secretary when he died.
• Cause of death: gastroenteritis, adiposity of heart, syncope and cardiac asthenia — duration: about a week.

Sources
Australian Star, 7 October 1889, 6 October 1890, 5 October 1891; Co-operator (Sydney), 7 October 1912, p 6.