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Thomas Livingstone* Mitchell was born at Craigend, Stirlingshire, Scotland, on 15 June 1792, and was baptized three days later.[1] There is some evidence that his parents were neither prosperous nor socially influential; but he was able to obtain, from some source, money for the purchase of a commission and later for his marriage.[2]

[* This name has been variously spelt, but on the certificate of baptism it is shown as above, as it was in his own signature sixty-two years later.]

There is clear evidence in later life that he had received a good education, also some evidence that he had, while quite young, some skill as an artist. On the other hand, there is no evidence that he had, in his early life, experience in surveying which was to be his occupation in the army and his profession in civil life.

His father died when he was still young; just when is not known, but it was before he was nineteen years old. At the age of seventeen he "managed" Rumford Colliery for his uncle Alexander Livingston of Parkhall and rendered a claim for payment for this service.[3] As an early indication of his meticulous care in appraising the value of his services, the claim was for three months and nineteen days at £120 per annum--the amount being £36 9s. 10d.: in making this claim he indicated in plain terms that he had no hope of help or consideration from the person concerned. His father's name was John Mitchell and his mother had been Janet Wilson; he had at least two brothers, Houston and John. Houston will appear later in this story. John became a merchant in Leith and published various works, including Illustrations of the Runic Literature of Scandinavia (1863).[4]

Mitchell's military career will be described in the next chapter. While still a lieutenant, and while engaged in the survey of battle sites in Portugal and Spain, he married, on 10 June 1818, Mary Blunt, the daughter of General Blunt, an English general serving with the Portuguese army.

In connexion with this marriage some items of intrinsic interest deserve to be recorded. Just before the marriage Mitchell serenaded his lady under her window at Lisbon. As an example of the romantic standards of the time, the text was as follows:

A SERENADE[5] Sung to the tune "Tweedside" and accompanied on the guitar by Senor Vigo Rabaglio under Miss Blunt's window at Lisbon, at 2 a.m., May 1818. 1 Can music awake you fair maid Oh! are those bright eyes hid in sleep Ah! hear how in night's sable shade I come to your windows to weep Not the stars now above me displayed Nor Cynthia shining so fair Nor the dew on the orange-flow'r blade Can with thee in brightness compare. 2 Ah! could I but tell you my pain 'Twould ease the sore wound in my breast But to Mary the tale would be vain She sleeps for her heart is at rest Cupid! bear to her pillow my strain A balm to the wound you impart Say a captive is galled with his chain And your arrow strike deep in her heart.

A marriage settlement was drawn up in June 1818.[6] General Blunt was to find £3,000, and Lieutenant Thomas Mitchell £2,000, both amounts to be paid into a trust fund, the interest--but not the capital--o be paid regularly by the trustees to Mitchell and his wife. The deed of settlement contains this paragraph:

In witness thereof the undersigned have drawn up the present writing in good faith, no lawyers being resident to execute the same--the undersigned solemnly pledging themselves to sign any other paper to this effect (the same being necessary) drawn up in regular form, and hereby declaring that they wish this to be read and acted upon as understood by common comprehension and not subject to the equivocations which those versed in law may detect.

Mitchell wrote to tell his mother of this marriage, telling her that Mary Blunt had been born in the West Indies, had gone to England when three years old, was not quite eighteen when she married

and is not much acquainted with the care of a house, but considering her age she does very well. She left boarding school in London about a year ago. The rank of her father and a small settlement, which will however prove sufficient with economy, and my pay, will enable us to live in these trying times.[7]

From time to time in this story there will be glimpses of their private life; but, having regard to the main purpose of this narrative, it will be sufficient to record evidence of the success of this marriage. They had twelve children--six sons, Livingstone, Roderick, Murray, Campbell, Thomas, Richard; and six daughters, Georgina, Maria, Emily, Camilla, Alicia, Blanche.

Mitchell, writing from London during his second visit to England in 1847 to his son Livingstone, said:

Give my affectionate love to Mamma and say I am most anxiously awaiting the "arrivals at Deal" in the papers in hopes of hearing how she is and how all are--I am very lonely here without one of the family with me. God bless you all Livy, Roddy, Emily, Cammy, Milly, Tommy, Alice, Dicky, and Blanche.[8]

Georgina and Maria had died young, Murray was dead at the time this letter was written.

Mitchell's wife, by this time Lady Mitchell, wrote to her husband a letter without address or date, but probably written some time during the 'forties. She began:

My dearest Mitchell: I was made very happy by your affectionate letter, and shall endeavour by every means I can to mitigate the annoyances you meet with in the world.[9]

At one time Lady Mitchell must have suffered a serious illness for Dr (later Sir) Charles Nicholson wrote to her congratulations on her recovery and advised her

to take more care than you are usually wont to do of your health, not to sacrifice your health and strength unnecessarily in domestic concerns.[10]

During the last years of Mitchell's life he lost two of his elder sons, Roderick and Campbell, by tragic deaths. At the end, writing within one year after Mr. Mitchell's death, James Bonwick said of him:

As a parent, a citizen, a gentleman, a scholar, he has embalmed his memory alike in the archives of philosophy, the annals of colonial history, the hearts of his friends, and the sanctity of home.[11]

Nicholson was a medical practitioner in Sydney who was greatly respected: he was a member of the Legislative Council of New South Wales, and Speaker of that Council intermittently between 1846 and 1856; later he became the first President of the Legislative Council of Queensland. He was closely associated with the cause of higher education in New South Wales and took a prominent part in the founding of the University of Sydney. He was knighted in 1852 and made a baronet in 1859.

Bonwick was an educationist who came to Australia in 1841, and was Inspector of Denominational Schools in Victoria from 1856: his hobby was early Australian history. He wrote, and published in 1856, The Discovery and Settlement of Port Phillip. He retired and returned to England, where he spent much time in searching the records in London for despatches and documents relating to the early history of New South Wales. This was the material from which came the Historical Records of New South Wales.

That is enough to give the picture of his private life: there is no hint of scandal, no lapses such as have marked the careers of other men: there was, from all the evidence, a normal home life of affectionate relationships. There were adversities, the death of his sons, the illness of his wife, financial worries--these things come to all men. Through all the shifts and changes of public life, all the irritations and adversities, he kept the friendship of men like Nicholson, Bonwick, and many others--men highly respected in the community; and he had a wife who was a faithful comrade all through his troubled career, and who survived him.

His private life was not unusual, it is his official life which commands attention as part of our national story.