Irwin Mitchell - The Early Years
To quote from their promotional literature
"Irwin Mitchell have helped individuals and businesses with legal issues since 1912. We're now the 11th largest firm in the country with offices nationwide. As a full-service law firm, we work across all major areas of law, ranging from landmark divorce cases to high value corporate mergers."
Type "Irwin Mitchell" into any of the major search engines and you will get page after page detailing every aspect of the firm and its associates. The Wikipedia entry is detailed from 1980 onwards but prior to that date information is sparse to say the least. And as for Irwin Mitchell himself non-existent. I have yet to locate a photograph of Walter and his family. And so this is what I have managed to put together. I have not placed any information on the cases he undertook as this would have been a colossal undertaking.
Walter Irwin Mitchell was born on 10th June 1886 to Walter Mitchell and Sarah Jane Mitchell. He was baptized but that was when he was ten years old in 1896. It is unusual for this to happen but not unknown.
Name Walter Irwin Mitchell
Baptism Age 10
Birth Date 10 Jun 1886
Baptism Date 11 Nov 1896
Baptism Place Sheffield, St Mary, Bramall Lane, Yorkshire, England
Father Walter Mitchell Mother Sarah Jane Mitchell
Prior to his baptism he is living with his parents at 70 South View Road, Sheffield.
1891 Census
Ten years later the family still are on South View Road in Sheffield but at number 64 and not number 70. I am unsure the number of the house has been changed or that the family have just moved a couple of doors down the road.
1901 Census
But by 1911 the family were no longer at South View Road but at 12 Grange Road in the Sharrow district of Sheffield.
1911 Census
The interesting point in this census is That Walter Irvin Mitchell is still a law student living at home with his parents William and Sarah Jane Mitchell
In 1912 he married Frances Emily Roper in Lancaster, Lancashire and two years later they had a son named Kenneth Irwin Mitchell. 1912 was also the year when the firm Irwin Mitchell commenced business in Sheffield. He would have been just 26 years old. I cannot find any service record for Walter in the archives but it appears that in his early career he figured prominently in the criminal court proceedings in the Sheffield and surrounding area.
Name Kenneth Irwin Mitchell
Baptism Age 0
Birth Date 16 Mar 1914
Baptism Date 17 May 1914
Baptism Place Sheffield, All Saints, Ecclesall, Yorkshire, England
Father Walter Irwin Mitchell Mother Frances Emily Mitchell
1939 National Register
Walter in 1939 is now living on Cherry Tree Road in a house named "Shirley." He is listed as a solicitor as is his son Kenneth.
Name: Walter I Mitchell
Death Age: 64
Birth Date: 1887
Registration Date: Jan 1951 Registration Quarter: Jan-Feb-Mar
Registration district Scarborough Inferred County: Yorkshire North Riding
Volume: 1b Page: 1266
Walter died in Scarborough at the age of 64 in 1951. His estate at today's prices would be just over £800,000GBP. The house at 88 Filey Road, Scarborough was demolished and replaced by blocks of non-descript apartments.
Sources
Sheffield Indexers
Ancestry - UK Census
This page was last updated on 18/11/24 14:57