Sir Mitchell Mitchell-Thomson, 1st Baronet

Sir Mitchell Mitchell-Thomson, 1st Baronet, FRSE, FSA(Scot) (5 December 1846 – 15 November 1918) was a British merchant and businessman who served as the Lord Provost of Edinburgh 1897 to 1900. He was also a Director of the Bank of Scotland. Life He was born in Alloa, Clackmannanshire, Scotland, the youngest son of Andrew Thomson, a timber merchant, and his wife, Janet Mitchell. He was a maternal grandson of William Mitchell (1781–1854). He was educated at the Edinburgh Institution. He followed in his father's trade as a timber merchant and monies (mainly from his mother's side) allowed him to purchase major tracts of land in Kincardineshire and Peeblesshire. His firm, Mitchell-Thomson & Co, operated from Granton Harbour north of Edinburgh. He entered local politics in 1882 standing unsuccessfully for a council seat in Edinburgh. He finally was elected as a councillor in 1890. He served on the city’s Gas, Education and Water Commissions. He was the chairman on the Northhill Soup Kitchen committee in Edinburgh. He was a trustee and chairman for George Heriot’s School in Edinburgh. He was Provost of Edinburgh (1897–1900) and a JP for Peebleshire. He was also a representative for Edinburgh to the General Council of the Church of Scotland. He served on the committee of the Edinburgh branch of the Navy league in the 1900s. He was not a free trader in that he was chairman of the Scottish Trade Protection Society (1890s) and later the Tariff Reform League (1900s).