Charles Ainsworth Mitchell (20 November 1867 – 5 January 1948) was a British chemist and forensic scientist who made a special study of the microscopic and chemical study of handwriting. He was a Fellow of the

Royal Institute of Chemistry The Royal Institute of Chemistry was a British scientific organisation. Founded in 1877 as the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland (ICGBI), its role was to focus on qualifications and the professional status of chemists, and its ai ...

and the

Chemical Society The Chemical Society was a scientific society formed in 1841 (then named the Chemical Society of London) by 77 scientists as a result of increased interest in scientific matters. Chemist Robert Warington was the driving force behind its creation. ...

, and member of the Society of Public Analysts He was editor of ''

The Analyst ''The Analyst'' (subtitled ''A Discourse Addressed to an Infidel Mathematician: Wherein It Is Examined Whether the Object, Principles, and Inferences of the Modern Analysis Are More Distinctly Conceived, or More Evidently Deduced, Than Religious ...

'' for 25 years, president of the Medico-Legal Society (1935–1937), and vice president of the Society of Chemistry (1937–1940).

Life

Mitchell was born 20 November 1867 in

Thetford Thetford is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road (England), A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, coverin ...

, England, the third son of Dr. T. H. Mitchell. He was educated at

King William's College King William's College () is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, private school for pupils aged 3 to 18 near Castletown, Isle of Man, Castletown on the Isle of Man. It is a member of the International Baccalaureate and Hea ...

, and

Exeter College, Oxford Exeter College (in full: The Rector and Scholars of Exeter College in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, and the fourth-oldest college of the university. The college was founde ...

, graduating in 1889. In 1899 he married Edith Boyle Keely.

Career

Chemist

As a chemist and a scientist, Mitchell's work covered a wide range of topics. He became a fellow of the

in 1897 and of the

in 1916. In 1907 he advocated using a

pinhole camera A pinhole camera is a simple camera without a lens but with a tiny aperture (the so-called ''Pinhole (optics), pinhole'')—effectively a light-proof box with a small hole in one side. Light from a scene passes through the aperture and projects a ...

to photograph the sun in an article in ''Knowledge and Scientific News'', a method which he notes was known as early as 1615 but seemed to have been forgotten. In 1911, he advocated the switch from lead to copper pipes for drinking water. His reasoning was that copper would better be able to alert the drinker to an excess of poisonous sulphates in the water. In 1920, he became editor of ''

'', a journal of the Chemical Society, and under 25 years of his editorship the journal expanded in scope and increased in reputation.

Criminologist

In 1911 he was head of the inspection bureau of

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...

. He frequently served as an expert witness. In 1915, he gave testimony about the invisible ink used in the case of German spy, Anton Kuepferle. In 1925 he analyzed documents and seals of

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was List of Scottish monarchs, Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legit ...

and claimed to show that Mary was innocent of conspiracy to assassinate Queen

Elizabeth I of England Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...

. He said that William Maitland, Mary's secretary, forged Mary's hand in the documents which led to Mary's execution. In 1929, he was an advocate of the use of

fingerprints A fingerprint is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. The recovery of partial fingerprints from a crime scene is an important method of forensic science. Moisture and grease on a finger result in fingerprints on surf ...

to determine identity, a method which he traced to Sir William Herschell in 1853, who saw the method used to document an individual's identity in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, where he was a commissioner. He showed that monkeys may be identified by fingerprints and that the same could be done with the markings on a cow's nose. He was hired by Ruth White to analyze the '' Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Bahá''. White opposed parts of the will that suggested the establishment of a hierarchy in the

Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...

. His report concluded in agreement with White, that the document was a forgery. White placed Mitchell's signed report on the writing shown on the photographs of the document with the U.S.

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

in 1930.

Bibliography

Mitchell's works include: * ''Inks: their composition and manufacture'' (1904) * ''Science and the Criminal'' (1911). * ''Edible Oils & Fats'' (1918)Michell, Charles Ainsworth. Edible Oils & Fats, Longmans, Green 1918

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, C. Ainsworth 1867 births 1948 deaths Graphologists Metropolitan Police civil staff English chemists British forensic scientists People from Thetford People educated at King William's College Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford Fellows of the Chemical Society