Ronald Mitchell

Bank: Westminster Bank

Place of work: Birkenhead branch

Died: 23 March 1943

Ronald Mitchell, known to his bank colleagues as 'Mitch', was born in London on 22 October 1905, the son of the painter, cartoonist and author William Hutton Mitchell and his wife Alice Mary. He joined the staff of Westminster Bank in June 1923, and from 1935 was based at the bank's Birkenhead branch. Outside work he was a noted amateur sportsman, playing football and cricket for local teams. He was also on the board of his local YMCA.

In 1942 Mitchell left the bank to go on military service. He was an Officer Cadet in the Royal Army Service Corps when, on 23 March 1943, he was killed in an accident during a training exercise in Snowdonia. He was 37 years old and left a widow, Marjorie, who was a Flight Sergeant in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, and whom he had married 1927. A bank colleague recalled, 'his never-failing cheerfulness, courtesy and help endeared him to both the staff and the customers with whom he came in close contact.'

Ronald Mitchell is commemorated on a bank war memorial at NatWest Birkenhead Charing Cross branch.