Lives in Cricket No 34 - Frank Mitchell

118 Blackheath, Nigeria and family days made a formal finding that Mitchell’s assets were not of a value equal to ten shillings in the pound on the amount of his unsecured liabilities and then added a note in his own handwriting that ‘ the bankrupt has brought on or contributed to his bankruptcy by unjustifiable extravagance in living’. Notwithstanding all of that and presumably because no creditors had made objection, an order for discharge was made to take effect on 14 February 1931. A sad longstanding chapter was thus brought to a formal close – though the circumstances of the debts and the non-payment of them must inevitably cast some shadow over an assessment of Frank Mitchell’s life. There are now happier matters to record. The circles in which Frank Mitchell may have moved would have been glad of his promotion of the business sports grounds which were being developed in the 1920s, not least by the major banks in south-east London. He gave every encouragement to the opportunities provided through facilities such as the Beckenham ground which was founded by Charles Cobb of Lloyds Bank. The first record in CricketArchive of a match there is for 1926, and it was taken over by Kent County Cricket Club in 2000. Mitchell also much liked other individual club grounds in London, and he seemed to particularly enjoy cricket at Beckenham and Blackheath, and further afield at Hampstead and Richmond. Frank Mitchell would have been very pleased that his elder son Thomas also developed into an excellent player at Tonbridge School, and that later he would play some county cricket for Kent. Thomas was in the Tonbridge XI from the age of 15 in 1922 and was in the school side for four years being captain in 1925. He twice played for the Public Schools against the Army at Lord’s, and became himself an MCC member, playing for them against both Oxford and Cambridge Universities in 1928, and without doubt Frank would have been there. Thomas first played for Kent Second XI in 1925 and his first match for the Kent First XI was in 1928 against Sussex at the Nevill Ground in Tunbridge Wells. Thomas continued to play first-class cricket sporadically until 1934, primarily as a middle-order batsman. A notable date for both father and son had been 9 June 1920. Frank Mitchell was playing for Sports Club against Lloyds Bank at the Private Bank Sports Ground Catford Bridge, whilst just a short distance away the 13-year-old Thomas was playing for Stratheden House School against Quernmore School. Each of them that afternoon scored centuries – Frank with 103 and Thomas with 125. It was an unusual event and achieved a mention in The Cricketer. In the first half of the twenties, and before he started writing for The Cricketer, Frank Mitchell seems to have supplemented any business activities with cricket coaching at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, a mile or so from Blackheath. He was certainly the cricket coach in 1921, and possibly in subsequent seasons. In 1921 the Academy had a good season in winning five matches with sixteen draws and no losses. Mitchell may well have received some stipend, though there are now no records of