John Douglas Mitchell, the son of Thomas and Florence Mitchell, was born in Greenwich, Kent on the 17th of October 1881. He had two sisters and a brother and was educated at schools in Eastbourne and Mill Hill in London. After leaving school he went to work in his father’s biscuit factory. He joined the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) in 1900 and rose to the rank of Company Sergeant-Major (CSM). In 1903 he became a Freeman of the City of London, being a Liveryman of the Company of Bakers, and was later awarded the Territorial Efficiency Medal.

On the 20th of September 1914 he landed in France with the HAC and on the 14th of May 1915 was appointed Temporary Lieutenant to the 13th Battalion of The Gloucestershire Regiment. A month later he was promoted to Temporary Captain and in December was transferred to the 22nd Battalion The Durham Light Infantry. On the 3rd of March 1916 he was appointed Temporary Major and in July was made Second in Command of the 22nd Battalion. During the following two years he was attached to the 1st Battalion The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire) Regiment. John was wounded several times and was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George. Early in 1918 he was appointed Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel and commanded the 22nd Battalion for three weeks before being transferred to another battalion.
  

John was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) (reported in the London Gazette on the 26th of June 1918) for conspicuous gallantry & devotion to duty during long operations, when by his great personal courage and powers of leadership he assisted to hold the Battalion together under most trying conditions. After the C.O. had been wounded early in the operation, he assumed command of the battalion, and the success and praise it carried were to a great extent due to the splendid example of energy and devotion set by him. 

On the 27th of April 1918 he married Eliza (Lisa) Garden, they would have one daughter Veronica Florence Bryce Mitchell (born 1920). On the 5th of June 1918 he took command of the 1st Battalion The Sherwood Foresters. He relinquished command of them on the 22nd of May 1919, being granted the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. During his command he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and the Belgian Croix de Guerre and was mentioned in despatches. In 1937 John was a Gold Staff Officer at the Coronation of King George VI.

By 1939 the family had moved to Ennerdale in Cumberland and John was employed as a secretary and bursar. At the outbreak of the Second World War, he joined the Whitehaven Home Guard and was in command of the St. Bees platoon. From May 1940 until January 1942, he was appointed Assistant Controller (Canteens) in the Ministry of Supply, the Royal Ordnance Factory and Munitions Plants and then of H.M. Dockyards and Naval Establishments.
He died of natural causes on the 14th of January 1955.