Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mitchell, Hugh Henry
MITCHELL, HUGH HENRY (1764?–1817), colonel, was appointed ensign in the 101st regiment in January 1782, and was promoted to be lieutenant in June 1783. He served with that regiment in India and until it was disbanded in 1784. In May 1786 he was gazetted to the 26th, and served with it in the latter part of the campaign of 1801 in Egypt. He rose in the 26th to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in December 1805. In June 1811 he exchanged to the 51st light infantry, and commanded that regiment in the Peninsula War till its conclusion in 1814. He obtained the rank of colonel in June 1813, and the order of companion of the Bath on 4 June 1815. In the Waterloo campaign Mitchell commanded a brigade consisting of the 3rd battalion of the 14th, the 23rd fusiliers, and the 51st light infantry.
Wellington was sparing—almost niggardly—in his expressions of praise, and never mentioned an officer in his despatches merely because he commanded a brigade or division, or was on the staff. Mitchell was the only commander of a brigade at Waterloo under the rank of general officer who was thus honoured. For his services in the campaign he received from the Emperor of Russia the order of St. Vladimir of the third class, and also the Russian order of St. Ann.
Mitchell died 20 April 1817, in Queen Anne Street, London.
[Gent. Mag. 1817, pt. i. p. 473; Wellington's Despatches; Gazettes; Army Lists, &c.]