Captain Jesse Mitchell (1812, St. Mary's Whitechapel, Middlesex - July 18, 1872, Madras) was a British army officer who served as Superintendent of the Government Museum, Madras, succeeding Edward Balfour, from 15 May 1859 to 7 August 1872. He was one of the pioneers of photomicrography in India.[1] Some of his early photographs include those of Phthiraptera from a goose and the proboscis of a blow-fly.[2] He was a captain and an adjutant in the 1st Native veteran Battalion of the Indian Army. He exhibited his first photographs of old temples in 1857 at a meeting of the Photographic Society of Bengal, which also earned praise in the Madras Journal of Literature and Science. In 1858 he showed some negatives at a meeting of the Photographic Society of Madras.[3] He wrote on the photographic techniques that he experimented with and suggested modifications to those followed by Captain Linnaeus Tripe and Dr. A.C. Brisbane Neill.[4] He also published notes from the museum such as one on the Indian climbing perch and its habit.[5][6]
Mitchell helped establish the Museum Library which later became the Connemara Public Library, acquiring books, often second-hand to stock it. It was opened in June 1862.[7] Mitchell died while in service and is buried at St. George's Cathedral, Madras.[6]
References
- ↑ Photography and photomicrography in 19th century Madras. Current Science({Template:Year).
- ↑ Madras Journal of Literature and Science 1859:182
- ↑ Impressed by Light: British Photographs from Paper Negatives, 1840-1860{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Metropolitan Museum of Art(2007)
- ↑ Description of plain or waxed paper process in photography. The Madras Journal of Literature and Science({Template:Year).
- ↑ On the climbing habits of Anabas scandens. Annals and Magazine of Natural History({Template:Year).
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Aiyappan, A. (1951) Madras Government Museum Centenary Souvenir (1851-1951). p. 14
- ↑ Handbook of the Madras Government Museum{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Government of Madras(1964)