Sir Peter Chalmers Mitchell was a Scottish zoologist who was Secretary of the Zoological Society of London from 1903 to 1935. During this time, he directed the policy of the Zoological Gardens of London and created the world's first open zoological park, ZSL Whipsnade Zoo. He proved, in a now classic treatise, namely, “On the Intestinal Tract of Mammals,” that the caecum of Mammals is directly homologous with the paired caeca of Birds; that is to say, a pair being the original state.
Early life
Peter Chalmers Mitchell was the son of the Rev. Alexander Mitchell, a Presbyterian minister in Dunfermline, Scotland, and Marion Chalmers. Mitchell gained an MA at the University of Aberdeen, and moved to Christ Church, Oxford, where he read for natural science, specialising in zoology. After success in the honours examination of 1888, he was appointed University Demonstrator in Zoology. In 1896, he was the anonymous author of an article in the Saturday Review entitled "A Biological View of English Foreign Policy" which proposed the inevitability of a final battle between Britain and Germany, in which one would have to be destroyed. Having acknowledged his authorship during World War I, he still declared himself "unrepentant" about it in a letter to The Times in May 1939, describing the article as "prophetic".
Zoo
Despite a tenure of 32 years, Mitchell was not the longest-serving Secretary of the Zoological Society. His predecessor, Philip Lutley Sclater, had been in office over forty years, from 1860 to 1902. Mitchell was succeeded by Julian Huxley. Mitchell's brainchild, Whipsnade Park, was opened in 1931 on the Dunstable Downs, in the heart of Bedfordshire. Whipsnade is an open air zoo in the countryside, where animals occupy large enclosures rather than cages. The park is involved in a variety of conservation activities.
Lectures
In 1911, Mitchell delivered the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture on The Childhood of Animals. In February 1915, Mitchell gave three lectures on the subject of evolution and foreign policy at the Royal Institution that expanded upon his 1896 article. These were combined and published in the form of a book entitled Evolution and the War in May 1915.
On retiring from the zoo, Mitchell moved to Málaga, staying there during the first six months or so of the Spanish Civil War, until the city was taken on behalf of the rebels by Italian troops. An account of his last days in Málaga – including his arrest along with Arthur Koestler – is included in Koestler's book Spanish Testament and in his own memoir, My House in Málaga, published in 1938.
Mitchell died on 2 July 1945, aged 80, after being injured in an accident on 29 June outside the London Zoo. After stepping off a bus, he was struck by a taxicab. A jury ruled the death accidental.
1903. The Nature of Man: Studies in Optimistic Philosophy, by Élie Metchnikoff, G.P. Putnam's Sons, London. The original title in French was Études sur la nature humaine,.
1935. Mr Witt Among the Rebels: The Story of a Reluctant Revolutionist in the Days of Victoria, by Ramón J. Sender, Faber and Faber, London. The original title in Spanish was Mr. Witt en el cantón,.
1936. Seven Red Sundays, by Ramón J. Sender, Faber & Faber, London. The original title in Spanish was Siete domingos rojos,.
1937. The War in Spain: a personal narrative, by Ramón J. Sender, Faber & Faber, London. The original title in Spanish was Contraataque.
1944. The Forge, by Arturo Barea, Faber and Faber, London. The original title in Spanish was La Forja.
In addition, like Henry Scherren FZS, Chalmers Mitchell made a number of contributions to the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica under the initials "P.C.M.". Chalmers Mitchell was critical of Scherren's history of the ZSL, but was in turn criticised by John Bastin for his work on the same subject.
