John Templeton Mitchell (1854–1914) was born in Scotland in 1854[Note 1] and emigrated to the USA in 1875, where he settled in Chicago where he found employment as a bank clerk[1] and became a naturalised American citizen. He became interested in duplicate whist at the age of 34, in 1888, when he read of a duplicate match in his native Glasgow and was instrumental in the formation of the Chicago Duplicate Whist Club.[2] His name is synonymous with the Mitchell Movement used in many bridge clubs today.

Whist development

Mitchell became known as the "Father of Duplicate Whist"[3] because of the movements of boards and players he designed for tournaments, a design included in his 1891 book on Duplicate Whist.[4] This relatively simple movement was refined in discussion with others during that decade in an attempt to truly compare skill at cards rather than pure chance.[5] His contemporary, E C Howell, developed a different system of movements for pairs in 1897.[6]

J T Mitchell contributed to the original Whist Reference Book,[7] and much to discussions on tactics of the game,[8] and the Laws of Whist.[9] Mitchell was elected to the post of Treasurer of the American Whist League, at that time representing Chicago, Illinois.[10]

Publications

Some books written by Mitchell have been republished in recent years[11]

  • Duplicate Whist 1897 (Classic Reprint) Paperback – Republished by Forgotten books (2018). Also by Cornell University Library (2009)
  • Duplicate Whist: Its Rules and method Of Play – Being A Full Description of The New And Scientific game Which Equalizes The Strength Of Opposite Hands, Thus Reducing The Element Of Luck To A Minimum. Originally published 1891. Republished by Obscure Press (2009)

Notes

  1. ↑ Caveat - an online search of National Records of Scotland has failed to come up with anyone of this name in birth or census (1861 or 1871) records of the time

References

  1. ↑ Anderson & Crilly
  2. ↑ The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge p695
  3. ↑ English Bridge (Feb 2010) page 35 (EBU Archive)
  4. ↑ Obscure Press 2009
  5. ↑ Infobridge Italian Website
  6. ↑ Butler page 206
  7. ↑ Butler page ix
  8. ↑ Butler page 6
  9. ↑ Butler page 565
  10. ↑ Butler page 566
  11. ↑ Amazon

Other sources

  • The Whist Reference Book: Wherein Information Is Presented Concerning the Noble Game, in All Its Aspects, After the Manner of a Cyclopedia, Dictionary, and Digest All Combined in One (1898?) by William Mill Butler republished Hansebooks 2017 and Forgotten Books 2015 (Hardback) and 2018 (Paperback)
  • Official Encyclopedia of Bridge 5th edition (1994) ISBN 0-943855-48-9
  • Ian Anderson & Tony Crilly (2013) The mathematician who drove Whist forward: William Henry Whitfeld (1856–1915), BSHM Bulletin: Journal of the British Society for the History of Mathematics, 28:3, 132-142, DOI: 10.1080/17498430.2013.788891 (Link to Article here) which mentions John Mitchell
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