Alexander Ferrier Mitchell
British historian and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Sctoland (1822–1899)
Alexander Ferrier Mitchell (1822–1899) was a Scottish ecclesiastical historian and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1885.
Life
He was born at Brechin on 10 September 1822, son of David Mitchell, convener of local guilds, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of James Ferrier of Broadmyre. After being educated at Brechin grammar school, he proceeded in 1837 to St. Mary's College, St. Andrews, winning an entrance bursary in classics. He graduated M.A. in 1841, and in 1844 was licensed to preach.
After acting as assistant to the ministers at Meigle and Dundee, he was in 1847 ordained by Meigle presbytery to the charge of Dunnichen. Adhering to the established church during the secession movement, he became in 1848 a member of the general assembly. In the same year, when only 26, he was appointed professor of Hebrew in St. Mary's College, where he innovated in teaching methods.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Alexander Ferrier Mitchell” as british historian and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Sctoland (1822–1899). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as british historian and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Sctoland (1822–1899). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4718838. VIAF identifies the subject as 70307746. The Library of Congress control number is n83154235. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1822, 1899, 1885 and 1837.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Alexander Ferrier Mitchell” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.