By his father’s will he was to receive £500 on reaching the age of 23, so he borrowed £100 to start up a business making bricks. His mother was not well pleased with what she considered this rash action, until the first of five grandchildren arrived. On returning to Belfast in 1801, Alexander married Mary Banks, a neighbour’s daughter, and went to live in Ballymacarrett. He remained there for four years, but his sight, which had always been weak, deteriorated rapidly so that by the age of sixteen he was no longer able to read, and by 22 he was blind.ĭuring the rebellion of 1798 Alexander and some of his cousins were evacuated to Scotland to stay with friends. From there Alexander attended the Belfast Academy, the famous classical school under Dr Bruce. His mother, the three youngest sons and the remaining daughter rented a cottage a mile from Belfast. In 1790 his father died and the family scattered. About 1787 the family moved to Pine Hill, near Belfast, and Alexander started school at the age of seven, learning writing, arithmetic and later geometry, trigonometry and conic sections, at which he excelled. When at home he relaxed by playing the violin and the harpsichord and often played with young Alexander, calling him ‘my little leprechaun’. His father was inspector-general of barracks in Ireland, a duty that took him all over the country. Published in 18th–19th - Century History, Features, Issue 3 (May/Jun 2006), Volume 14Īlexander Mitchell, eighth son of William Mitchell and Jane Ferguson, one of thirteen children, was born in William Street, Dublin, on 13 April 1780. Alexander Mitchell (1780-1868): Belfast’s blind engineer
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