Philip Mitchell (colonial administrator)

Mitchell was appointed Governor of Uganda in 1935. During the depression, capital expenditure in Uganda had been slashed, and public infrastructure and services had deteriorated. In 1936, Mitchell appointed a committee to set priorities for development and to provide for financing. He saw a need to completely review the relationship between Buganda and the government of the Protectorate. He was concerned with political reform, recognising that the eventual goal was self-government.[13] In 1937 he implemented reforms that increased the planning and budgetary capacity of the Secretariat, and introduced district-level planning teams working with the District Commissioners. All these changes had little time to show results when World War II (1939–1945) began.[14]

In mid-1940 Sir Philip was transferred to Nairobi to co-ordinate the East African war effort. In January 1941 he was appointed Chief Political Officer to General Sir Archibald Wavell, the Commander in Chief Middle East. He was given the delicate job of administering the Italian African colonies that had fallen to the British.[7] In January 1942, as Chief Political Officer for the Commander in Chief, East Africa, Major-General Sir Philip Euen Mitchell signed a treaty with the Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia. The reconquest of that country from the Italians had recently been completed.[15]

Mitchell became Governor of Fiji on 22 July 1942.[16] He arrived there a day earlier.[17] Mitchell was also British High Commissioner in the Western Pacific, and a large part of his job was to smooth out differences between the allied forces in the struggle with Japan.[18] Fiji had a mixed-race population of 210,518 of whom about 100,000 were Fijians and 90,000 Indians. Although the white and Fijian people were on good terms and often intermarried, there were tensions with the large Indian population, most of whom were descendants of indentured labourers.[17] Another issue was that, while the Fijian people were happy to belong to the British Empire, many of the Indians were in sympathy with the independence movement in India and could not be called loyal subjects. A further source of tension was that between Hindus and Muslims in the Indian community.[18]

Mitchell proposed that the islanders should be given greater power, but to his surprise found that the Fijians preferred the status quo, at least for the time being. Their reason was that they needed more time to develop experience in local government, or they would be dominated by the Indians. Mitchell nevertheless intended that Fiji should be put on course towards self-government, and wrote to the Colonial Office describing his views on how this would be achieved, and on the program for post-war reconstruction. Nothing was done about his recommendations during his term in office.[19]

Even while the Gilbert and Ellice Islands were under Japanese occupation, Mitchell was in charge of planning for the colony's future after the British regained control. At first, he was in favour of merging the colony with Fiji, since he felt it was too small to be viable on its own. The Colonial Office would not accept this proposal. Later he moved to the idea that the Gilbert and Ellice Islands would have to remain as a Native Territory, but wanted the islanders to be trained so they could take on their own administration as far as possible.[20]

Mitchell was Governor of Kenya from 11 December 1944 until 1952. In February 1952, he received Princess Elizabeth on a visit just before her father died and she ascended the throne as Queen Elizabeth II.[21] He has been described as having been "particular insensitive to African unrest in Kenya during his tenure in the years before the Emergency."[22]