Humphrey Mitchell

Humphrey Mitchell, PC (September 9, 1894 – August 1, 1950) was a Canadian politician and trade unionist.

A land surveyor employed with Hamilton Hydro, Mitchell was active with the union movement in the city. Upon the death of Hamilton East's Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), George Septimus Rennie in 1931, Mitchell was approached to run in the by-election to fill the seat as a Labour candidate. Hamilton East was a strong working class riding that had elected Labour candidates to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and to city council.

The Liberals, in opposition having lost the previous year's general election did not run a candidate against Mitchell in order to avoid dividing the anti-Conservative vote. Given future events, it is also possible the Liberals believed that Mitchell would support the Liberal Party unofficially if elected.

Mitchell won the by-election, and entered the Canadian House of Commons. He did not get along well with the rump of Independent Labour MPs led informally by J.S. Woodsworth and referred to as the "Ginger Group". While Mitchell attended the "founding meeting" of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation in William Irvine's office, he refused to join the new party when Labour MPs joined with farmers groups, socialist groups and others to officially launch the CCF in 1932 and refused to work with its supporters in Parliament.

In the 1935 general election, the CCF ran a candidate against Mitchell in Hamilton East...
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