Born on 11 November 1906, George Mitchell studied medicine at Aberdeen University, where he qualified in 1929. He was for a time surgeon in the Scottish Highlands, but then took up anatomy. During the second world war he served in the RAMC in North Africa, the Middle East and Europe, finally reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel. During the war he had a special rôle in pioneering penicillin treatment, working with Fleming and Florey, and collaborating with Arthur Porritt in the book *Penicillin therapy and control in 21 Army Group*, which described the use of penicillin in the invasion of Europe. After the war he returned to become Professor of Anatomy at Manchester in 1946, where he threw himself into the study of the autonomic nervous system. He was Rockefeller Fellow in the United States in 1956, Chairman of the International Nomenclature Committee and President of the Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland. He wrote several textbooks, including *Anatomy of the autonomic nervous system, Cardiovascular innervation and Essentials of neuroanatomy*, in addition to more than 150 research articles. In retirement he enjoyed Egyptology, medical history, antiques and music, despite a hemiparesis. His wife Mary predeceased him; they had one son, Grant, and two daughters. He died after a long illness on 14 April 1993.