The dignitaries gathering today at Bradford College are marking a special anniversary: 125 years since the official opening of the Old Building, which is being renamed after Sir Henry Mitchell.

"Who he?" you might be wondering. Wonder no longer. Thanks to local historian Roy Lowther I now have the full lowdown on Sir Henry, who was Mayor of Bradford in 1874, a councillor for 21 years, and on his deathbed was made Bradford's first Freeman in recognition of his services to the city.

Henry Mitchell was born in 1824 at Esholt Old Hall, the son of a manufacturer of worsted cloth. At 14 he was set the task of learning about the wool industry from top to bottom, studying the practicalities of sorting, carding, combing, spinning and weaving.

In 1842, when he was 18, he was appointed manager of the Bradford firm of A & S Henry & Co and came to live in the city. He did well, and ten years later he was made a partner in the firm, which continued to expand.

A contemporary account of his life reports: "It was only natural that a man of Sir Henry's ability and recognised business success should be solicited to take an active part in municipal affairs."

He was elected to the Town Council in 1870 and was subsequently made an Alderman. His Mayoral year, says the report, "was marked by the carving out of many useful measures and by a course of upright and consistent conduct, well calculated to secure the approval and cement the attachment of every inhabitant of the borough over which he presided."

Apart from his civic responsibilities, Sir Henry was four times president of Bradford Chamber of Commerce. In 1878 he was appointed vice-president of the jurors chosen to adjudicate on worsted yarn and fabrics at the Paris Exhibition, with the Prince of Wales as president.

That acquaintance with royalty was renewed four years later when the Prince of Wales came to Bradford to open Bradford College - an occasion hosted by Sir Henry who, according to the contemporary report, "has always been keenly alive to the fact that the education of the rising generation is, and will be, a potent factor in maintaining our supremacy among the nations and, perhaps, more particularly in connection with our textile industries."

Sit Henry was a member of the first School Board elected for Bradford, vice-president of the Bradford Mechanics' Institute and a governor of Bradford Grammar School.

The report continues: "But his name will be forever remembered in connection with the deep and beneficial interest he has taken in the cause of technical education, and it is mainly to Sir Henry's energetic and determined efforts that Bradford now possesses a Technical College of which she can be justly proud. This admirable institution was erected at a cost of £40,000, of which Sir Henry has subscribed nearly one-fourth. It is carried on at a cost of £6,000 per annum, and has at present 1,200 students."

When the Prince of Wales opened the college exactly 125 years ago, he and the Princess of Wales were entertained by Sir Henry to luncheon "together with six to seven hundred of the leading commercial gentlemen of the district and many distinguished guests."

That was a good year for Sir Henry. During it he was made an honorary member of the Worshipful Company of Clothmakers of London whose Master, Lieutenant Colonel John Britten, had laid the memorial stone of the college building on June 16, 1880.

Five years later Sir Henry was knighted in recognition of his contribution to the cause of technical education.

But it wasn't only education which benefited from Sir Henry's philanthropy. Methodism was another of his interests.

When the Wesleyan Conference was held in Bradford in 1878, he took the opportunity to lay the foundation stone for St John's Chapel in Manningham, a building designed to accommodate 1,000 people. It was opened for worship on June 11, 1879, having cost £14,634. Sir Henry had contributed £3,000 of this.

On August 27, 1898, as Sir Henry lay on his deathbed at Parkfield, Manningham (his home for 50 years), a resolution was passed at a special meeting of the Council to make him an Honorary Freeman. A deputation headed by the then Mayor, Councillor Thomas Speight, was despatched to deliver the scroll to him.

His son, Surgeon-Major Henry Mitchell, received the scroll and took it to his father, who was apparently able to sign it and then asked to see members of the delegation. According to a report, he greeted them with "considerable warmth and emotion" and told them: "How thankful I am to see you, and how gratifying it is to me to feel that I have lived a useful life and been able to do what little I could for the benefit of my fellow-men. And the possession of gold and silver is less precious to me than to know that I have done work which is found worthy of this public appreciation."

Sir Henry Mitchell died later that same day. On the day of his funeral Bradford's flags were at half mast and the Town Hall bell tolled. After a service at St John's he was buried in Undercliffe Cemetery where his tomb is inscribed with the words: "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."