Mitton was born in
Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England, a son of John Edward Mitton (1785–1854) and Elizabeth Mitton née Coales (1788–1854). He trained as a teacher at the
Borough Road College of the
British and Foreign School Society, in London, and in 1847 was appointed head master of the school at
Bideford, Devonshire, one of a series of "British Schools" for non-sectarian education of the poor, in competition with the Church of England's
National Schools. After two years at Bideford, he married Miss Benson in the Baptist Chapel at
Biggleswade, her home town, and three weeks later they were on their way to South Australia, along with his parents, aboard the ship
Albemarle, 704 tons, J. F. Trivet, master, arriving at Port Adelaide on 16 March 1852. They expected to be greeted by Mitton's brothers Josiah and Edward, who had emigrated earlier, but they were away in the goldfields of Victoria with thousands of others, leaving the streets empty of healthy men; his sister and her husband had left for Western Australia. Mitton's brothers returned to Adelaide in July 1852, having met with some success, and when they left again for Victoria in September, Mitton decided to accompany them on the long trek. They remained on the goldfields for about five months, and when Mitton returned to South Australia in March, 1853, he opened a school at
Bowden, near the railway station. The school proved popular, but in 1854 Mitton was offered the headmastership of the Pulteney Street school, the largest and most important Board of Education establishment at the time. devoted to promotion of national education. The journal advocated competitive examinations, establishment of a teachers' college and grading of teachers, and the systematic inspection of schools. The magazine failed amid a barrage of criticism and ridicule, and the Association disbanded, but Mitton later had the satisfaction of seeing State education adopting many of their proposals. which he ran for several years. In 1866 he moved the school to premises in
Stephens Place, previously occupied by
Adelaide Educational Institution, naming it Rundle Street Grammar. In 1868 he was joined by W. J. Anderson, running the school together. In 1872, he joined the State Education Department, conducting the schools at
Riverton and
Glenelg, 1872–1875 and the new schools on Whitmore Square, 1877–1882 Grote Street and
Magill –1892. He retired in 1892, but remained vitally interested in State education, giving advice to Premier
Boucaut and parliament on formulation of the new Education Act and suggested means by which teachers' qualifications under the old Education Board would be recognised without passing through the Training College. He campaigned against a public memorial to
Charles Kingston, arguing that his unconventional private life outweighed any of his undoubted public achievements. His stated opinions were controversial. ==Family==