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Joe Mitty
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Joe Mitty
Joseph Sidney Mitty MBE (7 May 1919 – 30 September 2007) was a British salesman and the man who turned the first Oxfam gift shop into a national retail network of shops selling second hand clothing and other goods. This network put Oxfam on the high street map and has contributed substantially to Oxfam's income as well as presence in the public eye over the years. It was also an inspiration for many charities to follow Oxfam's lead.
Mitty worked for Oxfam for 33 years, earned the nickname of "salesman of the angels".[citation needed]
By 2007, there were over 700 Oxfam shops throughout the UK.[citation needed]
Joe Mitty was born on 7 May 1919, in Islington, north London. His father, an employee at Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, died when he was twelve years old and he was brought up by his mother. He attended a local Church of England school.
After leaving school, Mitty became a civil service clerk. He joined the British Territorial Army in 1938, before enlisting in the 7th Battalion the Royal Berkshire Regiment in March 1939. in 1942, Mitty was admitted to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, for officer training, following which he was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the British Army's Hampshire Regiment and was sent to East Asia. On his way to the Far East, Mitty travelled through India, where he was moved by the extreme poverty which he witnessed in the slums of Calcutta.
In 1942, while still serving in the military, Mitty married Dorothy White. The couple had two sons and a daughter. Dorothy died in 1995. His daughter Gloria died in 1989.
Mitty left the Army in 1946 and moved to Oxford with his wife. He purchased a quarter-acre plot of land at Cumnor for £75, and built a house, which he and his wife would live in for the next 60 years. He initially worked for the Ministry of Aircraft Production. However, in 1949 he noticed an employment advertisement in the Oxford Mail newspaper seeking an administrative assistant for the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief, an organization which would later become known by its current name, Oxfam. Mitty decided to apply for this position.
Joe Mitty was hired directly by Oxfam founder, Cecil Jackson-Cole, in 1947. Mitty was instructed to meet Jackson-Cole in the lobby of the Grosvenor Hotel, in Victoria with a handkerchief over his face. He was also told to address anyone who approached him with the question, "Are you Mr Jackson-Cole?" Mitty was hired at the hotel by Jackson-Cole and received a starting salary of a little over £8 per week. This made Mitty Oxfam's first paid employee.
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Joe Mitty
Joseph Sidney Mitty MBE (7 May 1919 – 30 September 2007) was a British salesman and the man who turned the first Oxfam gift shop into a national retail network of shops selling second hand clothing and other goods. This network put Oxfam on the high street map and has contributed substantially to Oxfam's income as well as presence in the public eye over the years. It was also an inspiration for many charities to follow Oxfam's lead.
Mitty worked for Oxfam for 33 years, earned the nickname of "salesman of the angels".[citation needed]
By 2007, there were over 700 Oxfam shops throughout the UK.[citation needed]
Joe Mitty was born on 7 May 1919, in Islington, north London. His father, an employee at Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, died when he was twelve years old and he was brought up by his mother. He attended a local Church of England school.
After leaving school, Mitty became a civil service clerk. He joined the British Territorial Army in 1938, before enlisting in the 7th Battalion the Royal Berkshire Regiment in March 1939. in 1942, Mitty was admitted to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, for officer training, following which he was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the British Army's Hampshire Regiment and was sent to East Asia. On his way to the Far East, Mitty travelled through India, where he was moved by the extreme poverty which he witnessed in the slums of Calcutta.
In 1942, while still serving in the military, Mitty married Dorothy White. The couple had two sons and a daughter. Dorothy died in 1995. His daughter Gloria died in 1989.
Mitty left the Army in 1946 and moved to Oxford with his wife. He purchased a quarter-acre plot of land at Cumnor for £75, and built a house, which he and his wife would live in for the next 60 years. He initially worked for the Ministry of Aircraft Production. However, in 1949 he noticed an employment advertisement in the Oxford Mail newspaper seeking an administrative assistant for the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief, an organization which would later become known by its current name, Oxfam. Mitty decided to apply for this position.
Joe Mitty was hired directly by Oxfam founder, Cecil Jackson-Cole, in 1947. Mitty was instructed to meet Jackson-Cole in the lobby of the Grosvenor Hotel, in Victoria with a handkerchief over his face. He was also told to address anyone who approached him with the question, "Are you Mr Jackson-Cole?" Mitty was hired at the hotel by Jackson-Cole and received a starting salary of a little over £8 per week. This made Mitty Oxfam's first paid employee.
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