WILLIAM WALLACE MITCHELL (1803-1884) SCOTLAND 

King Charles II drew up a code for the sport of bowls in 1670. But it was William Wallace Mitchell, a Glasgow solicitor and cotton merchant, who was responsible in the 19th century for ‘cleaning up’ the game, which we understand was at times lawless and even violent.  

Bowls had been banned as a game for the ‘common people’ by successive kings of England as early as the 1300s, though it continued to be played by royalty and their nobles. Part of the ban was because bowls games often involved fighting, gambling and neglecting of work duties, including soldiery.  

It was the Scots who were credited with ‘tidying the game up’ after it was introduced north of the border in the 16th century and William Mitchell played a key role. Mr. Mitchell attended the first attempt to form a Scottish national association at the Glasgow Town Hall in Scotland in 1848, but the attendees failed to agree.  

The meeting was reconvened in 1849 and again no agreement was made to bring the association together. But it was apparent that delegates were keen to have a uniform code of laws, so they appointed a consulting body with W.W. Mitchell as the Hon. Secretary. Mr. Mitchell had started playing bowls in Kilmarnock when he was 11, and he was a keen player. Working with the consulting body he undertook to formulate the Laws of the Game for general use. These Laws were initially adopted by all clubs in the West of Scotland in 1849.  

In 1864 Mr. Mitchell published a Manual of Bowls Playing incorporating his Laws and giving instructions to skips as to how they could make visual signals to colleagues informing them of the position or giving directions without revealing the tactics verbally to the opposing skip!   

The Scottish Bowling Association was formed in 1892, and in 1893 the Laws were adopted with some modifications. W.W. Mitchell almost single-handedly compiled the set of ‘rules’ that formed the basis of the Laws that were adopted by the International Bowling Board in 1905 when it was established.  

The Laws have been continually adapted since and are used globally today. In parts of the UK, a toucher is often referred to as a ‘Mitchell’ and it is thought that this is an affectionate nod towards the Scot who gave us the Laws of the Game and one of the foundations for the game’s growth.