London born, Canadian raised Peter Mitchell was bumbling his way through a moderately successful career in business journalism when an investigation into a story on Corporate Social Responsibility inspired him to look beyond profit margins and PR into the very real problems faced by society. This inspiration prompted him to dip his toes into a self-confessed Sanity/Vanity project that propelled him on a new path. He began preliminary research for "A Knight in the Slums," a biography of his great, great grandfather, Sir John Kirk.



As Secretary and Director of The Ragged School Union John championed the causes of children, the disabled, and the working poor in Victorian-era London. His influence extended far beyond the city limits, and his life proved far more interesting than previous biographies dared reveal. 



In 2017, Peter returned to London to complete his research and begin the writing of "A Knight in the Slums." London did not prove as welcoming to Peter as it did his illustrious ancestor. In the year that followed a series of unfortunate events transpired, creating a perfect storm of calamities that left him penniless and sleeping rough. Bureaucratic bungling of Kafkaesque proportions found him cast adrift by the two countries he was once proud to call home. In short, he unwittingly fell victim to the same societal ailments John Kirk fought. That nightmare inadvertently provided him with an inside look into the current workings of the same systems put in place by his great, great grandfather, and others like him, over 100 years ago. That experience frightened him more than the horrors of homelessness itself.



Peter continues his work on "A Knight in the Slums",  and is also writing about the horrors he has experienced within the charity system to push for legislative change that will end the abuses charities inflict not only on the vulnerable, but on the system designed to help them.