Family and Education

b. 8 Nov. 1748, 1st s. of William Middleton of Crow-field Hall, Suff. by Sarah, da. of Morton Wilkinson of S. Carolina.  educ. Bury St. Edmunds g.s.; Caius, Camb. 1767.  m. 18 Apr. 1775, Harriet, da. and h. of Nathaniel Acton of Bramford Hall, Suff., 1s. 3da.  suc. fa. 1775; cr.Bt. 12 May 1804; took add. name of Fowle under will of John Fowle of Broome, Norf. 1823.

Offices Held

Sheriff, Suff. 1782-3.

Biography

In 1780 Middleton was defeated at Ipswich after a hotly contested and expensive election. In 1784 he stood again, supported by Administration, and topped the poll. He voted for parliamentary reform, 18 Apr. 1785, and supported Pitt on Richmond’s fortifications plan, 27 Feb. 1786. His only reported speech in this Parliament was on the resolutions to grant money for the relief of American loyalists, 18 May 1786, when he declared he would ‘endeavour to prevent imposters from receiving any part’, and ‘in order to discriminate between the deserving and the undeserving’ moved for a list of those receiving pensions or allowances.1 He signed the third party circular, 1 May 1788. On the Regency, 1788-9, he voted with Pitt. In 1790 he again contested Ipswich, but was defeated.

Middleton died 26 Dec. 1829. Oldfield describes him as ‘a representative whose independence was an ornament to the British Senate’.2

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: Mary M. Drummond

Notes

• 1. Debrett, xx. 239.
• 2. Boroughs (1792), ii. 527.