MIDDLETON, Thomas (1589-c.1662), of Horsham and Hangleton, Suss.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Apr. 1640
Nov. 1640

Family and Education

bap. 1 Mar. 1589, 1st s. of John Middleton of Horsham by Frances, da. of Nicholas Fowle of Rotherfield, Suss. educ. Trinity Coll. Camb. 1606; I. Temple 1607. m. 29 May 1610, Barbara, da. of Henry Shelley of Warminghurst, Suss. 6s. (1 d.v.p.) 5da. suc. fa. 1636.2

Offices Held

Capt. of militia ft. Suss. by 1618; escheator Surr. and Suss. 1619-20; j.p. Suss. 1640-8, July 1660-d., commr. for sequestration, Suss. 1643, levying of money 1643, defence 1643, execution of ordinances 1644, assessment 1644-8, Aug. 1660-d., new model ordinance 1645.3

Biography

Middleton’s grandfather began to build up an estate in and around Horsham in the middle of the 16th century, and his father represented the borough in six Parliaments from 1614 to 1629. The fortunes of the family must nevertheless have been affected by the collapse of the Sussex iron industry, in which they had extensive interests. Middleton supported Parliament in the first Civil War in a rather lukewarm fashion; but he was suspected of complicity in a royalist rising at Horsham in 1648, and arrested. He was looked upon as ‘a person that might engage’ in conspiracy in 1651, and Roger Whitley listed him among the Sussex Royalists in 1658. He did not resume his seat with the other secluded Members in 1660, but at the age of 70 he was again elected for Horsham to the Convention Parliament. He was not recorded as speaking, and no committees can be definitely assigned to him. He was proposed as knight of the Royal Oak with an income of £600 p.a. His will, dated 16 Oct. 1661, was proved a year later. No later member of the family sat in Parliament.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: M. W. Helms / B. M. Crook

Notes

  • 1. Secluded at Pride’s Purge 6 Dec. 1648.
  • 2. J. Comber, Suss. Genealogies Horsham, 276-7; Add. 5698, pp. 107, 404, 426; Suss. Inquisitions (Suss. Rec. Soc. xiv) 160.
  • 3. Suss. Arch. Colls. lix, 119; lxix. 125; Q. Sess. Order Bk. (Suss. Rec. Soc. liv), p. xxviii.
  • 4. E. Straker, Wealden Iron, 422, 441, 458-9; Keeler, Long Parl. 273; C. T. Stanford, Suss. in Gt. Civil War, 137, 212-13; A. Fletcher, County Community in Peace and War, 107, 267, 285; HMC Portland, i. 578; Suss. Arch. Colls. xix. 92, 108-9; PCC 129 Laud.