Editing Arthur Middleton

{{Short description|Signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence (1742–1787)}}
{{Other uses|Arthur Middleton (disambiguation)}}
{{More citations needed|date=November 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
|name          = Arthur Middleton
|image         = Arthur Middleton from a painting by Benjamin West.jpg
|caption       = Middleton in a 1771 portrait
|birth_date    = {{birth date|1742|6|26}}
|birth_place   = [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]], [[Province of South Carolina]]
|death_date    = {{Death date and age|1787|1|1|1742|6|26}}
|death_place   = "The Oaks" near Charleston, [[South Carolina]]
|resting_place = [[Middleton Place]] Gardens and Tomb, Charleston
Grandchildren: Nathan Middleton Jackson, Maura Cameron Jackson
|alma_mater    = [[Trinity Hall, Cambridge]]
|known_for     = signer of the [[United States Declaration of Independence]]
|occupation    = 
|signature     = Arthur Middleton signature.png
}}
'''Arthur Middleton''' (June 26, 1742 – January 1, 1787) was a [[Founding Father of the United States]], signer of the [[United States Declaration of Independence]], and a representative from South Carolina in the [[Second Continental Congress]].

==Life==
Middleton was born in [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]], [[Province of South Carolina]], in 1742. His parents were [[Henry Middleton]] and Mary Baker Williams, both of English descent. He was educated in [[United Kingdom|Britain]] at [[Harrow School]], [[Westminster School]], and [[Trinity Hall, Cambridge]].<ref>{{acad|id=MDLN759A|name=Middleton, Arthur}} The ''[[Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]]'' says Middleton "attended school at Hackney, Westminster School, and St. John's College, Cambridge University, in England".</ref> He studied law at the [[Middle Temple]] and traveled extensively in Europe where his taste in literature, music, and art was developed and refined. In 1764, Arthur and his bride [[Mary Izard]] settled at [[Middleton Place]].

Keenly interested in Carolina, Middleton was a more radical thinker than his father. He was a leader of the [[Patriot (American Revolution)|American Party]] in Carolina and one of the boldest members of the [[Committee of safety (American Revolution)|Council of Safety]] and its Secret Committee. In 1776, Middleton was elected to succeed his father in the [[Continental Congress]] and subsequently was a signer of the [[United States Declaration of Independence]]. Also in 1776, he and [[William Henry Drayton]] designed the Great Seal of South Carolina. His attitude toward [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalists]] was said to be ruthless, this stood in contrast to other South Carolina patriots such as [[Francis Marion]] who led the effort to reconcile with the loyalists after the war ended.<ref>The Swamp Fox: How Francis Marion Saved the American Revolution By John Oller pg. 227</ref><ref>The Swamp Fox: How Francis Marion Saved the American Revolution By John Oller pg. 341</ref>

During the [[American Revolutionary War]], Middleton served in the defense of Charleston. After the [[Siege of Charleston|city's fall to the British]] in 1780, he was sent as a prisoner of war to [[St. Augustine, Florida]] (along with [[Edward Rutledge]] and [[Thomas Heyward Jr.]]), until exchanged in July the following year.

==Death, family and legacy==
[[File:Coat of Arms of Arthur Middleton.svg|175px|thumb|left|Coat of Arms of Arthur Middleton]]
Middleton died on January 1, 1787, at age 44 and was buried in the family tomb in the Gardens at Middleton Place.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=1AnTtyTg5CkC&dq=Gardens+at+Middleton+Place+buried+arthur&pg=PA5104 ''Congressional Record'']</ref> The death notice from the ''State Gazette of South-Carolina'' describes him as a "tender husband and parent, humane master, steady unshaken patriot, the gentleman, and the scholar." The plantation passed to [[Henry Middleton (governor)|Henry]], his eldest son, later governor of South Carolina, U.S. Representative and minister to Russia.

Middleton was an ancestor of actor [[Charles Middleton (actor)|Charles B. Middleton]], who played [[Ming the Merciless]] in the [[Flash Gordon]] movies of the 1930s. Middleton's son-in-law was Congressman [[Daniel Elliott Huger]] who was the grandfather-in-law of Confederate General [[Arthur Middleton Manigault]]. Middleton's sister, Susannah Middleton, was the great-great-grandmother of [[Baldur von Schirach]], onetime leader of the [[Hitler Youth]] and later governor ("Gauleiter" or "Reichsstatthalter") of the Reichsgau Vienna, who was convicted of [[crimes against humanity]] at the [[Nuremberg trials]].

[[File:Middleton-place-tomb-sc1.jpg|right|200px|thumb|The tomb of Arthur Middleton at Middleton Place]]
The [[United States Navy]] ship [[USS Arthur Middleton (AP-55)|USS ''Arthur Middleton'' (AP-55/APA-25)]] was named for him.

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography}}
* [[Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* {{CongBio|M000696}}
* [http://www.middletonplace.org/ Middleton Place]
* [http://www.colonialhall.com/middleton/middleton.php Biography by Rev. Charles A. Goodrich, 1856]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Middleton, Arthur}}
[[Category:1742 births]]
[[Category:1787 deaths]]
[[Category:Politicians from Charleston, South Carolina]]
[[Category:People from colonial South Carolina]]
[[Category:Middleton family]]
[[Category:American people of Barbadian descent]]
[[Category:American people of English descent]]
[[Category:Signers of the United States Declaration of Independence]]
[[Category:Continental Congressmen from South Carolina]]
[[Category:American slave owners]]
[[Category:People of South Carolina in the American Revolution]]
[[Category:American Revolutionary War prisoners of war held by Great Britain]]
[[Category:People educated at Harrow School]]
[[Category:People educated at Westminster School, London]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Members of the Middle Temple]]
[[Category:Founding Fathers of the United States]]