MIDDLETON, ARTHUR (1742-87). A signer of the Declaration of Independence, born in South Carolina. In 1754 he went with an uncle to England, where he was educated at Harrow, Westminster School, and Saint .John's College, Cambridge. He returned to South Carolina in 1763, settled at Middleton Place. became a justice of the peace, and from 1765 to 1766 served in the Commons for Saint Helena. lie then again went abroad, and spent three years in England and Southern Europe. On his return in 1772 he was again elected to the Commons, and in 1774 be came a member of the Upper House of the Pro vincial Congress. lie was one of the ablest and boldest opponents of the royal authority, and early in 1775 became a member of the Secret Service Committee, and in June of the same year of the Council of Safety. Early in 1776 he helped frame a constitution for the State, and later in the same year he was sent as a delegate to the Continental Congress. and signed
the Declaration of Independence. in 1778 he was elected a member of the State Legislature, and was also chosen President and Commander in-Chief of South Carolina, hut declined. He assisted in the defense of Charleston. and upon the capture of that place was imprisoned in Saint Augustine. and later in the prison ship Jersey. Being exchanged in July, 1751, he was again elected to the Continental Congress, where he served until peace was declared. Later he be calla` a member of the State Legislature and a trustee of Charleston Middleton was a man of much energy and judgment, an able debater, and a forceful writer. Under the pseudonym of "Andrew .:\larvel" he wrote a num ber of effective political essays; lie also left stenographic reports of many of the debates in he participated. •