Thomas Middleton (1 March 1589 – c. 1662) of Horsham and Hangleton, Sussex was an English politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

variously between 1640 and 1660. He supported the Parliamentarian side in the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

. Middleton was the son of John Middleton of Hill's Place, Horsham and his wife Frances Fowle, daughter of Nicholas Fowle of Rotherfield, Sussex. His father was MP for Horsham between 1614 and 1629. Middleton attended

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

in 1606 and was a student of

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

in 1607. He succeeded to his father's estates at Horsham in 1636. In April 1640, Middleton was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

in the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on the 20th of February 1640 and sat from 13th of April to the 5th of May 1640. It was so called because of its short life of only three weeks. Aft ...

. He was re-elected MP for Horsham in November 1640 for the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...

Middleton supported the Parliamentarian side, but in December 1643 he did not show any force against the Royalist troops in Sussex and was later charged with providing support to the Royalists. He was absolved of the charges against him but was re-arrested in 1648 in connection with a rising that took place at Horsham that year. In 1660, Middleton was re-elected MP for Horsham in the Convention Parliament. Middleton married Barbara Shelley, daughter of Henry Shelley of Warminghurst, Sussex on 29 May 1610 and had six sons and five daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Middleton, Thomas 1589 births 1662 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Members of the Inner Temple English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1660 Roundheads