Arthur Middleton was the son of Edward Middleton and his second wife, Sarah Middleton, who had been the widow of Richard Fowell of Barbados. The elder Middleton was born in England, emigrated to Barbados, and thence to Carolina, where he became a lord's proprietary deputy, member of the council, and assistant justice. His son, Arthur, was born in Charlestown to the prestige surrounding a wealthy and enterprising father. He inherited estates in Carolina, England, and Barbados.
Arthur was probably educated in England.
Middleton began his public career early. From 1706 to 1710, he was a member of the South Carolina House of Commons. He became Lord Carteret's deputy and a member of the council. During the Yemassee War in 1715, he was sent as an agent to obtain aid from Virginia and, successful in his mission, was voted a pipe of wine by a grateful House. A year later he left the council for the House of Commons, where he led a movement against the proprietors, became president of the convention into which the Assembly resolved itself when dissolved by the governor, and helped overthrow proprietary control in 1719. After the Crown, in 1720, accepted the revolution and appointed Sir Francis Nicholson to be governor, Middleton became president of Nicholson's council and administered the government after the governor sailed for England in April 1725. In this capacity he met representatives of Spain in a conference to settle the southern boundary of Carolina but accomplished nothing. Like his predecessors he was concerned with Indian relations, so vital to a border colony, and when the Yemassee were harassing the border he had them subdued and severely punished. He also followed the usual policy against the French by efforts to counteract their influence with the Creeks and Cherokee. However, he found it difficult to maintain amicable relations with his legislature. In 1726, he checked the lower house in its attempt to issue paper money for rebuilding a fort burned on the Altamaha. Rioting followed, the council was threatened, and arrests had to be made before order could be restored. The paper-money party later sent representatives to the council, were denied an audience, and rioted again. Disputes over this question, constantly recurring, persisted throughout his administrationand prevented the proper functioning of government. Six times he tried the expedient of dissolving the legislature and ordering new elections only to find the new assembly as hostile as the last. He was accused of corruption and of denying a writ of habeas corpus. After the arrival of Governor Johnson to take over the tangled affairs of the colony he became a member of Johnson's council and again became president of the council, in which position he was serving when he died.
Quotes from others about the person
Alexander Hewatt characterized him "Arthur Middleton is a man of a reserved and mercenary disposition a sensible man, and by no means ill-qualified for governing, who, however, found it difficult as an erstwhile revolutionary leader to inculcate loyalty to the king and who had as his principal ambition the accumulation of property. "
In 1707, Arthur married Sarah, the daughter of Jonathan Amory, speaker of the South Carolina House of Commons. She was the mother of his son, Henry Middleton, 1717-1784. After her death in 1722, he was married, on August 3, 1723, to Sarah (Wilkinson) Morton, the widow of Joseph Morton, a landgrave of Carolina. They had no children.
