John Middleton (1619-1674)

Army officer

John Middleton enlisted as a pikeman in a regiment raised to fight in France in 1632. He returned to Scotland in 1639 and served in the army of the Covenant being promoted from colonel to lieutenant general. At the victory at Philiphaugh in 1645 he was second in command to David Leslie. When Charles I was executed, he entered the 'Engagement' with Charles II and marched into England with the army in support of the new king. He was wounded and taken prisoner after the defeat at Worcester in 1650. Whilst at the court of the exiled Charles II he was created earl of Middleton in 1656, and at the Restoration in 1660 was further rewarded with the post of Royal Commissioner to the Scottish Parliament. His lowly birth  and insistence on reintroducing the Episcopalian hierarchy into the Church of Scotland made him unpopular with much of the Scottish nobility. John Maitland, earl (later duke) of Lauderdale, was accused of mismanagement and corruption and forced out of office in 1633. He managed to secure the post of Governor of Tangiers in North Africa and it was there that he spent his last years.

Testament of John, earl of Middleton

National Records of Scotland, CC8/8/76 pp 283-285

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