Arthur Middleton

Signature of Arthur Mullen in cursive handwriting.
Painting of a woman with dark hair in a bun, wearing a white shirt and a reddish-brown shawl, holding a baby's foot.

BORN – June 26, 1742, at Middleton Place Plantation on the Ashley River west of Charleston.  Parents (English ancestry) - Henry Middleton (b1717-d1784) and Mary Baker William Middleton (b1721-d1761).  Twelve Children (seven surviving to adulthood) – Williams Middleton #1 (b1741-___), Arthur Middleton (b1742-d1787), John Middleton (b1744-d1745, age one), Henry Middleton (b1746-d1747, age one), Mary Middleton (b1749-d1750, age one), Henrietta Middleton Rutledge (b1750-d1792), Williams Middleton #2 (b1752-d1758, age 6), Thomas Middleton (b1753-d1797), Hester Middleton Drayton (b1754-d1789), Sarah Middleton (b1756-d1784), Mary Middleton (b1757-d1825), Susannah Middleton (b1760-d1834).  Being the oldest living son, Arthur Middleton inherited Middleton Place.    

DIED – January 1, 1787 (age 44) at The Oaks Plantation, probably from malaria or pneumonia.  Religion – Anglican / Episcopalian.  Buried – Middleton family cemetery at Middleton Place Plantation, Charleston, SC.

APPEARANCE – The picture above is from a portrait of Arthur Middleton (age 29) and his family painted by Benjamin West in 1771.  Middle sized, well formed with great muscular strength and fine features expressive of firmness and decision, a celebrated, capricious aristocrat but like his forbears very public spirited.

FAMILY – Married - Mary (Polly) Izard (b1725-d1814) in 1764.  Nine Children (eight surviving to adulthood) – Henry A. Middleton (b1770-d1846), Maria Henrietta Middleton (b1772-d1791), Eliza Carolina Middleton (b1774-d1792), Emma Philadelphia Izard Middleton (b1776-d1813), Anna Louisa Middleton (b1778-d1819), Isabella Johanes Izard Middleton Huger (b1780-d1865), Septima Sexta Middleton Rutledge (b1783-d1865), John Izard Middleton (b1785-d1849), Amos Middleton (b1787-1787, as infant).          

 OCCUPATION – PLANTER, LEGISLATOR, SOLDIER.  Graduated from Cambridge University in England in 1760, and the Temple Law School in London.  Inherited Middleton Place Plantation and other properties.  Member of the Continental Congress in 1776, replacing his ailing father.  One of the Founders of the College of Charleston.      

AT SIGNING – Age 34 at signing.

AFTER SIGNING – Spent heavily on the war from his personal fortune.  Served as an officer in the SC Militia Served in the defense of Charleston in 1779 to 1780.  After the city’s fall, he was imprisoned on a ship at St. Augustine, FL from May 1780 to June 1781.  Released in a prisoner exchange.  Middleton Place was ravaged by the British Army and Loyalists.  200 slaves were taken and later sold in the West Indies. 

HISTORIC SITES                                                                                                                                                    

Middleton Place – Middleton Place Plantation, Charleston, SC (1730’s).  Located at 4300 Ashley River Road, Charleston, SC 29414, Phone 843- 556-6020, Website www.middletonplace.org, on the Ashley River 20 miles northwest of Charleston, SC.  Home of Arthur Middleton all of his 44 year life.                                                                                                                                               

The Oaks – The Oaks Plantation, SC (1892).  Located at 130 The Oaks Avenue, Goose Creek (Cooper River), near Charleston, SC, Website www.south-carolina-plantations.com/berkeley/oaks.  Rice plantation inherited by Arthur Middleton from his father, Edward.  The current house was built in 1892, replacing the original house which burned down.  

College – Randolph Hall, College of Charleston (1770).  Located at 66 George Street, Charleston, SC 29424, Phone 843- 805-5507, Website www.cofc.edu.  Arthur Middleton was one of the Founders of the College and one of its original Trustees.

Aerial view of a landscaped park with walking paths, green lawns, trees, and water features, including two small lakes.

Randolph Hall, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC (1829). 

Located at 66 George Street, Charleston, SC 29424, Phone 843- 805-5507, Website www.cofc.edu. 

Founded in 1770, the College of Charleston is the thirteenth oldest institution of higher learning the oldest municipal college in the U.S.  The historic part of the campus includes the main building, Randolph Hall and Library and Gate Lodge.  The Founders of the College include three future signers  of the Declaration of Independence (Arthur Middleton, Edward Rutledge,  Thomas Heyward) and three future signers  of the U.S. Constitution (John Rutledge, Charles Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney).  Randolph Hall was used as one of the back-drops in the movie – “The Patriot”.    

Home of Arthur Middleton, Middleton Place Plantation, Charleston, SC (1730’s). 

Located at 4300 Ashley River Road, Charleston, SC 29414, Phone 843- 556-6020, Website www.middletonplace.org, on the Ashley River 20 miles northwest of Charleston, SC.

Named for one of its original owners, Henry Middleton, Middleton Place Plantation was a colonial-era rice and indigo plantation on a bluff on the south side of the Ashley River.  Sites on the property to see include the restored gentlemen’s guest wing or south flanker house museum (1755), gardens, many out-buildings, Ashley River, Middleton Oak tree.  The gardens are the oldest (1741) landscaped gardens in America.  They are also formal gardens because of their symmetrical design and layout.  The two large pools to the front are designed to appear as butterfly wings.  Middleton Place was used as one of the back-drops in the movie – “The Patriot.”

A historic building with a prominent facade featuring large columns and a triangular pediment with a clock. The building has multiple stories with windows and a staircase entrance. There are trees framing the scene and a paved walkway leading to the front entrance. An American flag is displayed in front.