MIDDLETON, Sir William, 5th Bt. (1738-95), of Belsay Castle, Northumb.

Middleton was returned for a fourth time as the candidate of the independent gentlemen of Northumberland in 1790, despite rumours that he was to resign his seat.Northumb. RO, Blackett mss ZBL244, E. to W. Blackett, 2 Dec. [1786]. An opponent of Pitt in the Parliament of 1784—though an infrequent attender and a member neither of the Whig Club nor of Brooks’s—he voted against government on Oczakov, 12 Apr. 1791, the same month as he was listed favourable to repeal of the Test Act in Scotland, but is not known to have done so again in the 1790 Parliament. His inclusion in a list of Members ‘supposed attached’ to the Duke of Portland in December 1792 was queried, but he presumably transferred his support to government, for he was marked ‘pro’ in the ministerial survey drawn up for the next general election. On 4 Mar. 1793 he was granted leave of absence because of ill health.CJ, xlviii. 318. He is not known to have spoken in the House. He died 7 July 1795.