Scottish Royalist during the reigns of Charles I and Charles II.

In early life he served as a soldier in France. Later, although he fought against Charles I in both England and Scotland, being especially prominent at the Battle of Philiphaugh and in other operations against the great Montrose, he held a high command in the Scottish army that marched to rescue Charles I in 1648, and he was taken prisoner after the Battle of Preston. He joined Charles II when that monarch reached Scotland in 1650, but he was soon at variance with the party that at that time was dominant in church and state and was restored to favour only after doing a public penance at Dundee. He was a captive for the second time after the Battle of Worcester, where he commanded the Royalist cavalry, but he escaped from the Tower of London to Paris.

In 1653 Middleton was chosen by Charles II to head the projected rising in Scotland. He reached that country in February 1654, but the insurrection was a complete failure. Its leader, who cannot be held responsible for this result, remained in Scotland until 1655, when he rejoined Charles II, who made him an earl in 1656. He returned to England with the King in 1660 and was appointed commander in chief of the troops in Scotland and lord high commissioner to the Scottish Parliament, which he opened in January 1661. He was an ardent advocate of the restoration of episcopacy, this being one reason that led to serious dissensions between the Earl of Lauderdale and himself, and in 1663 he was deprived of his offices. He was afterwards (from 1667) governor of Tangier, where he died.