Sir Frederick Middleton is best remembered as the commander of the Northwest Field Force which was sent to suppress the Northwest Resistance of 1885. Middleton was born on November 4, 1825 in Belfast, Ireland. He was the third son of Major-General Charles Middleton and Fanny Wheatly. He was educated at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and was given his first commission in 1842.

Middleton served in many parts of the British Empire, including Australia, New Zealand, India, Burma, Gibraltar, and Malta. He distinguished himself as a staff officer in India, during the 1857-1858 Mutiny, and was recommended twice for the Victoria Cross. His overseas service included a stay in Canada (1868-1870) where Middleton married his second wife, Eugenie Doucet of Montreal. In the 1870s Middleton served as executive officer at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

In 1884, Middleton, now a Colonel, accepted the position of General Officer in command of Canada's militia. This normally quiet position became a difficult one for Middleton when, at age 59, he had to assume the leadership of the suppression of the resistance in the Northwest Territories in 1885.

Middleton's approach was a cautious one. He faced considerable logistical difficulties and an army composed almost exclusively of poorly trained militia. He divided his forces into three, reserving for himself the main force which was to attack the Metis stronghold of Batoche; sending General Otter to Battleford to deal with Poundmaker; and sending General Strange to deal with Big Bear. The Metis forces under Gabriel Dumont engaged Middleton's forces at Fish Creek on April 24, 1885. The Metis repulsed Middleton's men. Middleton's forces required a two week rest before he proceeded on to Batoche. After a four day engagement, the greatly outnumbered and ill-equipped Metis were defeated on May 12th. With the capture of Louis Riel on May 15, the surrender of Poundmaker and Big Bear, and with the recovery of whites held by Indians, Middleton returned home at the end of June. Upon his return to England he was appointed "Keeper of the Crown Jewels". Later, Middleton was granted a gift of $20,000 from the Parliament of Canada and given a Knighthood by Queen Victoria.

He resigned as head of the Militia in 1890 when a Select Committee of the House of Commons criticized him for a crime he had committed during the resistance. In the process of leaving Saskatchewan following the events of 1885, he confiscated a furs but failed to return them to their owner: a Metis trapper named Charles Bremner.

Bremner filed a charge of theft against Middleton and the case became the subject of much political debate. The courts eventually ordered Middleton to compensate Bremner for the furs and Middleton's indiscretion proved to be his undoing. Disgraced, he lost his role as "Keeper of the Crown Jewels".

Middleton died on January 25, 1898.