Commander Eric William Middleton

Commander E W Middleton on deck during an exercise off Beachy Head c1945

Eric Middleton was a colourful character with a wide range of fascinating stories to tell.

He had been a chorister at Chapel Royal, Savoy, a merchant navy officer with Union Castle and with P&O, served in the Royal Navy during WW2 with both RNR and RNVR, wrote advertising copy for Harrods, ran a printing company, was Superintendent of the RNLI Depot, started the Ruislip Sailing Club and the Heron Association, wrote several books, and met or worked with a veritable Who's Who of famous people.

Read the Short, short version of EWM's biography
Read Simple Seaman, Eric Middleton's autobiography
Two-page summary of important dates
Money for Old Rope - Uncompleted book about Eric's time in the RNLI
Mariner in Moscow - expanded version of the Moscow story from Simple Seaman
Ballet in Moscow - stand-alone article
Building a House - stand-alone article (incomplete)
Miscellaneous papers
Images
Eulogy to E W Middleton - read at Eric's funeral

Operation PLUTO

Pipe Line Under The Ocean, or sometimes Pipe Line Underwater Transport of Oil. This was part of the Overlord plan for the invasion of Europe during the Second World War. Eric was intimately involved in the planning stages as staff officer under Lord Louis Mountbatten in Combined Operations Headquarters.