Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/338

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DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALASIAN BIOGRAPHY.
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teered his services for their defence without fee. In 1856 responsible government was inaugurated in Victoria under the imperial act passed in the previous year, and Mr. Michie was returned to the newly created Legislative Assembly as one of the members for Melbourne, having as colleagues Sir (then Mr.) John O'Shanassy, Sir (then Mr.) William Foster Stawell, and Messrs. David Moore and J. T. Smith. In April 1857 he accepted office in the second Haines Ministry as Attorney-General and retired with his colleagues in March 1858. In August 1859 Mr. Michie became M.L.A. for St. Kilda, and sat till the general election in 1861, when he was not a candidate. When that most remarkable of Victorian Ministries the first MᶜCulloch Government came into office in June 1863, with Mr. George Higinbotham as Attorney-General, Mr. Michie was offered the post of Minister of Justice, and joined them in July, being re-elected to the Assembly for Polwarth and Grenville. Mr. Michie resigned office in the MᶜCulloch Government in July 1866, and in the same year was returned for St. Kilda, and in 1868 for South Gippsland. In the third M'Culloch Ministry Mr. Michie was again Attorney-General from April 1870 to June 1871, when he was defeated for South Gippsland, but was subsequently returned to the Legislative Council. In 1872 Mr. Michie paid a second visit to Europe, and on his return to Victoria in 1873 he was appointed Agent-General of the colony in London by the Francis Ministry. In May 1878 he was created K.C.M.G., and retiring from the agent-generalship in the next year, returned to Melbourne. He married in 1840 Mary, daughter of Dr. John Richardson, Inspector-General of Hospitals. Sir Archibald Michie is a man of very considerable literary culture, and has acted as Victorian correspondent for the London Times for many years.

Middleton, Lieut.-General Sir Frederick Dobson, K.C.M.G., C.B., son of the late Major-General Middleton, 3rd Dragoons, by his marriage with Fanny, daughter of C. Wheatley, was born in 1825, and entered the army in 1842. He became captain in 1852, major in 1858, lieut.-colonel in 1869, colonel in 1875, major-general in 1885, and retired as lieut.-general in 1887. General Middleton served with the 58th Regiment in the New Zealand war, 1846-7. He was present at the capture of Kawiti's Pah, and at the repulse of the attack on Wanganui. For his services he was mentioned in despatches, and received a medal. He served with distinction through the Indian Mutiny. From 1874 to 1884 he was Commandant and Secretary of the Royal Military College. Sandhurst, and in the latter year was appointed to the command of forces during the rebellion in the north-western territory, in Canada, and commanded the Canadian Militia with the local rank of Major-General until 1890, when he resigned. He was created C.B. in 1881, and K.C.M.G. in 1885. Sir Frederick married, in 1870, Eugenie Marie, daughter of Theodore Dowcet, of Montreal.

Midwinter, William, the well-known cricketer, was born in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, on June 19th, 1852, and went to Australia when an infant with his parents, and learnt his cricket at Bendigo, Vict., being for several years a prominent member of the Bendigo United Cricket Club. He played for Victoria against New South Wales in nine intercolonial matches, commencing in 1875 and ending in 1887, his batting average in those matches for 17 innings being 20.53 runs per innings, and he bowled 1,956 balls, taking 32 wickets at an average cost of 16.81 runs per wicket. In 1877 Midwinter went to England, and was immediately engaged by the Gloucestershire county club, for whom he did yeoman service with both bat and ball, and was also a prominent member of W. G. Grace's famous and successful United South of England eleven. On the arrival of Gregory's Australian eleven in the old country in 1878 Midwinter joined them, but after he had taken part in the first five matches he was compelled to sever his connection with the Australian team on account of his previous English engagement. In 1880 he returned to Australia for a trip, but went back to England, and his next visit to the colonies was as a member of Shaw and Shrewsbury's English eleven in 1881-82. He subsequently revisited England as a member of Murdoch's Australian eleven in 1884, and after returning to Melbourne was the lessee of various hotels in the city and suburbs. He died at the Kew

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