page_title: Family of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge
section_title: Grandparents of Michael Middleton
hierarchical_section_title: Family of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge / Grandparents of Michael Middleton
caption_attribution_description: English: 1906 photo of West Riding Court http://www.leodis.net/discovery/discovery.asp?page=200335_519878567&amp;topic=200335_854717434
context_page_description: Members of the Middleton family have been related to the British royal family by marriage since the wedding of Catherine Middleton and Prince William in April 2011, when she became the Duchess of Cambridge.
context_section_description: Trust funds had been established from the fortunes of Michael Middleton's grandmother –  heiress Olive Middleton (1881–1936), a member of the Lupton family. Olive was a boarder at Roedean and was accepted to study at Cambridge University. Olive's husband was Richard Noel Middleton (1878–1951), a solicitor who had "met and married the aristocrat" at the Mill Hill Chapel in Leeds in 1914. In 1919, Middleton retired as a solicitor from the legal practice in Leeds he shared with partner Sir William Henry Clarke who was a City of Leeds councillor alongside Olive's father. In 1921, Richard Noel Middleton became a director of the company his wife had inherited from her father. Members of the Lupton family owned the Newton Park and Beechwood estates in Leeds, the latter being the family seat where, for decades, the "whole family would gather". The Lupton family are described in the Leeds City Council's photographic archive as "woollen manufacturers and landed gentry –  a political and business dynasty"; Olive's cousin, Baroness von Schunck (née Kate Lupton) had been invited to the coronation of King George V in 1911.
  Olive Middleton's family had contributed to the political life of both the UK and to the civic life of Leeds, especially in the areas of education, housing, and public health, for several generations. Olive Middleton's father was a landowner and also a lead magistrate; addressed as Sir, Francis Martineau Lupton dealt with probate matters for the Leeds and West Riding Court. The 1899 House of Commons Parliamentary Papers record Lupton as being instrumental in establishing a Parliamentary inquiry into the Religious Education for Dissenting Protestants.
  A "society beauty", in June 1914, Olive - "Mrs Middleton" - and her sister Anne were reported as guests at the Trinity College, Cambridge   First and Third Boat Club Ball during  Cambridge University's May Week. Newsreports from 1935 record  that "Mrs Noel Middleton", her husband, their sons, Christopher and Tony Middleton and their Kitson family relatives arrived as "the Kitson party" when attending the Leeds Arts Ball. Olive Middleton was reportedly a guest at the 1931 Leeds Lady Mayoress First Civic "At Home" which she attended with Lady Clarke, wife of her husband's former legal partner.  Both Sir William and Lady Clarke were presidents of the Leeds Conservative Association, the political party which invited Olive's uncle Hugh to become Lord Mayor in 1926.
  Olive Middleton's family –  the Luptons –  were prominent Unitarians and worshipped at Leeds' Mill Hill Chapel where they are commemorated in stained glass windows.
  During the First World War, Olive Middleton worked for the war effort at Gledhow Hall, the home of her second cousin, Florence, Baroness Airedale which was used as a VAD hospital, with Olive's cousin, The Hon. Doris Kitson and sister-in-law, Gertrude Middleton, as volunteer nurses.  Olive remained involved with the VAD cause for many years; "Mr. and Mrs. Noel Middleton" and Lady Moynihan were amongst the guests reported at a garden party held in 1934 in aid of VAD nurses raising funds for the Leeds General Infirmary. The party was hosted by Olive Middleton's relatives, former Leeds Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress Mr. and Mrs. F.J. Kitson whose home, Gledhow Grove later became Chapel Allerton Hospital.
  Olive Middleton's brother, Lionel Lupton attended Trinity College, Cambridge, at the same time as Diana, Princess of Wales's grandfather Albert Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer, where both men studied the same subject. The two men joined up together to fight in the Great War which saw Lionel and his two brothers killed. In April 1917, King George V "commanded" that a letter be written to the brothers' father in which the King recognised the exceptional loss of "your gallant" sons.
caption: Addressed as Sir, Francis Martineau Lupton –  Olive Middleton's father –  presided as a lead magistrate at the West Riding Court.
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