EBorn in Chelmsford, Essex in 1923 Edward Middleditch was raised in Nottingham. After serving in the Middlesex Regiment of the British Army during the Second World War, Middleditch initially began his artistic education at the Regent Street Polytechnic in 1947. In 1949 the artist enrolled at the Royal College of Art where he studied until 1952. Middleditch most often represented the natural world in his work. An accomplished draughtsman as well as an excellent painter, the artist is noted for his realistic and later abstracted depictions of flora, particularly petals, grass, feathers, water and reflections.

Though he enjoyed professional success as an artist, Middleditch also found great enjoyment as an artistic educator. In 1954 Middleditch began to teach part-time at the Bath Academy in Corsham and at Langford Grove in Sussex. In 1956 the artist began two part-time teaching positions at St Martin’s School of Art, where he remained until 1960, and at the Chelsea School of Art where he taught until 1963. During this time he briefly returned to his alma mater, the Regent Street Polytechnic, to teach for a year, and held a position at the Cambridge School of Art. The most significant position of his educational career was held at the Norwich School of Art where the artist was appointed part-time Head of the Department of Fine Art in 1964, a post which he later held full-time until 1984. Between the years of 1984 to 1986 Middleditch was elected Keeper of the Royal Academy, which he had been made member of in 1973. The artist died in 1987. His work remains in a number of British collections, including those of the National Trust and the Arts Council.