Born in Portsmouth and employed as a clerical officer in the Civil Service. Discovered three beetles new to Britain Bledius crassicollis Bois. and Lacord. Hylis cariniceps (Reitter) (as Hypocoelus cariniceps) and Axinotarsus marginalis (L. de Castelnau) all of which were brought forward by A.A. Allen in Ent. Record. He has also been very successful in adding new species to the Hampshire and Isle of Wight lists as more than twenty notes in EMM  since 1968 testify. Amongst the more interesting of his discoveries have been Pterostichus aterimus (Herbst) ' Stichoglossa semirufa Er. (the second British record), Zyras haworthi (Steph.), Eucnemis capucina Ahr., Corymbites castaneus (L) and Phytonomus meles (F).

Appleton's collection was once large though unevenly distributed, some families being scarcely represented. Many specimens have been passed to friends and others so that what he now retains is a reference collection of single specimens housed in two or three store boxes. His interest has been in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight alone, and he is now in the process of making a card index of his material for the three vice counties (I.O.W., N and S Hants). He has added many further species to the Hampshire list which have not yet been published.

Member of the British Entomological and Natural History Society and of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Naturalist's Trust. He lives at in  Southampton, Hants. (Information from DMA before the Biographical Dictionary was moved to the web).