An AIF recruiting lantern slide of "Lieut -Colonel Sid Middleton - Footballer". Sydney Albert ...

An AIF recruiting lantern slide of "Lieut -Colonel Sid Middleton - Footballer". Sydney Albert (Syd) Middleton, wearing the jersey of the NSW Waratahs, was a noted Rugby Union player as well as a rower. He was a member of the 1908 Australian team which won a gold medal at the Olympics in Rugby Union. He also attended the 1912 Olympic Games, but in the discipline of rowing; the crew was knocked out in the quarter finals. He enlisted on 5 May 1915 and embarked with the rank of Lieutenant with the 19th Battalion, promoted to temporary captain on the Gallipoli peninsula, he subsequently served with the 18th and 17th Battalions. He reached the rank of Major and was awarded a Mention in Despatches (19th Battalion), DSO (19th Battalion) and an OBE (18th Battalion). He was granted a discharge in England in 1920 so he could study business methods at the company Motor Organisations Ltd at Koblenz, Germany. Although he is described on this lantern slide as a Lieutenant Colonel, his highest rank attained was Major. This slide is one of a series used in a 1917 recruiting campaign to encourage sportsmen to enlist in a sportsmen's unit, such as had been successfully raised in England. The concept was not as popular in Australia.