Sydney Middleton won Olympic medals in rugby and rowing
© Image Courtesy: Australian Rugby Union (rugby.com.
Olympic gold medal-winning rugby player Sydney Albert Middleton is just one of the ANZACs honoured by the Australian Rugby Union on the centenary of the Gallipoli landings this weekend.
Australia's 108th Wallaby thereafter moved between the 17th, 18th and 19th battalions in achieving the rank of Major, fighting his final battle at Montbrehain before the Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918. Middleton was later awarded a Distinguished Service Order for his actions at Amiens, a role that earned mentions in dispatches.
"The battalion owes much of its success to the splendid example set by this very fine type of officer. He was in command of the 17th Bttn. on the 14th May 1918 east of Heilly, near Amiens when the enemy made a very determined attack on the front held by the 17th Bttn and the manner in which he handled the situation and quickly restored the line showed great initiative and leadership."
Middleton's gold medal at the 1908 Olympic Games in London was the highlight of his four-Test career. He also captained the Wallabies on three occasions, a role he repeated in four of 12 matches with New South Wales. Middleton then retired from rugby in 1911 to concentrate on rowing, incredibly going onto win a silver medal at the Stockholm Olympics in 1912.
The ARU are also paying tribute to ANZAC Wallabies Thomas Richards, William Watson, Frederick Thomson and Williams Tasker on Saturday. To read their stories head to www.rugby.com.au/anzac.
| Wallabies Who Served During World War I |
|---|
| Wallaby | Cap Number | Wallabies Caps | Test Career | Service | Comments |
|---|
| Robert Wilson Adamson | 116 | 1 | 1912 | 4th & 1st Tunnelling Company | |
| Harold William Baker | 138 | 3 | 1914 | 12th Light Horse Regiment | |
| Bruce McNeil Beith | 145 | 4 | 1914-20 | 3rd General Hospital, 57th & 53rd Battalion | Mention in Despatches |
| Sinon Bernard Boland | 24 | 3 | 1899-1903 | 2nd Light Horse Regiment | Distinguished Service Order & Mention in Despatches |
| John Herbert Bond | 148 | 4 | 1920-21 | 30th Battalion | Meritorious Service Medal & Mention in Despatches. AIF Team |
| Clive Dale Bondfield | 214 | 1 | 1925 | 6th & 11th Light Horse Regiment | Military Medal |
| Peter Neave Buchanan | 195 | 2 | 1923 | 19th & 3rd Battalion | AIF Team |
| Hugh Buntine | 201 | 2 | 1923-24 | 35th Battalion | Mention in Despatches |
| John Dennison Campbell | 104 | 3 | 1910 | British Army | |
| Edwin William Carr | 166 | 4 | 1921 | 6th Light Horse Regiment | 1924 Olympian (Athletics) |
| Daniel Brendon Carroll | 93 | 2 | 1908-12 | 364th Regiment, American Expeditionary Force | Distinguished Service Cross |
| James Clarken | 65 | 4 | 1905-10 | 3rd Australian General Hospital & 4th Motor Transport Company | AIF Team |
| Ernest Austin Cody | 125 | 3 | 1913 | 7th Field Artillery Brigade | |
| Royle Charles Cooney | 180 | 1 | 1922 | 3rd Division Train | |
| Arthur Cecil Corfe | 17 | 1 | 1899 | The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment; 11th & 10th Battalion | Distinguished Service Order plus two bars & the Croix de Guerre |
| Herbert Franks Daly | UC | 0 | 1908 | 9th Field Ambulance | 1908 Uncapped Wallaby |
| Thomas Sydney Richmond Davis | 150 | 20 | 1920-25 | 1st Light Horse Regiment | |
| William Alexander Douglas | 188 | 1 | 1922 | 1st Battalion | |
| Vivian Alphonsus Dunn | 151 | 7 | 1920-21 | 1st Field Company Engineers | AIF Team |
| Raymond Earl Elliott | 152 | 13 | 1920-23 | 5th Field Ambulance | |
| Edward Joseph Fahey | 117 | 4 | 1912-14 | 7th Field Artillery Brigade | |
| Duncan Fowles | 167 | 8 | 1921-23 | 3rd & 11th Field Artillery Brigade | |
| Eric Francis | 140 | 2 | 1914 | 15th Battalion & Australian Flying Corps | |
| Munro Fraser | UC | 0 | 1912 | 9th & 1st Machine Gun Company | 1912 Uncapped Wallaby. AIF Team |
| Walter Smale Friend | 162 | 10 | 1920-23 | 2nd Field Artillery Brigade | |
| Harold Wesley George | 108 | 8 | 1910-14 | 13th Battalion | D.O.W. Gallipoli, 10 May 1915. Buried at sea |
| Charles Hammand | 95 | 2 | 1908-09 | 15th Battalion | |
| William Robert Hardcastle | 31 | 2 | 1899-03 | 3rd Battalion | |
| John Joseph Hickey | 96 | 2 | 1908-09 | 56th Battalion | AIF Team & Rugby League International |
| Bryan Desmond Hughes | 135 | 2 | 1913 | 8th Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers | Military Cross. K.I.A. Hazebrouck, 6 August 1918. Buried II G2 Borre, British Cemetery |
| Herbert Jones | 126 | 3 | 1913 | 30th Battalion | K.I.A. Flers, 4 November 1916. Buried AIF Burial Ground Plot IX Row B Grave 4 Flers, France. |
| Edwin Rennix Larkin | 38 | 1 | 1903 | 1st Battalion | K.I.A. Gallipoli, 25 April 1915. No known grave. Memorial at Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli Peninsula, Canakkale Province, Turkey |
| Thomas Lawton (Snr) | 154 | 14 | 1920-32 | 12th Field Artillery Brigade | |
| Robert Dowling Marrott | 155 | 2 | 1920 | 1st & 14th Field Ambulance | Military Medal |
| William Joseph Marrott | 186 | 7 | 1922-23 | 19th Battalion | |
| George Robert McKay | 160 | 6 | 1920-22 | 58th Battalion | |
| Sydney Albert Middleton | 103 | 4 | 1909-10 | 17th, 18th & 19th Battalion | Distinguished Service Order,Order of the British Empire & Mention in Despatches |
| Herbert Michael Moran | 97 | 1 | 1908 | Royal Army Medical Corps, British Army | |
| John O'Donnell | 32 | 1 | 1899 | 5th Training Battalion | |
| Irving William Ormiston | 157 | 2 | 1920 | 3rd & 5th Battalion | AIF Team |
| George Thomas Bryan Palmer | UC | 0 | 1931 | 35th Field Artillery Brigade | Uncapped Wallaby on tour to New Zealand 1931 |
| George Harold Pugh | 121 | 1 | 1912 | 4th Battalion | K.I.A. Ypres, 5 September 1916. Buried Railway Dugouts Burial Ground (Transport Farm) Zillebeke, Belgium. |
| Edward William Richards | 49 | 5 | 1904-07 | Australian Naval & Military Expeditionary Force | |
| Thomas James Richards | 99 | 3 | 1908-12 | 1st Field Ambulance & 1st Battalion | Military Cross |
| Sidney Austin Riley | 43 | 1 | 190 | 1st Auckland Battalion, New Zealand Army | |
| Ernest Victor Ritchie | 205 | 4 | 1924-25 | 35th Battalion | |
| Thomas Shaftesbury Smith | 172 | 12 | 1921-25 | 2nd Battalion, 2nd & 7th Machine Gun Company | |
| Norman Cecil Smith | 187 | 7 | 1922-25 | 9th & 3rd Machine Gun Company | |
| Geoffrey Ellington Steanes | UC | 0 | 1921 | 20th Battalion | Uncapped Wallaby 1921 |
| Joshua Mason Stevenson | UC | 0 | 1908 | 1st & 4th Battalion | Uncapped Wallaby 1908, AIF Team |
| Dudley Colin Suttor | 129 | 3 | 1913 | 15th Army Service Corps | AIF Team |
| Blair Inskip Swannell | 72 | 1 | 1905 | 1st Battalion | K.I.A. Gallipoli, 25 April 1915. Buried 10 Baby 700 Cemetery, Gallipoli. |
| William Henry Tanner | 13 | 2 | 1899 | 5th Light Horse Field Ambulance | |
| William George Tasker | 130 | 6 | 1913-14 | 13th Battalion & 13th Field Artillery Brigade | K.I.A. Amiens, 9 August 1918. Buried France 1170 Villers Bretonneux Military Cemetery, Fouilloy. |
| John Morris Taylor | 178 | 2 | 1922 | 13th & 1st Field Artillery Brigade | Australian cricketer 1920-1926 |
| John Thompson | 141 | 2 | 1914 | 15th Field Ambulance | |
| Frederick Herbert Thompson | 131 | 5 | 1913-14 | 13th Battalion | K.I.A. Gallipoli, 29 May 1915. Buried Gallipoli 31 Shrapnel Valley Cemetery |
| Edwin Joseph Thorn | 185 | 15 | 1922-26 | 7th Field Artillery Brigade | |
| Arthur Verge | 50 | 2 | 1904 | Australian Army Medical Corps & 6th Light Horse Regiment | D.O.D. Egypt, 18 September 1915 |
| Alfred Stanley Billingsley Walker | 122 | 16 | 1912-24 | 1st Light Horse Regiment | |
| Clarence Wallach | 132 | 5 | 1913-14 | 19th Battalion | D.O.W. Western Front, 22 April 1918. Military Cross & Mention in Despatches |
| Patrick Bernard Walsh | 51 | 3 | 1904 | 12th Light Horse Regiment | Mention in Despatches. 1908 Kangaroo |
| William Thornton Watson | 123 | 8 | 1912-20 | Australian Naval & Military Expeditionary Force; 1st & 2nd Field Artillery Brigade | Distinguished Service Medal, Distinguished Conduct Medal, Military Cross plus bar. AIF Team |
| David Moss Williams | 137 | 4 | 1913-14 | 41st Battalion | |
| Published by permission of Australian Rugby Union |
| For more detailed information, go to http://www.rugby.com.au/anzac/HonourRoll/ThoseWhoServed-International.aspx |
1. Max Verstappen ()
