THE FIRST WORLD WAR IN OBJECTS
NO.36
This portrait of Company Sergeant Major Robert Middlemiss stands testimony to one man’s sacrifice during the First World War. Born in Edinburgh in 1880, Middlemiss was the fifth son of John Middlemiss, a dairy and provision merchant, and his wife Catherine, who lived at 12 East Arthur Place, Edinburgh. Middlemiss enlisted at Edinburgh in 1898 and at the outbreak of war in 1914 was serving in the 2nd Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers, then garrisoned at Lucknow in India.
Middlemiss’ battalion returned to Britain on 28 December 1914, becoming part of the 87th Brigade, 29th Division. On 18 March the following year, he and his colleagues sailed from Avonmouth bound for Gallipoli. The battalion landed on Cape Helles on Sunday, 25 April. Middlemiss himself later recalled what happened next:
‘By Monday morning … I was fighting with the party detailed to cover the retirement of the rest of our command, a Turkish grenade exploded close beside my head, and deprived me of my sight. At first, I thought my blindness was due to the blood from my head, and I did not lose courage. Calling my superior officer, I told him I was wounded, and then started to crawl to the edge of the cliffs.
