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Wyndham Halswelle 1901.
Wyndham Halswelle was born to
Scottish parents in London on 30th May
1882. He was educated at Charterhouse
School, where he excelled at athletics.
He entered Sandhurst in 1899 and was
commissioned into the Highland Light Infantry in 1901, immediately joining his regiment in South Africa during the latter stages of the Boer War.
The regiment remained in South Africa after the end of hostilities – to keep the men occupied, various sporting events were organised. During an athletics competition, one of the soldiers, Jimmy Curran, himself a promising athlete and future international coach, recognised Halswelle’s potential. When the regiment returned to Edinburgh in 1904, Curran persuaded his protégé to take up athletics seriously. That year, Halswelle was army champion at 880 yards and, the following year, Scottish and AAA 440-yard champion.
In 1906, at the Intercalated Games in Athens, an event attracting athletes from across the world, Halswelle won silver in the 400 metres and bronze in the 800 metres. Later that year, in a single afternoon, he won the 100-, 220-, 440- and 880-yard events at the Scottish Championship, a feat never since equalled at any games. Injured for much of 1907, he returned to the track to set a world record for the 300 yards and a
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