Charles Backman


Charles James "'Rappie" Backman' was an Australian cricketer. He played in one first-class match for South Australia in the 1911–12 Sheffield Shield season. He was killed during the Gallipoli Campaign and was the first Australian cricketer who played in the Sheffield Shield to be killed in World War I.

Family

One of the nine children of Kaspar Swanton Charles Maclean Bachman, and Mary Anne Backman, née Reid, Charles James Bachman, was born in Adelaide, South Australia on 14 April 1884.
One of his brothers, Edward John Backman, and one of his brothers-in-law, Arthur John Benton, also served in the First AIF.

Military service

Employed as a boilermaker, Backman enlisted in the First AIF on 19 August 1914, served overseas and, as a member of the 10th Australian Infantry Battalion, he took part in the landing at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli, in Turkey on Sunday, 25 April 1915.

Death

He was killed in action at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli, Ottoman Turkey, somewhere between 25 April 1915 and 29 April 1915.