BIO

Popular Gawler sportsman Charlie Bischof played two seasons with Norwood and then bounced back from a deep personal tragedy which occurred early in his long banking career.

Charlie was born on 14 December 1868 to Hermann Bischof and his wife Henrietta (née Lange) at Spring Gully in the Barossa.  He went to school at Gawler and later joined the local branch of the Bank of Adelaide.  Charlie and older brother Henry were members of the Gawler football team that defeated the visiting Medindie side by four goals to one in June 1889.

Transferred by the bank to Adelaide, Charlie made his debut with Norwood against South Adelaide before big crowd at Kensington Oval on 2 May 1891. He kicked the second goal in a winning score of 5.13 to 1.2 and finished the season with three goals in five games.  He was one of 17 players named to tackle Adelaide's 20 on 14 May 1892.  It is not recorded if Norwood took the field with a full team but we do know that Adelaide was crushed, 15.16 to 1.2.  Charlie also played for the Norwood Cricket Club with the legendary George Giffen.

Charlie married Ann Corbet Mitchell, of Unley, on 8 July 1896 and their son, also named Charlie, was born on 8 January 1898.  Joy turned to ashes when Annie died of puerperal fever 12 days later.  She was 27.

Charlie threw himself into work and altogether served the bank across the state and metropolitan area for nearly 47 years.  He continued to play sport wherever he was posted.  In 1904, during his 10-year stint at Georgetown, he recorded a batting average of 84 for nine innings, with a top score of 138 not out.

At 56 Charlie took a new wife, Ada Annie Adams, but they had only 10 years together before she passed on.  Charlie retired from the bank at the end of 1930 and was 88 when he died at Nailsworth on 29 June 1957.  His son, Charlie Corbet Bischof, served as a corporal in World War I and also became a successful banker

* Picture kindly provided by Paul Walsh

P Robins and D Cox Jan 2019