Harald William Baker (29 September 1882 – 17 October 1962) was a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player who represented

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Baker, a flanker, was born in

Paddington, New South Wales Paddington is an upscale inner-city area of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Located east of the Sydney central business district, Paddington lies across two local government areas. The portion south of Oxford Street lies wi ...

and claimed three international rugby caps for Australia. He was the brother of the multi-talented Australian sporting star

Snowy Baker Reginald Leslie "Snowy" Baker (8 February 18842 December 1953) was an Australian athlete, sports promoter, and actor. Born in Surry Hills, an inner-city suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Baker excelled at a number of sports, winning New Sout ...

. Baker and

Jimmy Clarken James C. Clarken (19 July 1876 – 31 July 1953) was a rugby union player who represented Australia. Clarken, a prop, was born in Thames, New Zealand and claimed a total of 4 international rugby caps for Australia His debut game was against New ...

are remembered for their heroic rescues in the Coogee surf disaster of 28 January 1911. In this context his name is often found misspelled as "Harold Baker".

References

* Howell, Max (2005) ''Born to Lead – Wallaby Test Captains'', Celebrity Books, Auckland NZ Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players 1882 births 1962 deaths Rugby union flankers Rugby union players from Sydney {{Australia-rugbyunion-bio-stub