Alan Marmaduke Cansdell was born in the Sydney suburb of Concord on 8 May 1895 to parents Gordon and Anna. He was 20 and working as a carpenter when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 10 January 1916. He embarked from Sydney with the 7th Field Artillery Brigade aboard HMAT Argyllshire on 11 May 1916. Cansdell was transferred to the 13th Battalion in November 1917 and also played the clarinet with the 13th Battalion Band. In 1919 he returned to Australia, where he married Charlotte Libbesson and worked as a compositor at the Government Printing Office. Cansdell enlisted in the Australian Army on 22 May 1939 and served as a bombadier with the 14th Field Brigade during the Second World War. He was discharged on 10 September 1941 and died in Balmain, Sydney, on 20 November 1950.