Archibald Difford

{{short description|South African cricketer and South African Army officer}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}

{{Infobox cricketer

| name = Archibald Difford

| image =

| country = South Africa

| fullname = Archibald Newcombe Difford

| birth_date = 9 April 1883

| birth_place = Cape Town, Cape Colony

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1918|9|20|1883|4|9}}

| death_place = Kh Jibeit, Ottoman Syria

| heightft =

| heightinch =

| nickname =

| family = Ivor Difford (brother)
Murray Bisset (brother-in-law)

| batting =

| bowling =

| role = Batsman

| club1 = Western Province

| year1 = 1904/05–1907/08

| club2 = Transvaal

| year2 = 1908/09–1911/12

| columns = 1

| column1 = First-class

| matches1 = 16

| runs1 = 824

| bat avg1 = 29.42

| 100s/50s1 = 1/6

| top score1 = 103

| deliveries1 = 54

| wickets1 = 2

| bowl avg1 = 16.00

| fivefor1 = –

| tenfor1 = –

| best bowling1 = 1/13

| catches/stumpings1 = 8/–

| date = 30 March

| year = 2021

| source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/44704.html Cricinfo

}}

Archibald Newcombe Difford (9 April 1883 – 20 September 1918) was a South African first-class cricketer and South African Army officer.

The son of Abraham Difford, he was born at Cape Town in April 1883.{{cite book|last=McCrery|first=Nigel|title=Final Wicket: Test and First Class Cricketers Killed in the Great War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6mphCgAAQBAJ|date=30 July 2015|publisher=Pen and Sword|isbn=978-1473864191|page=589}} He was educated at Diocesan College,{{cite magazine|magazine=Old Diocesans Union|title=Roll of Honour|url=https://www.bishops.org.za/magazine/Sep2013/OD.pdf|date=September 2013|publisher=Diocesan College|page=2}} where he was regarded as academically gifted.{{cite book|last=Harmse|first=Kyle|title=The Cape Corps: South Africa's Coloured Soldiers in the First World War|url=https://ujcontent.uj.ac.za/vital/access/manager/Index?site_name=Research%20Output|date=2012|publisher=University of Johannesburg|page=45|access-date=31 March 2021}}

Described by Wisden as "a useful cricketer",{{cite web |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/228161.html|title=Wisden - Obituaries during the war, 1918|date=2 December 2005 |publisher=ESPNcricinfo|access-date=31 March 2021}} Difford made his debut in first-class cricket for Western Province against Eastern Province in the quarter-final of the 1904/05 Currie Cup. He played first-class cricket until the 1911/12 season, making eleven appearances for Western Province, in addition to four for Transvaal and one for The Rest.{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/2/2923/First-Class_Matches.html|title=First-Class Matches played by Archibald Difford|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=31 March 2021|url-access=subscription}} Playing primarily as a batsman, he scored 842 runs in sixteen first-class matches,{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/2/2923/f_Batting_by_Team.html|title=First-Class Batting and Fielding For Each Team by Archibald Difford|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=31 March 2021|url-access=subscription}} making six fifties and one century, a score of 103 against Griqualand West. Difford also played rugby.

Difford married Katrina Wilhelmina van Lier Kuys in June 1913; they had two children. He served in the First World War with the South African Army, being commissioned in January 1917 as a temporary second lieutenant in the 1st Cape Corps.{{London Gazette|issue=30212|date=31 July 1917|page=7870|supp=y}} He was killed in action in Ottoman Palestine on 20 September 1918, during the Battle of Nablus. He was buried at the Jerusalem War Cemetery.

His brother Ivor and brother-in-law Murray Bisset both played first-class cricket. His name was memorialised by the Gauteng Cricket Board in 2000, with the erection of a Memorial Wall for Transvaal cricketers killed in the two world wars.{{cite web |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/gauteng-erects-a-memorial-wall-90992|title=Gauteng erects a Memorial Wall|first=Linda|last=Watling|publisher=ESPNcricinfo|date=2000-05-16|access-date=31 March 2021}}