{{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)<br>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.<ref name="BOOK">{{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}}</ref> He was educated at Diocesan College,<ref>{{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}}</ref> where he was regarded as academically gifted.<ref name="CAPE">{{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}}</ref>

Described by ''Wisden'' as "a useful cricketer",<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> Playing primarily as a batsman, he scored 842 runs in sixteen first-class matches,<ref>{{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}}</ref> making six fifties and one century, a score of 103 against Griqualand West.<ref name="BOOK"/> Difford also played rugby.<ref name="CAPE"/>

Difford married Katrina Wilhelmina van Lier Kuys in June 1913; they had two children.<ref name="BOOK"/> 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.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30212|date=31 July 1917|page=7870|supp=y}}</ref> 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.<ref name="BOOK"/>

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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *{{cricinfo|id=44704}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Difford, Achibald}} Category:1883 births Category:1918 deaths Category:Cricketers from Cape Town Category:Alumni of Diocesan College, Cape Town Category:South African cricketers Category:Western Province cricketers Category:Gauteng cricketers Category:The Rest (South Africa) cricketers Category:South African Army officers Category:South African military personnel killed in World War I