Archibald Difford

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

Archibald Difford

Personal information
Full name	Archibald Newcombe Difford
Born	9 April 1883 Cape Town, Cape Colony
Died	20 September 1918(1918-09-20) (aged 35) Kh Jibeit, Ottoman Syria
Role	Batsman
Relations	Ivor Difford (brother) Murray Bisset (brother-in-law)
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1904/05–1907/08	Western Province
1908/09–1911/12	Transvaal
Career statistics
Competition First-class Matches 16 Runs scored 824 Batting average 29.42 100s/50s 1/6 Top score 103 Balls bowled 54 Wickets 2 Bowling average 16.00 5 wickets in innings – 10 wickets in match – Best bowling 1/13 Catches/stumpings 8/–
Source: Cricinfo, 30 March 2021

The son of Abraham Difford, he was born at Cape Town in April 1883.^[1] He was educated at Diocesan College,^[2] where he was regarded as academically gifted.^[3]

Described by Wisden as "a useful cricketer",^[4] 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.^[5] Playing primarily as a batsman, he scored 842 runs in sixteen first-class matches,^[6] making six fifties and one century, a score of 103 against Griqualand West.^[1] Difford also played rugby.^[3]

Difford married Katrina Wilhelmina van Lier Kuys in June 1913; they had two children.^[1] 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.^[7] 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.^[1]

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.^[8]