Brigadier-General William Francis Howard Stafford (19 December 1854 – 8 August 1942) was a British Army officer who served with the Royal Engineers in various campaigns in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Towards the end of his career, he was in command of the South Irish coastal defences. In his youth, he was a keen amateur sportsman and played rugby football for England against Scotland in 1874 and association football for the Royal Engineers, being on the winning side in the 1875 FA Cup Final. Family and education Stafford was born at Hansi, in what is now the Indian state of Haryana, on 19 December 1854 into a military family. His father was William Joseph Fitzmaurice Stafford (c.1820–1887), a major-general in the Bengal Staff Corps, who was the son of Major-General John Stafford (1785–1846). John Stafford was the cousin of Berkeley Buckingham Stafford (1797–1847) (High Sheriff of Louth in 1828), the father of Sir Edward Stafford (1819–1901), who served three terms as the Prime Minister of New Zealand. Stafford's mother, Emily Mary (c.1832–1909) was the daughter of Major Gavin Young, Judge Advocate General with the East India Company. William's two brothers also joined the Royal Engineers. Henry Laurence Caulfeild Howard Stafford (1859–1948) retired in 1909 with the rank of lieutenant-colonel while their younger brother Edmund Hyde Boyle Whalley Howard Stafford (1868–1940) retired in 1912 as a major. Stafford was educated at Wellington College from 1867 to 1871, before enrolling at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich in 1872. Sporting career Stafford played rugby at both Wellington College and the Royal Military Academy, before joining Richmond Rugby Club. On 23 February 1874, aged 19 years 66 days, he earned his only Rugby cap when he was selected to play for England against Scotland in the international match at Kennington Oval, which ended in a 1–0 victory for England. On joining the Royal Engineers in 1873, Stafford commenced playing association football, becoming a "resolute forward, working to the very last", although he was "a little too fond of a charge". At this time, the Royal Engineers were among the top football teams in England, having reached the final of the first FA Cup tournament in 1872 and again two years later, finishing on both occasions as runners-up. In the run to the 1875 final, Stafford scored twice in the early rounds in a 5–0 victory over Cambridge University and in the