District from January 1903 to April 1905, receiving promotion to brevet-colonel on 10 February 1904. In April 1905, on completion of five years' service as a regimental Lieutenant-Colonel, Stafford was placed on half-pay. He was restored to full pay on 8 August 1906, when he was appointed Chief Engineer for the Southern Command based at Salisbury, gaining the temporary rank of Brigadier-General on 5 October 1907. On 19 December 1911, Stafford retired and was awarded the honorary rank of brigadier-general on 5 October 1912 . First World War service Following the outbreak of the First World War, Stafford offered his services to the army, and on 6 June 1915, he was appointed Officer Commanding South Irish Coastal Defences, based at Victoria Barracks, Cork, with the rank of brigadier-general. In April 1916, at the outset of the Easter Rising. Stafford was involved in an incident concerning Tomás Mac Curtain, the commander of the Irish Volunteers in Cork, who had occupied the volunteer hall, which had been surrounded by British troops. Stafford appointed his aide-de-camp, Captain F. W. Dickie, to negotiate terms with Mac Curtain for the temporary surrender of his forces' weapons to enable the hall to be vacated. In the event, the arms were not returned but Mac Curtain was arrested and imprisoned. On 26 July 1917, Stafford was graded for purposes of pay as a staff captain, and retired finally on 11 April 1918. Marriage and children On 9 February 1884, at Holy Trinity Church, Brompton, 29-year old William Stafford married 24-year old Edith Mary Culling Carr (1859–1931), the daughter of Francis Culling Carr-Gomm and his late wife, Jeanie. Edith's half-brother was Hubert Carr-Gomm, who became M.P. for Rotherhithe in 1906. The couple had four children: Janet Elsie Howard (1885–1980) Lucy Edith Howard (1886–1966) Ursula Howard (1888–1982) John Howard (1890–1976) John followed his father into the Royal Engineers, retiring with the rank of brigadier. He was appointed O.B.E. in the 1945 Birthday Honours. Death Stafford died at his home, "Thornbury" in Crowthorne, Berkshire on 8 August 1942. He was buried at St. John the Baptist Church, Crowthorne alongside his wife, Edith, who had died 11 years earlier. Notes Several modern sources claim that Stafford scored the second goal in the replay, but no contemporaneous reports support this, most of which report that the ball crossed the line in a goalmouth scramble. In his obituary in the Royal Engineers' Journal