Background
He was born at Norton-on-Tees, County Durham and died at Sherborne, Dorset, where he was for many years a schoolmaster at Sherborne School.
He was born at Norton-on-Tees, County Durham and died at Sherborne, Dorset, where he was for many years a schoolmaster at Sherborne School.
Walford was educated at Rugby School, where he was in the rugby, hockey and cricket teams.
He played all five matches as half-back. As a school cricketer, he was a middle order batsman and a slow left-arm bowler and he appeared in the schools match at Lord"s against Marlborough College, part of the annual public schools games held each year at the then "headquarters" of cricket, in four consecutive years from 1931 to 1934. He was captain of the cricket team at the school in 1934.
In 1934, he played for the "Lord"s Schools" side against "The Rest" in the annual match of the best of the public school cricketers, and then for the "Public Schools" side chosen to play The Army cricket team
As a rugby player, he first came to prominence as a 17-year-old when he was named as one of the centre three-quarters in the England public schoolboys" rugby team to play Scotland in the annual match at the start of 1933. In the same fixture in the 1933/34 season Walford"s defensive play was singled out in the report in The Times as a factor in the English side"s victory.
Walford was playing county standard rugby union before he went up to Oxford University in autumn 1934. At Oxford, his first sporting success in November 1934 was to be selected for the university"s hockey team, where he played at centre half.
But within four weeks he was also playing for the rugby first fifteen as several players were rested in advanced of the University Match.
He was a member of the British field hockey team at the 1948 summer Olympic Games, held in London.