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Archibald Cunningham

Scottish footballer (1879-1915)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 9, 2024
Entity authorityQ26212427 ↗
Source-derived summary

Archibald Cunningham (30 April 1879 – 18 March 1915) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper in the Scottish League for Leith Athletic.

Personal life

Cunningham was born in Rosewell and grew up in Lasswade. He enlisted in the Highland Light Infantry in March 1903 and later worked as a miner at the Woolmet Pits. In September 1914, shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, Cunningham re-enlisted as a private in the Highland Light Infantry. Cunningham was killed in France on 18 March 1915 after the Battle of Neuve Chapelle and is commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Archibald Cunningham” as scottish footballer (1879-1915). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Archibald, Cunningham and Scottish.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1879, 1915, 1903, 1914—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Archibald, Cunningham and Scottish providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Archibald Cunningham”, the useful work is to connect “scottish footballer (1879-1915)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 9, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q26212427. The first chronological checks are 1879, 1915, 1903 and 1914.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Archibald Cunningham”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Archibald Cunningham primary sources, Archibald Cunningham archive and Archibald research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Archibald Cunningham”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Archibald Cunningham” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.