Sir Humphrey de Trafford, 3rd Baronet

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Among Sir Humphrey's interests was dog breeding. This portrait was printed in the 1902 book Dog Shows and Doggy People.

Sir Humphrey Francis de Trafford (1862-1929) was an English landowner and racehorse breeder. He was born on 3 July 1862, the son of Sir Humphrey de Trafford, 2nd Baronet and Lady Annette Mary Talbot.

On the death of his father on 4 May 1886, Humphrey became became the Third Baronet de Trafford. Later the same year, on 9 August, he married Violet Alice Maud Franklin, daughter of James Franklin. They had four children:

Humphrey Edmund, born 30 November 1891, who became the Fourth Baronet
Violet Mary, born 8 May 1893
Rudolph Edgar Francis, born 31 August 1894, who became the Fifth Baronet
Raymond Vincent, born 28 January 1900, who was the lover and briefly the second husband of Alice de Janzé

In 1896, Sir Humphrey put the family estate of Trafford Park up for sale. The auction was held on 7 May 1896 in the Grand Hotel, Manchester. The estate was described in the sale catalogue as comprising a "distinguished family mansion of imposing elevation, built in the Italian style, seated in a beautifully timbered deer park".^[1] However it failed to reach its reported reserve price of £300,000.^[2] There was much public debate, before and after the abortive sale, as to whether Manchester Corporation ought to buy Trafford Park. But it could not agree terms quickly enough, and so, on 23 June 1896, Ernest Terah Hooley became the new owner of Trafford Park, for the sum of £360,000.

In 1903 Sir Humphrey served as president of the Royal Lancashire Agricultural Society and in 1905, he published Foxhounds of Great Britain and Ireland and their Masters and Huntsmen.

In July 1907, Sir Humphrey de Trafford caused scandal in European society circles when he was taken to court for bankruptcy despite claiming an annual income of $240,000.^[3]

Sir Humphrey Francis de Trafford died on 10 January 1929, aged 66.