Sir Humphrey de Trafford, 3rd Baronet

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Sir Humphrey Francis de Trafford, 3rd Baronet (3 July 1862 – 10 January 1929), was an English landowner and racehorse breeder. He was the son of Sir Humphrey de Trafford, 2nd Baronet, and Lady Annette Mary Talbot. After his father died on 4 May 1886, Humphrey became the 3rd Baronet de Trafford. He married Violet Alice Maud Franklin, daughter of James Franklin, on 9 August 1886, and they had four children.

In 1896, the family estate of Trafford Park was put up for sale. The auction was held on 7 May 1896 at the Grand Hotel in Manchester. The sale catalogue described Trafford Park as a grand Italian-style mansion in a beautifully timbered deer park, but the price did not reach the reserve of £300,000. There was much public debate about whether Manchester should buy Trafford Park. The city could not agree terms quickly enough, so on 23 June 1896 Ernest Terah Hooley bought Trafford Park for £360,000.

After the sale, Sir Humphrey moved to Hill Crest in Market Harborough. He served as an officer in the Lancashire Hussars Imperial Yeomanry and was promoted to Major on 1 July 1901. In 1903 he was 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 faced bankruptcy in a public scandal, even though he claimed an annual income of $240,000. His wife, Lady de Trafford, died on 20 July 1925. Sir Humphrey died four years later, on 10 January 1929, aged 66.

Correspondence and government accounts related to death duties on his estate are held by The National Archives, but they were sealed until 2006.