Family and Education

b. c.1560, 1st s. of Edmund Trafford I of Trafford by his 2nd w. m. (1) 1573, Margaret, da. of John Booth of Barton, 3s. 1da.; (2) aft. 1595, Mildred (d. 23 Dec. 1611), da. of Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, wid of (Sir) Thomas Reade, 1s. 1da. suc. fa. 14 May 1590. Kntd. 1603.1

Offices Held

J.p. Lancs. by 1587, dep. lt., sheriff 1601-2, 1608, 1616-17; eccles. commr. province of York 1603.2

Biography

Trafford, brought into Parliament for Newton through a connexion with the Langton family, was, like his father, strongly protestant. In 1564 he was contracted in marriage to Margaret Booth, apparently in order to unite the two family estates and thereby augment the diminishing Trafford properties. The marriage was celebrated when the couple were about 13 and 12 years old respectively. Three years later John Booth died, and Trafford received half the township of Barton. This marriage broke up some time before 1592 and all Margaret’s children were later disinherited.3

Little is known about Trafford’s life, in spite of the eminence of his connexions. He accompanied his uncle, Sir Robert Cecil, to meet King James at York in 1603, and was knighted upon that occasion. He died 8 May 1620 and was buried by torchlight in Manchester collegiate church. He was succeeded by his youngest son, Sir Cecil, who later became a Catholic.4

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: N.M.S.

Notes

• 1. Foster, Lancs. Peds.; VCH Lancs. iv. 332.
• 2. Lansd. 53, f. 178; Stanley Pprs. (Chetham Soc. xxxi), 99; VCH Lancs. iv. 332; HMC Hatfield, xv. 394.
• 3. Crofton, Stretford (Chetham Soc. n.s. li), 130-3; VCH Lancs. iv. 332-3.
• 4. Croston, Lancs. and Cheshire Fams., 205.