Another image from Country Life (21 July 1897). This wavy-coat, Barton Sweep, is described in the article as follows:
Barton Sweep and Barton Daisy are both high-class wavy-coated retrievers, bred from the best strains of the day. The former was well up in the prize list at Birmingham last year, and besides winning first at Ramsbottom, has taken several other prizes. Barton Daisy has recently been sold.
There is probably a very good reason why Daisy was sold. It turns out Sir Humphey de Trafford, her owner, was not the best money manager. The year before this article came out, he was forced to sell the family estate, Trafford Park, for £360,000. In 1906, he was forced to file for bankruptcy, even though he was making $240,000 a year.
He liked to keep himself in the good graces of high society, and this article is likely little more than a lower class noble “putting on the dog” to keep his position among those circles in which he ran. This article include a bunch of different finer purebred dogs, but none of them appear to be part of any breeding program. They appear to be nothing more than fine objects and shooting instruments.
They appear very much to be nothing more than symbols of Sir Humphrey’s prestige, which appears to be rather superficial. Born a noble. He liked to pretend he was a great businessman and landowner.
I guess one could say he was the Donald Trump of his day.
I’m amazed he didn’t talk about going into politics!
What a great looking dog …Barton Sweep