Name Rupert 3rd Died August 8, 2003 | Education Eton College | |
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(Joseph) Rupert Eric Robert Watson, 3rd Baron Manton (22 January 1924 – 8 August 2003), DL, of Houghton Hall in the parish of Sancton, Yorkshire, was a British soldier, landowner and racehorse owner who served as Senior Steward of the Jockey Club (1982-5).
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Background and education
He was the only son and heir of Miles Watson, 2nd Baron Manton by his first wife Alethea Langdale, the younger of the two daughters and co-heireses of Colonel Philip Joseph Langdale, OBE, JP, DL, of Houghton Hall. In 1936 when Watson was 12 years of age, his parents were divorced and his father remarried two years later.
He was educated at Eton. He inherited the barony on the death of his father in 1968. He was given Houghton Hall by his aunt Countess FitzWilliam (1898-1995) (née Joyce Elizabeth Mary Langdale) who from 1956 was the wife of William Thomas George Wentworth-FitzWilliam, 10th Earl FitzWilliam (1904–1979). With her husband's home, Wentworth Woodhouse, near Rotherham, Yorkshire, being the largest private residence in England, and with his second seat of Milton Hall, Peterborough, being the largest house in Cambridgeshire, also at her disposal, she may have felt little need to retain Houghton for her own use.
Military career
In 1942 Watson joined the British Army and the next year was commissioned into the Life Guards. He saw service in Egypt, Germany, and Italy. He was promoted captain and retired in 1947. In 1951 he returned to the army and served in the 7th Queen's Own Hussars until 1956. He then served in the Leicestershire Yeomanry, in which he was appointed Adjutant.
Horse racing
From a young age, Watson was a successful jockey having won 130 times as an amateur. He won the Kim Muir Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in 1955 riding Gay Monarch.
Following the example of his father, who had established a stud at Plumpton Place in Sussex, he became a successful owner and breeder of racehorses. In 1970 he was a director of Thirsk Racecourse in Yorkshire. From 1970 to 1975 he was a member of the Horserace Betting Levy Board, created to divert monies from bookmakers to the racing industry. In 1982 he was appointed Senior Steward of the Jockey Club, becoming effectively chief executive of the British horse racing, which term ended in 1985. As Senior Steward he led the campaign to allow betting shops to show televised races.
Manton was a steward at several racecourses, Doncaster, Beverley and York Racecourse. He was a Tattersalls Committee member and between 1985 and 1991 he chaired the York Race Committee. In 1998 he entered a horse he bred and owned, Silver Stick, in the Horse & Hound Grand Military Gold Cup at Sandown Park. His son Miles was the jockey and won the race. When the Queen Mother presented Manton with his trophy he told her: "I saddled the horse; I bred the horse - and the jockey."
Fox-hunting
He was Field Master of both the Belvoir and the Quorn Foxhounds and was a "well known" hunter in Leicestershire.
Family
On 9 January 1951 Lord Manton married Mary Hallinan, known as Mimi, the daughter of Major Thomas Dennehy Hallinan, of County Cork. They lived initially near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. They had two sons and a daughter who were triplets and two elder daughters.
He was given Houghton Hall, East Riding of Yorkshire the ancient seat of the extinct Barony of Langdale, by his aunt Joyce Elizabeth Mary, Countess FitzWilliam, heiress of her father Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Joseph Langdale and wife of the 10th Earl Fitzwilliam. He moved to the East Riding of Yorkshire (now Humberside) to run Houghton Hall and its 5,000-acre (20 km2) estate. He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Humberside in 1980.
On his death on 8 August 2003 the title passed to Miles, his eldest son. Miles was formerly a successful amateur jockey and was an officer in the Life Guards.