(Joseph) Rupert Eric Robert Watson, 3rd Baron Manton DL (22 January 1924 – 8 August 2003), was a British soldier, landowner and racehorse owner.
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Watson was the son of Miles Watson, 2nd Baron Manton, and Alethea Langdale, second daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Joseph Langdale, of Houghton Hall, Sancton, Yorkshire. He was educated at Eton. He inherited the barony on the death of his father in 1968.
Watson joined the British Army in 1942. He was commissioned into the Life Guards in 1943 and saw service in Italy, Germany and Egypt. He retired from the Army in 1947 with the rank of captain but then rejoined and served again in the 7th (Queen's Own) Hussars from 1951 to 1956. He was appointed Adjutant to the Leicestershire Yeomanry (the 7th Hussars' sister regiment).
As a young amateur jockey Watson rode 130 winners including Gay Monarch in the 1955 Kim Muir chase at the Cheltenham Festival. Following the example of his father, who had established a stud at Plumpton Place in Sussex, he became himself a successful owner and breeder of racehorses. He was a director of Thirsk racecourse from 1970. From 1970 to 1975, Manton was a member of the Horserace Betting Levy Board, the organisation formed in 1961 to raise money from bookmakers to plough back into racing. In 1982 he was appointed Senior Steward of the Jockey Club, becoming effectively chief executive of the horse racing industry, which term ended in 1985. As Senior Steward he led the campaign to allow betting shops to show televised races. He was chairman of the York Race Committee (1985–91); a member of the Tattersalls Committee, which rules on betting disputes; and a steward at Beverley, York and Doncaster racecourses. Even from before his Melton Mowbray days he had been a passionate rider to hounds and retained a special affection for the Leicestershire country, serving there, albeit a long commute from Houghton Hall, as Field Master of both the Quorn and the Belvoir foxhounds.
Lord Manton married Mary Elizabeth Hallinan, daughter of Major Thomas Dennehy Hallinan, of Ashbourne, Glounthaune, County Cork, on 9 January 1951. They lived initially near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, and had five children, including triplets. He was given Houghton Hall, 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. In 1980 he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Humberside. On his death on 8 August 2003 the title passed to his eldest son, Miles, an officer in the Life Guards, formerly a successful amateur jockey.
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by (George) Miles Watson |
Baron Manton 1968-2003 |
Succeeded by Miles Ronald Marcus Watson |