Rupert Watson, 3rd Baron Manton

Joseph Rupert Eric Robert Watson, 3rd Baron Manton, DL (22 January 1924 – 8 August 2003), 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 (1982–1985).

Origins He was the only son and heir of Miles Watson, 2nd Baron Manton of Compton Verney, Warwickshire, and later of Plumpton Place, East Sussex, by his first wife, Alethea Langdale, the younger of the two daughters and co-heiresses of Colonel Philip Joseph Langdale, In 1936 , when Watson was 12 years of age, his parents were divorced and his father remarried two years later. As Senior Steward he led the campaign to persuade the government to allow betting shops to show televised races. (of the T. Hallinan & Sons flour milling family which had mills at Glandalane, Fermoy; Avoncore, Midleton, etc ) and aunt of John Magnier the Irish billionaire business magnate and leading thoroughbred stud owner, son of her twin sister Evelyn Hallinan (Evie Stockwell). By coincidence Magnier's racing partner, Robert Sangster, was based at the famous training establishment at Manton, Wiltshire, which he purchased in 1985, formerly owned by Rupert's grandfather the 1st Baron Manton, and from which he took his title. By his wife he had two sons and a daughter who were triplets and two older daughters. and was an officer in the Life Guards.