Betty Asquith was the daughter of Constance Manners (née Hamlyn Fane) and Lord Manners. Amongst his claims to fame was that he had won a bet that he could in six months buy, train and ride a Grand National winner. This he achieved on Seaman; to this day he remains the only peer to have won the Grand National. Betty’s husband, Arthur (son of Herbert Asquith, Prime Minister from 1908 to 1916), was a distinguished and brave volunteer soldier in the First World War. He reached the rank of Brigadier General, and was awarded the DSO and two bars. He returned to a business career after the war, but died prematurely in 1939.

Betty and Arthur had four daughters. Mary, the eldest, married Keith Rous from the Henham Estate in Suffolk in 1943. She inherited the Clovelly Estate on Betty’s death in 1962. Her son, John Rous, took over the running of the estate in 1983.