Lord Clinton, largest landowner in Devon and a popular and conscientious countryman

His energy was boundless and his informality exemplary: ‘Don’t call me Lord Clinton. It makes me feel old,’ he would say. ‘Call me Gerard’

The 22nd Baron Clinton, who has died aged 89, was a popular figure in his native West Country and far beyond, as a landowner, farmer, yachtsman, shot and countryman.
The three Clinton estates in East and North Devon extend to more than 25,000 acres, making it the largest private landholding in the county. “The Clinton title is embedded in holding land,” Lord Clinton wrote in an official history of the barony, the seventh most ancient in England, created in 1299 by Edward I. “It has been of fundamental importance to me to manage and build on all that I inherited from my great-grandfather to pass on to the next generation.”
He was born Gerard Nevile Mark Fane, on October 7 1934 at 23 Belgrave Square, London, in what is now the German Embassy. His mother was Gladys, née Lowther; his father was Charles Fane, elder son of Harriet Fane, who was herself the elder of two daughters to Charles Trefusis, 21st Baron Clinton, who had no son.
Charles Fane was killed in action in Flanders shortly before the evacuation from Dunkirk in 1940, when his only son was five years old, and his two daughters even younger.
Gerard was then educated at Cothill Preparatory School and Gordonstoun. Much of his childhood was spent in Devon with his Clinton great-grandfather.
Following National Service with the Royal Scots between 1953 and 1955, Gerard joined the Hampshire land agents Pink and Arnold as a pupil. Under his great-grandfather’s influence he developed a passion for the countryside and rural life, becoming a public champion of farming and forestry across the West Country.
In 1957, on his great-grandfather’s death at the age of 94, the barony fell into abeyance, first between his daughters Harriet Fane and Fenella Bowes-Lyon, and then, after Harriet’s death the following year, between Gerard Fane (Harriet’s grandson and heir) and Fenella, Gerard’s great-aunt, who subsequently waived her claim to the title. On March 18 1965, on the termination of the abeyance, Gerard received a writ of summons to Parliament as the 22nd Baron Clinton.
In 1959 Gerard Fane married Nicola Harriette Purdon Coote, always known as Nicky. A year earlier he adopted the surname Fane Trefusis by deed poll, combining the family names of his father and great-grandfather.
The young couple set about their duties to the estate and wider community – he was patron or member of more than 50 charitable organisations – with an exemplary energy and informality that was to remain with them for the rest of their lives. “Don’t call me Lord Clinton,” Gerard was heard to tell a young wedding guest. “It makes me feel old. Call me Gerard.”
The Clinton’s marital home became Heanton Satchville, the family seat near Okehampton in North Devon. It was from here that Lord Clinton and Kevin Brosnan, his keeper of 40 seasons, developed a renowned private pheasant shoot, regarded as one of the best in the South West of England, with hospitality to match.
Lord Clinton and his trustees were widely recognised for their far-sighted approach to land and property stewardship, especially under the estates’ dynamic chief executive John Varley. Clinton Devon Estates went on to receive the Queen’s Award for Enterprise (sustainable development) three times and made repeated appearances on the Sunday Times’s list of the “Best 100 Companies to Work For”. Part of the East Devon estate recently became a National Nature Reserve.
Although a firm believer in traditional farming and the importance of food production, Gerard Clinton kept an open mind on the need to modify land use to reflect changing times. The Lower Otter Restoration Project, completed this year in Budleigh Salterton, demonstrated that, with time, resources and determination, threatened coastal wildlife could be helped to adapt to rising sea levels. During its development, Lord Clinton was regularly discovered on the wrong side of the security fence, inspecting the works.
Although content to leave the management of day-to-day operations to others, Clinton and his wife took a detailed and sympathetic interest in everything that went on in North and East Devon. He held high office in a range of local, regional and national organisations and was a member or supporter of many others.
He was active in the House of Lords between 1965 and 1999 and served as a Justice of the Peace for 20 years until 1983 and as a Deputy Lieutenant of Devon from 1977. He sat on the Council of the Duchy of Cornwall from 1968 to 1979, and was president of the Devon County Show in 1978 and of the Royal Show in 2003, held at Stoneleigh Park.
He greatly enjoyed rearing his own herd of pedigree Red Devon cattle, whose bloodlines could be traced back to the 1880s. Of the Foot and Mouth epidemic which came so severely to North Devon in 2001, he said: “It was as bad as losing a friend; it was like losing lots of friends.” A new herd was established as he was determined that this traditional Devon breed should survive and flourish.
A well-informed enthusiasm for the cultivation of trees led eventually to his presidency of the Royal Forestry Society (2001-2003) and accreditation by the Forestry Stewardship Council of the estate’s sustainably managed woodlands.
A keen angler, Clinton was president of the River Torridge Fishery Association from its inception in 1979 and a driving force behind efforts to reverse the decline in salmon stocks. As a founding trustee of the West Country Rivers Trust he encouraged riparian owners to take collective responsibility for the improvement of their rivers.
He developed warm relationships with local politicians, clergy and community leaders. He read four or five newspapers and magazines every day and habitually left press cuttings on managers’ desks in the estate office.
He was perhaps less au fait with modern technology. Taking possession of one of the early mobile phones, he was driving his Ford Granada Estate when he decided to call his great friend and fellow Devon landowner, the Earl of Iddesleigh. The call was cut shot when he ran into a tree.
Clinton much enjoyed sailing and was a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron. With his close friend Sir Simon Day (Leader of Devon County Council) he commissioned the building of Apollyon, a Fairey Marine Swordsman powerboat in which, from the 1970s onwards, they explored the Devon inlets and coast. Less pleasant was a crossing of the English Channel during the violent storm which sank Edward Heath’s Morning Cloud in 1974.
An abiding passion for the turf occupied much of whatever time was not absorbed by estate business and other pursuits. During the 1970s Clinton took a large coach party of employees to see his mare Streak of Honour – respectively trained and ridden by the great Peter Walwyn and Pat Eddery – run at Royal Ascot. Even towards the end of his life Clinton and his wife would make flying visits to France, cheering on, occasionally to victory, the racehorses in which he still loved to invest.
Clinton’s firm belief that a strong economy was essential to enable rural communities to thrive inspired substantial new investment in business parks and commercial and residential property in East and North Devon, providing jobs and homes for many hundreds of local people.
He built on the achievements of his predecessors by providing land for primary schools in Merton and Beer, sports grounds, allotments and open public access, as well as many miles of permissive paths. He set up a charitable trust which contributed substantially to deserving local causes over many years.
Lord Clinton is survived by his wife and by two daughters and a son, Charles Patrick Rolle Fane Trefusis, born in 1962, who succeeds as the 23rd Baron.
Lord Clinton, born October 7 1934, died April 2 2024