Judith Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth

• Honorific Prefix — The Right Honourable • Name — The Baroness Wentworth • Born — 6 February 1873 • Died — 8 August 1957 • Occupation — Arabian horse breeder • Parents — Wilfrid Scawen Blunt Anne Blunt, 15th Baroness Wentworth • Children — Noel Lytton, 4th Earl of Lytton Lady Anne Lytton-Milbanke Lady Winifrid Tryon

Judith was the only surviving child of the poet Wilfrid Scawen Blunt and his wife, Lady Anne, a daughter of William King-Noel, 1st Earl of Lovelace, and his wife, the renowned mathematician Ada Lovelace. Therefore, she was also the great-granddaughter of Lord Byron. Judith spent most of her childhood in Egypt and other parts of the Middle East while her parents travelled to purchase Arabian horses for their Crabbet Arabian Stud back in England and their Sheykh Obeyd stud in Cairo. Thus, the family was familiar with middle eastern culture and spoke fluent Arabic and Turkish.

On 2 February 1899, Judith married Neville Stephen Lytton, the youngest son of the Earl of Lytton. The marriage took place in Cairo; when they returned to England, they moved into a house in the grounds of her parents' estate, Crabbet Park, near Crawley, filled with relics of Judith's great-grandfather, Lord Byron. The couple had three children: Noel Anthony Scawen (1900–1985), Anne (later known as Lady Anne Lytton) (1901–1979) and Winifred (later known as Lady Winifrid Tryon) (1904–1985). The couple became estranged, and divorced in 1923. Neville soon remarried, but Lady Wentworth never did, focusing on managing Crabbet Park until her death. In 1904, Judith's father turned over the Crabbet property to her; she changed her surname to Blunt-Lytton that year. Two years later, her estranged parents divided the estate, Wilfrid living close by at Newbuildings Place, while Lady Anne remained in Egypt, managing the Sheykh Obeyd Stud as a breeding centre for Arabian horses. • Illustration — Lady Wentworth and her prized Arabian stallion, Skowronek. In 1917, Judith inherited her mother's barony of Wentworth. Due primarily to the maneuvering of Wilfrid in an attempt to disinherit Judith and obtain the entire Crabbet property, Judith and her mother were estranged at the time and thus Lady Anne's share of the Crabbet Stud passed to Judith's daughters, under the oversight of an independent trustee. This angered Wilfrid and a lawsuit soon followed. Ownership of the Arabian horses went back and forth between the estates of father and daughter in the following years. Wilfrid sold a number of horses in his control, mostly to pay off debts. Some animals were later repurchased by Judith, though she was unable to recover others, especially those exported to the United States. The lawsuit was eventually settled in favour of the granddaughters and Judith. Between her own pre-existing ownership and the shares of the estate she purchased from the trustee for her daughters, Judith retained control of the Stud, though she had to overcome considerable financial difficulties. Judith was a respected breeder of King Charles Spaniels and a dog judge. In 1911 her authoritative work on the ancestors of several of the toy dog breeds was published.