Educated at Eton College, in 1939 Whyte-Melville-Skeffington married Annabelle Kathleen, daughter of the late Henry D. Lewis, of Combwell Priory, Kent.
Lord Masserene and Ferrard was responsible for introducing to parliament the Deer Act in 1963, the Export of Animals for Research Bill 1968, the Riding Establishments Act 1970, the Valerie Mary Hill and Alan Monk (Marriage Enabling) Bill 1984, and moved debates on Overseas Information Services and other matters.
[1] Lord Massereene was the driver of the leading British car in the Le Mans Grand Prix D'endurance in 1937, and promoted the first scheduled air service between Glasgow-Oban-Isle of Mull, 1968.
But archaeological excavations carried out in the 1920s suggest that it stands on the foundations of a much older Anglo-Saxon fortification, possibly dating from the 5th century, and there is evidence of earlier Roman habitation in the vicinity.
The gardens, originally laid out by John Tradescant the elder, were redesigned in the 18th century under the guidance of Capability Brown and include a fine terrace leading down to a fishing lake.
It was set alight in 1922 either in a night time raid by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) which was never proved or a defect in the heating system or a faulty flue[2] and destroyed.