Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex
Walter Devereux was the eldest son of Sir Richard Devereux, who was created a Knight of the Bath on 20 February 1547 and died that same year, in the lifetime of his father, The 1st Viscount Hereford. Walter Devereux's mother was Lady Dorothy Hastings, daughter of The 1st Earl of Huntingdon and Anne Stafford, said to have been a mistress of Henry VIII. Through his paternal ancestry he was related to the Bourchier family, to which previous Earls of Essex had belonged: John Devereux, son of Walter Devereux who died at the Battle of Bosworth, married Cecily Bourchier, sister of Henry Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Essex.
Walter Devereux (1411–1459)
As the King and the Lancasterian party manoeuvred to reverse their losses, lawlessness increased on the Welsh Marches. Walter Devereux, as Constable of Wigmore Castle, was up in arms. In the summer of 1456, he descended on Hereford with the castle's garrison and captured the mayor and justices. Devereux then brought before the justices several local men whom he had the justices condemn to death by hanging. He mustered a force of 2000 archers from Gwent, and marched on the castles at Carmarthen and Aberystwyth, which he took by assault. Afterwards he declared a commission of Oyer and terminer to judge and condemn men whom he believed hostile to York. Among his prisoners were Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, and Robert Rees, Keeper of the Welsh Seal. The king placed Walter Devereux under a recognizance of 1000L on 26 September 1456 to be paid if he didn't immediately turn himself in at Windsor Castle. He, and his son, were also among a group of prominent Herefordshire Yorkists placed under another recognizance of 5000 marks on 2 June 1457 to be paid if they did not turn themselves in for imprisonment at Marshalsea. Devereux, along with Humphrey Stafford and Clement Spryce, were placed under an additional recognizance of 2000 marks on 3 June to be paid if Humphrey Stafford did not turn himself in at Marshalsea. In early 1458 Henry VI granted Walter Devereux a pardon as part of his general effort at reconciliation with the Yorkists, and this was followed by a grant of land in Drogheda in Ireland in 1459.