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 (born 1173)
Walter Devereux was born in 1173, the son of John Devereux. His father died in 1187 possibly from involvement in the de Braose campaigns in Wales and France. The Pipe Rolls of 1190 show 8 pounds and 13 pence of oblations due the king's court were pardoned for the lands of John Devereux in Herefordshire. As Walter was under-age his lands and 2 castles (including Lyonshall) were taken into the hands of the king and placed in the possession of the sheriff of Hereford, William de Braose. Devereux participated in the expansion of the Norman holdings in Ireland, and in 1210 Walter Devereux was listed as having been responsible to John (fitzJohn) Marshal for 20 shillings of fees for the maintenance of soldiers ‘beyond the water that is called Stiuthe,' and 2 marks for those at Carrickfergus in Ireland