Walter Devereux (1411–1459)
Following the death of Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, on 18 January 1425, Richard, 3rd Duke of York inherited his estates along the Welsh Marches. This brought Walter Devereux into the retinue of the Duke, and he remained his loyal supporter throughout the War of the Roses. Devereux had been knighted by 22 September 1429 when he first represented Herefordshire in Parliament. He probably was in attendance on the Duke when he travelled with Henry VI to France for his coronation on 16 December 1429. On his return Devereux represented Herefordshire again in Parliament on 16 January 1430. He was listed on the subsidy rolls for Herefordshire of 12 January 1431 as holding his 1/3 of half a fee in Byford.
Walter Devereux (1411–1459)
Walter Devereux married Elizabeth Merbury in 1427. She was a daughter of Sir John Merbury, Chief Justice of South Wales and his wife Alice Pembridge. They had the following children:Walter Devereux was 8 years old at the death of his father in 1419. Following his marriage in 1427, he established his first residence at Bodenham, the core of his Devereux family estates. On 8 July 1427 Thomas Barton, Thomas Smith and Thomas Lightfoot, granted John and Agnes Merbury the manors of Bonington, West Leake and Treswell; 3 messuages and 5 virgates of land in Thrumpton in the county of Nottingham; the manors of Hemington and Braunstone and the advowson of the church of Braunstone in the county of Leicester; and a third part of the manors of Market Rasen and East Rasen in the county of Lincoln. They were to be held for the lives of John and Agnes, and after their decease remain to Walter Devereux and Elizabeth, his wife, and the heirs of their bodies. On the Subsidy Rolls of 1428 Walter Devereux held 1/3 of half a fee in Byford, and ½ fee in Bodenham. On 30 July 1428 Maurice Taylor, Roger Haynes, Richard Baby and William Mimm granted to Walter Devereux and his uncles, John and Richard Devereux, all the lands and tenements they held in Bradley and their fees of Weobley, Dilwyn, and King's Pyon in Herefordshire.