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 (died c. 1383)
Walter Devereux, as a retainer of the Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford, served with him in France. In May 1369 he was granted protection and appointed an attorney for 1 year while overseas in France. Devereux was with the forces John of Gaunt led to Calais, and participated in his raids into northern France. He was at the siege of Harfleur in October 1369 that had to be abandoned due to an outbreak of plague and dysentery. He fought at the Battle of the Ford of Blanchetaque on the Somme River, and returned with the army to Calais by mid-November.