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, 7th Baron Ferrers of Chartley
In December 1460 Walter Devereux accompanied Edward, Earl of March, to Wales to raise an army to counter a Lancastrian rebellion led by the Tudors. On 30 December, Richard, 3rd Duke of York, was killed at the Battle of Wakefield, and a Lancastrian army moved south towards London. Devereux fought on behalf of Edward, now the 4th Duke of York, at his victory in the Battle of Mortimer's Cross on 2 February 1461, and commanded his left wing. He remained at the side of the future Edward IV on his advance from Gloucester to London. The Lancastrian army marching south was again victorious at the Second Battle of St Albans on 17 February, and recovered Henry VI here. On 3 March 1461, Walter Devereux was present at the council held at Baynard's Castle where it was resolved that Edward would be made King, and rode at his side to Westminster where Henry VI was deposed in absentia and Edward IV proclaimed King of England.