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 1641)
Walter Devereux's grandmother, Lettice Dudley Countess of Leicester, wrote to Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, in 1608 to assist in arranging his marriage to "Lady Stallenge’s daughter"." This is most likely the daughter of Lady Florence Stallenge. She had two daughters, Margaret and Elizabeth by Sir Christopher Kenn. After he died in 1593, Florence married her second husband, Nicholas Stallenge. The daughter most likely referred to in the letter was Margaret who ended up marrying Sir William Guise in 1608, and died before 1612 after bearing him a single son and heir. Her younger sister, Elizabeth, would marry a few years later to Sir John Paulet. There is no clear evidence that Walter Devereux married.