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.
Henry Devereux, 14th Viscount Hereford
Devereux succeeded his father in the viscountcy in 1804 and took his seat on the Tory benches in the House of Lords. In 1827 he was appointed Captain of the Honourable Band of Gentlemen Pensioners under Lord Goderich, a post he held until 1830, the last two years under the premiership of the Duke of Wellington. He held the same office (in 1834 renamed Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms) from 1834 to 1835 under Sir Robert Peel. In 1830 he was admitted to the Privy Council.