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.
Stephen Devereux of Bodenham and Burghope
He married Cicely around 1308. They had children:
He was born in 1309, and like his father was a supporter of the de Bohun family. He probably participated in the Scottish Wars under William de Bohun, 1st Earl of Northampton in the 1330s. On 1 February 1338 he set out on pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago. With the outbreak of the war with France, Devereux was back in support of the Earl of Northampton, and probably participated in the Battle of Sluys, Battle of Morlaix, and the campaigns in Brittany. Walter Devereux was in the retinue of the king when Edward III invaded France in 1346. He was present at the Battle of Crécy on 26 August 1346. As a retainer of William de Bohun, he probably fought in the second division. On 10 November 1351, Devereux received a commission with Thomas de Cary, sheriff of Somerset and Dorset, to arrest Nicholas de Poyntz and his servants. Walter Devereux seized Hoke and Stapulford in Dorset on 6 January 1355 following the death of Joan, widow of Robert Syfrewast of Hoke, claiming to be the chief lord of these lands. Devereux held the estates until 1 August 1355 when they were taken into the king's hands. He died without issue about 1359.