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 1402)
Walter Devereux represented Herefordshire in Parliament on 20 January 1401. On 29 April he was placed on a commission to arrest John fitzPieres and Maurice ap Meweryk. On 16 May Devereux was appointed Sheriff of Herefordshire, appointed Justice of the Peace for Herefordshire, and tasked with suppressing lawlessness in South Wales, Bergeveny, Herefordshire, and the March of Wales. As the insurrection spread through the marches, Devereux was assigned on 26 August to inquire into the murder of Thomas Stannesbache of Bromyard, and the wounding of William Ranves at Bromyard. On 11 May 1402 Walter Devereux was appointed to make a proclamation of Henry IV's intention to govern well in Herefordshire. Shortly after he set out with Sir Edmund Mortimer to fight the rebels.