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 c. 1383)
On 8 March 1382 Walter Devereux was among those appointed Justice of the Peace for Herefordshire, empowered to arrest, imprison and punish rebels, and appointed a commissioner of Oyer and terminer with power to arrest, imprison and punish any who refused to assist him. He attended Parliament again in May, and had his appointment as Justice of the Peace reaffirmed in on 12 August 1382. Devereux represented Herefordshire in the Parliaments of October 1382 and February 1383. On 6 March 1383 Walter Devereux and Richard de Eton of the county of Hereford commitment by mainprise to John Burlev, Richard Burley and Roger Bierd the keeping of the manors of Mauwardyn, Blenleveny and Orleton, previously held by the late Edmund earl of March, and to hold the same until the lawful age of Roger, the earl's son and heir.