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.
William Devereux
William was a benefactor of the Abbey at Gloucester (Church of St. Peter in Gloucester). In 1086 William the Conqueror issued a charter to the abbey confirming the land it possessed, and William Devereux was identified as giving 1 hide of land. During the time of King William Rufus in 1096 he was identified as granting a hide in Herefordshire, and two tenths (duas decimas) from 'Leech and Hadrop'. A list of donations to the abbey showed William Devereux giving one hide of land in Jerchenfeld, Westone, and tithes from Haythrop, in the time of Abbot Serlo (1072 to 1104). Other sources indicate he confirmed the grant of a hide in Herefordshire to St. Peter’s Abbey at Gloucester in the tenth year of Henry I (1110). During the time of Abbot William (1113 to 1130) a woman named Hawise, identified as the widow of William Devereux, appeared on a list of donations as giving the land called Hyde, and that Walter de Lacy had given this to her upon her marriage. The gift of William Devereux of one hide of land to the abbey was confirmed again by King Stephen in 1138, the Archbishop of Canterbury between 1139 and 1148, and King Henry II about 1174.