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 1641)
The Earl acknowledged his son and made financial arrangements on his behalf with an addendum to his will in July 1595: "Walter Devereux the base and reputed sonne of the said Robt Erle of Essex, begotten of the body of Eliz: Southwell." The intent of the deed is thought to have been the granting of Essex House to Walter Devereux, but there is no evidence this disposition actually occurred. His only reported manor was that of Lamphey in Pembrokeshire, which comprised just 721 acres and yielded a little over £203 in rents each year. He sold Lamphey manor to Richard Cuny in November 1618, whereupon his half-brother, Robert, 3rd earl of Essex, bestowed upon him the lease of Lamphey rectory. The lack of adequate means was probably the principal cause that Devereux spent most of his adult life in Essex's household in Staffordshire and Westminster, and although he persistently described himself as being ‘of Lamphey’ there is no evidence to suppose that he ever lived there.