Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Devereux, Walter (d.1558)
DEVEREUX, WALTER, Viscount Hereford (d. 1558), son of John, lord Ferrers, of Chartley, Staffordshire, and Cecily, sister of Henry Bourchier, earl of Essex, was born before 1490 (Doyle), succeeded his father as third baron Ferrers in 1501, and on 7 Dec. 1509 received special livery of the lands of his inheritance, being then under full age (Cal. of Henry VIII, vol. i. No. 736). He was appointed high steward of Tamworth in 1510 (ib. 1354), and joint-constable of Warwick Castle with Sir Edward Belknap in February 1511 (ib. 1499). He accompanied his brother-in-law, the Marquis of Dorset, on the expedition sent to Guipuscoa in 1512, in order to act with the Spaniards in an intended invasion of Guienne (Herbert, History of Henry VIII, p. 127). In the December of that year he was appointed captain of the Imperyall Carrik (Cal. ii. No. 3591), and the next year commanded the Trinitye, receiving 6s. 8d. a day as pay (ib. 4533). While serving under Admiral Sir Edward Howard he took a prominent part in the engagement off Conquêt on 25 April, in which the admiral fell (Herbert, p. 138). On 1 Aug. following he was appointed a member of the council of Wales and the marches. He was made a knight of the Garter in 1523, and served in the ineffectual campaign of the Duke of Suffolk against France. In 1525 he was appointed steward of the household of Mary, princess of Wales, and chief justice of South Wales, and the next year chamberlain of South Wales (Cal. iv. No. 2200), and appears to have been actively engaged in fulfilling the duties of these offices. When Henry made his expedition against France in 1544, he marched in the rear guard of the army under the command of Lord Russell (Herbert, p. 690). He was sworn of the privy council of Edward VI in January, and created Viscount Hereford on 2 Feb. 1550 (Doyle). He died 27 Sept. 1558, and was buried in the parish church of Stowe, near Stafford, under a monument erected during his lifetime (Dugdale). By his first wife, Mary, daughter of Thomas Grey, marquis of Dorset, he had two sons and a daughter. His eldest son, Richard, married Dorothy, daughter of George Hastings, earl of Huntingdon, and predeceased him in 1547, leaving a son Walter, created earl of Essex [q. v.], and other children. His second wife was Margaret, daughter of Robert Garnish of Kenton, Suffolk, by whom he had an only son, Sir Edward Devereux.
[Several notices of Walter Devereux, lord Ferrers, will be found in Calendar of Henry VIII, vols. i–vii.; Lord Herbert's Hist. of the Reign of Henry VIII, ed. 1870; Doyle's Official Baronage, ii. 167, where a portrait of Devereux is given from the Stowe monument; Dugdale's Baronage, ii. 177.]