Walter Devereux (died 1641)

Sir Walter Devereux (1591–26 July 1641) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1641. Walter was a close companion of his half-brother, Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, and played a significant role in Essex's actions on behalf of Parliament.

Devereux was the son of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex and his mistress, Elizabeth Southwell. Elizabeth Southwell was the daughter of Thomas Southwell of Woodrising (Norfolk) and his third wife, Nazareth Newton, and the half-sister of Vice Admiral Sir Robert Southwell.

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.

Walter was given over to the care of Essex’s mother, Lettice (Knollys) (Devereux) Dudley, Countess of Leicester, who raised him at Drayton Bassett in Staffordshire. With the execution of his father, Robert Devereux, on 25 February 1601 he found himself stripped of his main source of support. Essex’s assets had been seized, and now Walter Devereux was an even greater social pariah, the illegitimate son of a traitor.

During this period after the 2nd Earl’s execution, Walter was permitted to continue his studies at Oxford, and matriculated from Queen's College, Oxford on 16 November 1604 at the age of 13. During this time he apparently drew closer to his half-brother, Robert Devereux, the legal heir of the 2nd Earl and future 3rd Earl who also was suffering from these losses. Throughout the remainder of Walter’s life, he would remain a retainer of Robert, and when the title was restored in July 1603 Walter’s fortunes rose as well.

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