Walter Devereux (died c. 1383)

Sir Walter Devereux of Bodenham was a prominent knight in Herefordshire during the reign of Edward III. He was a member of Parliament, sheriff, and Justice of the Peace for Hereford.

Sir Walter Devereux of Bodenham was born about 1339, the son of William Devereux of Bodenham and Anne, daughter of Sir John Barre. His great-grandfather was William Devereux, Baron Devereux of Lyonshall by his first wife, Alice de Grandison.

He was a close ally of his cousin, John Devereux, 1st Baron Devereux of Whitchurch Maund. The Baron was a friend of Edward, the Black Prince, and a member of Richard II’s council of regency, and his influence promoted the career of Walter Devereux.

His arms were: Argent a fesse gules, in chief three torteaux.

An Oyer and terminer commission was called on 11 Sep 1357 for a complaint by Sir Richard de Acton that Walter Devereux was among a number of individuals that broke into his park at Aily, Somersetshire, hunted and carried away a great part of the deer therein, and then killed livestock worth 10 marks. Another commission was called in 1362 on a complaint by the abbot of Abbotsbury that Walter Devereux was among a number of individuals who tore up stones for metes and bounds in his lands in Tolpuddle (Dorsetshire), felled trees, broke a stank erected to store water for times of drought, carried away fish and timber, trod down and consumed with cattle his crops and grass, and so molested his bondmen there that they cannot hold his bondage.

On coming of age, Walter Devereux, like his father, joined the retinue of Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford. On 4 October 1363 Devereux was granted the wardship of the lands in Bodenham of Thomas Lucy, comprising annual rent of 8 marks and 2 carucates of land, for payment of 8 marks yearly to the exchequer. Following the death of Thomas Lucy on 26 November 1369, Devereux was granted the wardship of his brother and heir, William de Lucy. He testified on 20 November 1374 on William Lucy’s coming of age to his holding in Bodenham, Herefordshire.