Walter Devereux, 5th Viscount Hereford

Sir Walter Devereux (1578 – ca. 1658) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1624 and became the 5th Viscount Hereford, a peer in the peerage of England.

Devereux was the son of Sir Edward Devereux of Castle Bromwich Hall and his wife Catherine (née Arden) Devereux and the grandson of Walter Devereux, 1st Viscount Hereford. He succeeded his father in 1622 as 2nd Baronet and succeeded his first cousin twice removed, Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex in 1646 as the 5th Viscount Hereford.

He was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Stafford in 1614. In 1621 he was elected MP for Marlborough, in 1624 MP for Worcestershire and in 1625 MP for Worcester.^[1] He served as High Sheriff of Worcestershire in 1625. When Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex died in 1646, Devereux inherited his Hereford Viscountcy, but not the Earldom of Essex, which became extinct. He was named by the Lords as Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire in 1646 and a member of the Radnorshire militia committee in 1648.^[2]

Devereux married twice, firstly, Elizabeth Baspole, daughter of Robert Baspole and secondly, Elizabeth Knightley, daughter of Thomas Knightley. With the latter he had three sons:

• Essex Devereux (1615—1639) who married Anne daughter of Sir William Courteen and Anne Tryon but drowned while boating leaving one daughter, Elizabeth. Anne remarried to Richard Knightley;
• Leicester Devereux, 6th Viscount Hereford who succeeded him and
• Walter Devereux (1621—1683) MP for Orford.

References

1. Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... London. pp. 229–239.
2. Welsh Biography Online

• "DEVEREUX, Sir Walter (1575-?1656), of Blundeston, Suff., Leigh Court, Worcs. and Castle Bromwich, Warws.". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 5 September 2013.