Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex
The 1st Earl of Essex | |
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| Parents | Sir Richard Devereux Dorothy Hastings |
Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, KG (16 September 1541 – 22 September 1576), was an English nobleman and general. From 1573 until his death he fought in Ireland in connection with the Plantations of Ireland, most notably the Rathlin Island massacre. He was the father of Robert, 2nd Earl of Essex, who was Elizabeth I's favourite during her later years.
Family
Walter Devereux was the eldest son of
Career
On his grandfather's death, Devereux became on 27 September 1558
Eager to give proof of "his good devotion to employ himself in the service of her Majesty," Lord Essex, as he was now, offered on certain conditions to subdue or colonise, at his own expense, a portion of the Irish
His enterprise had an inauspicious beginning; a storm dispersed his fleet and drove some of his vessels as far as Cork and the Isle of Man. His forces did not all reach the place of rendezvous till late in the autumn, and he was compelled to entrench himself at Belfast for the winter. Here his troops were diminished by sickness, famine and desertion to not much more than 200 men.
Intrigues of various sorts and fighting of a guerilla type followed, and Essex had difficulties both with his deputy Fitzwilliam and with the Queen. He was in dire straits, and his offensive movements in the east of Ulster took the form of raids and brutal massacres among the O'Neills. In October 1574, he treacherously captured MacPhelim at a conference and feast in
After encouraging Lord Essex to prepare to attack the Irish chief
He returned to England at the end of 1575, resolved "to live henceforth an untroubled life." He was, however, persuaded to accept the offer of the Queen to make him Earl Marshal of Ireland. He arrived in Dublin in September 1576, but fell ill at the banquet given in his honour at Dublin Castle, and died three weeks later, probably of dysentery. It was suspected that he had been poisoned at the behest of Lord Leicester, who married his widow two years later. A post-mortem was carried out and concluded that Essex had died of natural causes (Alice Draycott, daughter of the prominent judge Henry Draycott, who drank from the same cup as Essex at the banquet, also died soon afterwards). He was succeeded in the Earldom of Essex by his son Robert.
Marriage and issue
In 1561 or 1562, Lord Hereford, as he was at the time, married Lettice Knollys, daughter of Sir Francis Knollys and Catherine Carey. Lord and Lady Hereford, later Earl and Countess of Essex, had the following children:
- Frances Walsingham
- Sir Walter Devereux. Married Margaret, daughter of Arthur Dakyns. He was killed at the siege of Rouen in 1591.[6]
- Penelope Devereux. Married The 3rd Baron Rich[6]
- Dorothy Devereux. Married The 9th Earl of Northumberland[6]
- Francis Devereux (died in infancy)[7]
-
Lettice Knollys -
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex -
Dorothy and Penelope Devereux
See also
- Betrayal of Clannabuidhe
- Rathlin Island Massacre
Notes
- ^ The Bourchier Earldom of Essex and Viscountcy of Bourchier became extinct with the death of Henry Bourchier in 1540. Henry’s daughter, Anne Bourchier, was repudiated by her husband, William Parr, on 17 April 1543 and her children declared bastards and incapable of inheriting. William Parr was created Earl of Essex on 23 December 1543 “with the same place and voice in Parliament as his wife’s [Anne Bourchier’s] father had in his lifetime.” Parr was attainted in 1553 whereby the Earldom of Essex and all his other honours were forfeited. William Parr died on 28 October 1570 and Anne Bourchier on 28 January 1570/1, and both lacked legitimate heirs causing these titles to become extinct.
- ^ The titles assumed by the 1st Earl of the Devereux family are attributed to his son in the act of restoration, which recites that “the said Robert, late Earl of Essex, before his said attainder, was lawfully and rightly invested … with the name, state, place, and dignity of Earl of Essex and Ewe, Viscount Hereford and Bourchier, Lord Ferrers of Chartley, and Lord Bourchier and Louvaine.”
References
- ^ a b McGurk 2004.
- ^ a b G.E.C (Editor). Complete Baronetage. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1984). Volume 2, pages 249-50, Bourchier
- ^ a b c d G.E.C (Editor). Complete Baronetage. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1984). Volume 5, page 140, Essex
- ^ Jonathan Bardon, A Narrow Sea: The Irish-Scottish Connection in 120 Episodes, p. 80. Gill, Dublin, 2018.
- ^ O'Dowd 2008.
- ^ a b c d Charles Mosley (Editor). Burke’s Peerage & Baronetage, 106th Edition. (Switzerland: Burkes Peerage Genealogical Books,1999). Volume 1, pages 1004, and 1378
- ^ Evelyn Philip Shirley. Stemmata Shirleiana. (Westminster: Nichols and Sons, 1873). page 103
Sources
- G.E.C (Editor). Complete Baronetage. (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1984). Volume II, page 249–250, Bourchier; Volume V, page 138, Essex; Volume V, page 140, Essex; Volume V, page 326–327, Ferrers
- McGurk, J.J.N. (2004). "Devereux, Walter, first earl of Essex (1539–1576)". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/7568. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Mosley, Charles (Editor). Burke's Peerage & Barontetage, 106th Edition. (Switzerland: Burkes Peerage Genealogical Books,1999). Volume 1, pages 1004, and 1378
- O'Dowd, Mary (January 2008) [2004]. "Piers, William (d. 1603)". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/22236. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
External links
- Historical, genealogical, and biographical account of the Jolliffe family of Virginia 1652 to 1893 By William Jolliffe (1893) Google Books
- Family tree of some Devereux, Dudley, Sidney members
- Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
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