DEVEREUX
of
Lamphey, Pembs.
,
Ystrad Ffin, Carms.
,
Vaynor
and
Nantariba, Mont.
,
Pencoyd
,
Brecknock
, etc.
A
Norman
family, one branch of which settled in
Herefordshire
soon after the
Conquest
, and eventually acquired important interests in south and central
Wales
WALTER
DEVEREUX
(
c.
1491
-
1559
),
1st viscount Hereford
,
was the eldest son of
John
,
lord Ferrers
, to whose title he succeeded in
1501
, adding to it in
1550
that of
viscount Hereford
. He became a member of the
Council of Wales
in
1513
; in
1525
steward
of the household of
Mary
,
Princess of Wales
, and
C. J. of South Wales
; in
1526
chamberlain of South Wales
and of the counties of
Cardigan
and
Carmarthen
. He was also
high steward of Builth
and
steward of Old Carmarthen
. In
1531
a large share of the confiscated estates of
Sir
Rhys ap Gruffydd
(see under
Rice
of
Dynevor
) fell to
Devereux
, who thus
‘assumed the leadership of
West Wales
’
(
Laws
,
Little England
, 272), and his position there was safeguarded in the
Act of Union
(
27 Henry VIII,
c.
26 § 39
). He was involved in disputes with
William
Barlow
,
bishop of S. Davids
, in
1538
, with
Henry
Somerset
(see
Somerset
family
),
2nd earl of Worcester
over the
stewardship
of
Arwystli
and
Cyfeiliog
in the same year, with the boroughs of
Haverfordwest
(
1536
) and of
New Carmarthen
(
1540
), one result of this last quarrel being the amalgamation of the two
Carmarthen
s. He was also a
commissioner for the coastal defence in South Wales
in
1539
. He is credited with the
foundation of the grammar school
at
Carmarthen
which from
1576
bore the title of
Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School
.
His son
Sir
RICHARD
(d.
1547
) deputized for him in many of his Welsh offices, became
mayor
of
Carmarthen
(
1536
), and
M.P.
for
Carmarthenshire
(
1545
), and in
1547
received from the
Crown
the episcopal manor of
Lamphey
, recently alienated to
Henry
VIII
by
bishop
Barlow
, and the principal
Welsh
seat of the
Devereux
for the next century.
WALTER
DEVEREUX
(
1540
-
1576
),
1st Devereux earl of Essex
and
2nd viscount Hereford
,
eldest son of
Sir
Richard
(d.
1547
, above), was born at
Carmarthen
. By acquiring the stewardship of the dissolved monastic foundations of
Whitland
,
Llanllŷr
, and
Carmarthen Priory
, he consolidated the position of the family as
‘nursing fathers of the ultra-Protestant party’
in
Pembrokeshire
and
Carmarthenshire
(
Laws
, op. cit.,
303). In
1559
, on succeeding as
viscount Hereford
, he became
steward
and
receiver
of
Builth
, of
Walscot
,
Wydygada
, and
Elvet
, and of the
Welsh courts
in
Cardiganshire
and
Carmarthenshire
, and about
1574
he was added to the
Council of Wales
, having previously tried to undermine the authority of the
president
(
Sir
H.
Sidney
,
) by challenging his choice of
sheriffs
(
B.B.C.S.
, vi, 167-8). In
1572
he was made
earl of Essex
, and next year went on an expedition to
Ireland
, where he remained (with an interval of eight months at
Lamphey
,
Nov. 1575 — July 1576
) until his death after returning to
Ireland
as
earl marshal
,
1576
,
when his remains were brought back for burial to his birthplace. The marriage of his daughter
Dorothy
to
Sir
Thomas
Perrot
(see
Perrot
family
) healed an old feud between the two leading houses of
Pembrokeshire
and increased
Devereux
influence there; with her second marriage to
Henry
Percy
, son of the
earl of Northumberland
, much
Devereux
property in
Carmarthenshire
passed into
Percy
hands, including the six ‘
Percy rectories
’ of
south Carmarthenshire
, notorious to
Puritans
of the next century for their fat incomes and neglected parishioners;
Llan-y-bri
, a chapel of ease pertaining to one of them, was later secured for a body of
Independents
through the offices of
William
Evans
(d.
1718
)
.
Sir
GEORGE
DEVEREUX
(
fl.
1580
),
the
1st earl
's brother, lived after his death and under the terms of his will at
Lamphey
till he moved to the family seat in
Staffordshire
,
c.
1592
. About five years later he became tenant at
Llwyn-y-brain
, near
Llandovery
; but the belief (
Laws
, op. cit., 303) that he used it to harbour
Puritans
seems to be based on the erroneous designation of
Rhys
Prichard
as a
Puritan
. Chronically impecunious, he lived largely on the bounty of his nephew the
2nd earl
(below), whom he attended on his expeditions to
Rouen
(
1591-2
) and
Cadiz
(
1596
), being one of the ‘
knights of Cales
’ dubbed by the young earl. He fell under suspicion of complicity in the
Essex revolt
of
1601
, and his estates were confiscated; but he recovered his fortune by marrying (
1610
)
Joan
, daughter of
Sir
John
Price
of
Brecon
(d.
1573?
)
and widow of
Thomas
Jones
(‘
Twm Sion Catti
,’
c.
1530
-
1609
)
, acquiring through her considerable property at
Ystrad Ffin, Carms.
He served as
sheriff
for
Carmarthenshire
in
1581
and for
Cardiganshire
in
1587
(while at
Lamphey
), and again for
Cardiganshire
in
1611
(while at
Ystrad Ffin
).
ROBERT
DEVEREUX
(
1567
-
1601
),
2nd earl of Essex
and
3rd viscount Hereford
,
son of the
1st earl
, was born in
Herefordshire
but at 15 went to live at
Lamphey
, then in the occupation of his uncle
Sir
George
(above), from whose household he took
Rhys
Prichard
, as his
chaplain
and
Gelly
Meyrick
(see
Meyrick
family
) as his
steward
,
factotum
, and ‘in
Wales
…almost a
viceroy
’ (
D
.
Mathew
,
The Celtic Peoples
,
1933
, 341). In
1594
he sealed the
Pembrokeshire Bond of Association
for the defence of the
queen
; after that, despite his appointment as ‘
custos rotulorum
’ for the county, he had little direct contact with
Wales
; but
Meyrick
organized for him a following there among
Devereux
tenants, connections, and neighbours and those of the
Meyricks
in
west Wales
and
Radnorshire
, and among freelances and
soldiers of fortune
from
North Wales
, attracted by
Essex
's personal prowess (for lists, see
Mathew
, op. cit., chapters xviii-xxii;
E.H.R.
, lix, 348-70). Many of these were picked for key posts in his expeditions to
Rouen
(
1591-2
),
Cadiz
(
1596
) — where
Essex
lost his brother
Walter
, who was brought home to
Carmarthen
for burial —
Azores
(
1597
), and
Ireland
(
1599-1600
); and some supported him to the death in his final bid for power (
1601
).
ROBERT
DEVEREUX
(
1591
-
1646
),
3rd earl of Essex
and
4th viscount Hereford
,
son of the
2nd earl
, is not known to have resided on the Welsh estates of the family (despite their restoration in
1604
, when the penalties of his father's attainder were wiped out), save for a brief spell in
1613
, when he retired to
Lamphey
during negotiations for his divorce from the first
lady Essex
; but the connection with
west Wales
was maintained by his appointment as
steward
and
keeper of the royal manors
in
Carmarthenshire
,
Pembrokeshire
, and
Cardiganshire
(
1606
), his membership of the
Council of Wales
(
1617
), and his nomination by
Parliament
as
lord-lieutenant of Montgomeryshire
(
Feb. 1642
). Many old followers of his father remained loyal to the family: e.g. when he joined
Sir
Horace
Vere
's volunteer force to the
Palatinate
(
1620
) he had with him
see
John
Meyrick
(see
Meyrick
family
) and
Rowland
Laugharne
, both of whom rallied to him in the
Civil War
, but the
North Wales
families who had been in the
2nd earl
's service mostly took the other side in his son's day.
With the
3rd earl
's death in
1646
the earldom became extinct, but the
Welsh
connection persisted through the viscounty, which devolved on
WALTER
DEVEREUX
(
1578
-
c.
1657
),
5th viscount Hereford
, a younger grandson of the
1st viscount
and cousin to the
1st earl of Essex
, who was named by the
Lords
as
lord-lieutenant of Monmouthshire
in
1646
and a member of the
Radnorshire militia committee
in
1648
. His grandson
EDWARD
DEVEREUX
(
1675
-
1700
),
8th viscount Hereford
, held the
stewardship of courts baron
in
Cardiganshire
and
Carmarthenshire
; but after him the title passed to a
Montgomeryshire
branch, through a nephew of the
5th viscount
,
Sir
GEORGE
DEVEREUX
(d.
1665
), who was ‘
recruiter
’
M.P.
for
Montgomery
in the
Long Parliament
(
6 April 1647
), was suspended as a ‘
delinquent
’ the following May, but signed the
Montgomeryshire declaration
for
Parliament
on
20 May 1648
. After the
king's execution
he remained in retirement till he began to
sit on county committees
in
1657
and accepted office as
sheriff
in
1648
. He m.
Bridget
, daughter and heiress of
Arthur
Price
of
Vaynor, Mont.
Their grandson
PRICE
DEVEREUX
(
1664
-
1740
),
9th viscount Hereford
, was
Tory M.P.
for
Montgomery
from
1691
till his succession to the title in
1700
, and
lord-lieutenant
of the shire,
1711-14
. His son
PRICE
DEVEREUX
(
1694
-
1748
),
10th viscount Hereford
, was
M.P.
for the shire till his succession in
1740
, when he ranked as
premier viscount of England
. He voted against
Walpole
's
Hessian mercenaries
(
1730
), and his
Excise Bill
(
1733
), and for the repeal of the
Septennial Act
(
1734
). In
1719
he was
sheriff of Brecknock
, where he inherited the estate of the
Morgans
of
Pencoyd
near
Hay
. He m. as his second wife (
1740
) a daughter of
William
Price
of
Rhiwlas, Mer.
On his death the title passed to
EDWARD
DEVEREUX
(
c.
1710
-
1760
),
11th viscount Hereford
,
descended from a younger son of
George
Devereux
(d.
1665
) (above), and on the female side from the
Vaughans
of
Nantariba
and the
Glyns
of
Maesmawr
(both in
Mont.
), whose estates he inherited. He was b., m., and buried within the county, which remained the chief centre of the family's interests till the succession of
GEORGE
DEVEREUX
(
1744
-
1804
),
13th viscount Hereford
, who transferred them to
Brecknock
by marrying into a branch of the family settled there and making
Pencoyd
his chief
Welsh
seat. His successors have continued to take a prominent part in
Brecknock
politics.
Bibliography:
-
Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography
;
-
The Complete Peerage
, 1910–40
, vi, 478-83;
-
Doyle
,
The Official Baronage of England, showing
the succession, dignities, and offices of every peer from
1066 to 1885
, London, 1885
, i, 693-5, ii, 167-8;
-
Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic,
Henry VIII.
Record Publication
, xii;
-
Calendar of State Papers, Domestic
Series
, Record Publication
, Elizabeth, James I and Charles I;
-
E. Laws
,
History of Little England beyond Wales
,
1888
,
1888
;
-
D. Mathew
,
The Celtic Peoples and Renaissance Europe. A
study of the Celtic and Spanish influences on Elizabethan
history
, 1933
,
1933
;
-
W. R. Williams
,
The History of the Parliamentary
Representation of Wales
, 1895
, 145, 149-50;
-
A History of Carmarthenshire
, 2 vols.,
1935–9
, ii;
-
The Transactions of the Honourable Society
of Cymmrodorion
,
1942
(9),
1945
(30);
-
The Carmarthen Antiquary
, xxvi, 50, xxvii, 2, xxix, 80-1;
-
Collections Historical and Archaeological
relating to Montgomeryshire
, xiv, 323, xxvii, 191-200;
-
Firth and Rait
,
Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum,
1642–1660
, 1911
, i, 2-4, 1247, ii, 1087, 1384.
Author:
Emeritus Professor Arthur Herbert Dodd, M.A., (1891-1975), Bangor
