17th Century Politician Baron Sir Edward Devereux (d.1622) and his wife Katherine (d.1627)

Sir Edward Devereux (c. 1544 – c. 1622) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons and was an English Baronet.

The ancestors of the Devereux family brought their name to England in the wave of migration after the Norman Conquest of 1066. They lived in Herefordshire. This family was originally from Evreux, in Eure, Normandy, and it is from the local form of this place-name, D’Evreux, literally translating as “from Evreux.” They claim descent from “the sovereign house of Normandy, deriving from Robert Count of Evereux, Archbishop of Rouen, son of Richard I of Normandy.” ^[3]

Edward Devereux was born about 1544, and was the son of Walter Devereux, 1st Viscount Hereford by his second wife, Margaret Garneys, daughter of Robert Garneys of Kenton, Suffolk. His father established him at Castle Bromwichupon his marriage to Catherine Arden of Park Hall, Warwickshire. He inherited little property on the death of his father, but purchased in 1572 from his half-nephew, Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, the reversion of the Warwickshire manor of Castle Bromwich, which formed part of the jointure of his mother Margaret, the Dowager Viscountess of Hereford. Sir Edward then built Castle Bromwich Hall in 1599, a mansion built in the Jacobean style.

He was the Member of Parliament for Tamworth from 1588 to 1589.  He served as Sheriff of Warwickshire from 1593 to 1594.

Following the execution of his great-nephew, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, for treason, Edward Devereux and several of his relatives were reported to Sir Robert Cecil for holding a clandestine meeting at Wolverhampton. However, no charges were ever brought regarding this. ^[1]

Edward Devereux acquired considerable wealth during his lifetime. For a payment of £1000 to support efforts for suppressing a rebellion in Ireland, King James I of England created him Baronet of Castle Bromwich on 25 November 1611 (10 Jac 1).^[4] He was knighted the following year. When his son and heir, Walter Devereux, married his second wife (probably in January 1615), Edward settled on him the Herefordshire manor of Stoke Lacy.

The manor then passed down through the Devereux family. In 1549 Walter Devereux was created Viscount of Hereford and in 1611, his son, Sir Edward Devereux, was created 1st Baronet of Castle Bromwich by King James I. He is attributed with building the first Castle Bromwich Hall. (Evidence does, however, suggest that a medieval predecessor may have stood on the same site). Sir Edward is buried with his Catherine beneath an elaborate monument at Aston church. ^[2]

The manor then descended, though not straightforwardly, to Anne Devereux who sold both the manor and the hall in 1657 ^[2] to Sir Orlando Bridgeman. Some parcels of land in Castle Bromwich were passed down through the Devereux family, but the remainder was finally sold in 1712, when a bankrupt linen-draper, George Devereux of Shoreditch sold the last holding of his family. The baronetcy of Castle Bromwich continued to the 9th baronet, Sir Edward Devereux. On his death in 1783 in Montgomeryshire, the title became extinct.

And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.” 

Micah 2:2 KJV  

^[2] Personal Opinion: In 1657 Oliver Cromwell was in power and the land was NOT sold by the Devereux family but stolen during the race wars. The Devereux family seemed to vanish during the British race wars because they were either massacred or put into slavery. Normally land is sold in exchange for something more land, so the family should be around today.

Citation: ^[1] Sir Edward Devereux, 1st Baronet of Castle Bromwich. (2021, June 6). In Wikipedia. ^[2] www.birminghamhistory.net/2014/05/05/182/ ^[3] https://www.houseofnames.com/blogs/England – Images: realweddings.co.uk Rex Harris Flickr – Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)