John Devereux, 9th Baron Ferrers of Chartley

He was the eldest son and heir of Anne de Ferrers, 8th Baroness Ferrers of Chartley suo jure by her husband and consort, Walter Devereux, Lord Ferrers of Chartley.[1]

His mother Anne died of natural causes on 9 January 1468/9, but his father remained the jure uxoris Baron Ferrers of Chartley for the remainder of his life.[1] John Devereux served as Justice of the Peace with his father in 1483 and 1484,[2] and on 1 August 1483, they were assigned to assess and appoint collectors of the subsidies granted by Parliament from aliens in Herefordshire.[3] His father died at the Battle of Bosworth on 22 August 1485,[1] fighting for King Richard III of England under John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk. King Richard III was killed in the battle and his opponent succeeded him as King Henry VII of England, causing the Devereux lands to be forfeited.

On 4 March 1485/6 John Devereux was granted special livery, without proof of age, of his mother's lands.[1] He was summoned to Parliament on 1 September 1487 for the first time.[1] At his second Parliament on 13 January 1488/9 his petition for reversal of his father's attainder and forfeiture was granted,[1][4] and he was thereby able to inherit his father's lands. He would remain loyal to Henry VII for the rest of his life.

On 1 June 1492 John and Cecily Devereux sold the 10 marks of rent issuing from the manor of Newbold Verdon (Leicestershire) to John Jocelyn for 100 marks.[5] On 9 February 1493 John and Cecily Devereux were granted the manors of Chartley, Chartley Holme, Great Barr, Aldridge, Whitacre (in Staffordshire); Castle Bromwich (Warwickshire); and Bugbrooke (Northamptonshire) by Chaplain Hugh Mason.[6]

On 25 May 1498 John Devereux sold 1 messuage, 1 garden, 2 tofts, 60 acres of land, 6 acres of meadow, 30 acres of pasture, and 12 acres of wood in Tedstone Delamere (Herefordshire) for 40 marks to Humphrey Dore.[7] On 3 November 1499 John Devereux and Walter Brockton sold the manor of Wootton (Weobley parish, Herefordshire) along with 1 messuage, 200 acres of land, 16 acres of meadow, 30 acres of pasture and 12 acres of wood in Wootton, Weobley, and Ferndale for 100 marks to Thomas Morton.[8]

John was first married to Cecily Bourchier. She was a daughter of William Bourchier, Viscount Bourchier and Lady Anne Woodville.[1] William Bourchier was a son of Henry Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex and Isabel of Cambridge. Lady Anne Woodville was a daughter of Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers and Jacquetta of Luxembourg.

The Baron and his first wife had two children:

• Walter Devereux, 1st Viscount Hereford (1488 – 17 September 1558)[1][9][10]
• Anne Devereux (born c. 1490), married (1st) Sir David (or Davy) Owen. She was mother of Henry Owen, John Owen, and Elizabeth Owen.[9] Anne married (2nd) Nicholas Gaynesford and (3rd) John Harman.

His first wife died before June 1493.[1][lower-alpha 1] He married secondly to Elizabeth Langham, daughter of Robert Langham,[9] and possibly had two sons.[lower-alpha 2]

• Brydges, Egerton. Collins’s Peerage of England, Genealogical, Biographical, and Historical in 9 Volumes. London: Rivington, 1812. Volume 1, Page 6
• Cokayne, G.E. Complete Baronetage. (New York; St. Martin's Press, 1984). Volume V, page 321 to 333, Ferrers