Robert Devereux, 16th Viscount Hereford (3 January 1843 – 27 March 1930) was an English peer. At age 12, he succeeded his father in the oldest extant viscountcy in the Peerage of England, becoming the Premier Viscount of England.
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Early life and education
Lord Hereford was born at 12, Portland Place, Mayfair, the eldest son of Rev. Robert Devereux, 15th Viscount Hereford and Emma Jemima Ravenscrot, daughter of daughter of George Ravenscrot. His father died in 1855. In 1857, his mother remarried Col. John Ireland Blackburne.
He was educated at Eton beginning in 1852 and Sandhurst. He was a JP and DL for Breconshire, a JP for Herefordshire and Radnorshire, and a county alderman for Monmouthshire.
Marriage and issue
On 16 July 1863, Lord Hereford married the Hon. Mary Anna Morgan, youngest daughter of Charles Morgan, 1st Baron Tredegar. They had one son and five daughters.
Hon. Robert Charles Devereux (1865–1952), succeeded as 17th Viscount Hereford
Hon. Muriel Devereux (11 August 1866 – 5 July 1924), married in 1893 (Anthony) Noel Denny, of La Chripa, Puerto Oratava, Tenerife
Hon. Eleanor Mary Devereux (20 September 1868 – 22 June 1944), married in 1906 Maj. Albert Addams-Williams OBE
Hon. Lilian Devereux (4 September 1870 – 17 October 1959), died unmarried
Hon. Sybil Devereux (19 January 1873 – 3 March 1892), died unmarried
Hon. Rosamond Ela Devereux (23 July 1875 – 3 August 1945), died unmarried
The family resided at the family seat of Tregoyd House in Powys until it burned down in 1900, at which point they moved to Ashford Hall in Ashford Bowdler, Shropshire. Tregoyd was rebuilt and became the residence of their only son.
Their fourth daughter, Sybil, died in 1892, aged 19, of typhoid fever. Lady Hereford died on 14 August 1924 at Ashford Hall, five weeks after the death of their eldest daughter.
On 13 March 1830, upon the death of George Coventry, 9th Earl of Coventry, Lord Hereford succeeded as Father of the House of Lords, having been a peer for 74 years and seven months. He died two weeks later at the Priory nursing home.