Roger Devias

Roger Devias, sometimes referred to as Sir Roger, appears in the Rev G.J Piccope’s notes on the curates and chaplains of Daresbury, published in Ormerod’s History of Cheshire in 1882.
Although noted as “Sir” Roger, he does not appear to have been knighted. Sir is the traditional form used for an ordained priest, and it appears that it is used so in this context also.

He was born around 1547 and, if Piccope’s note is correct, came to Daresbury after qualifying circa 1569.

The was the curate of Prescot from 1578, where he witnessed the delivery of 149 organ pipes to the Church from Bryan Fells and paid 2 shillings and 10pence for 170 bricks as part of the Church leyes in 1586.

He was presented to Huyton by the Crown 1587. During his incumbency at Huyton the number of communicants dwindled to 500 and he was described as “no preacher” during a survey of the country’s religious state during the 1590s. Despite this, he remained at Huyton until his death in 1607.

He married Ellen in 1579 in Prescot, by whom he had at least one son, and Margery Fletcher in Huyton in 1591 after the death of his first wife in 1590. This second marriage produced 3 daughters and 2 sets of twins, although only 3 of these children survived.