Having turned professional in 1908, and entering the world of becoming increasingly reliant on the paying customer, the 'supporter' soon took on a wholly-new importance at St James' Park. Partly as a means of allowing supporters a degree of representation, as well as acting as a vehicle for fundraising and social activity, Mr Devenish was an enthusiastic advocate of the idea that the Grecians should have an active supporters' club. By then retired for several years, he helped to launch the new body in 1911 but died in October 1912, at the age of seventy-three, soon after his proposal came to fruition.

Born in Exeter in 1839, Mr Devenish was a commercial traveller living in West Kilburn when on the board of Queen's Park Rangers' during the 1890s. He is buried in Exeter's Higher Cemetery.