NOTABLE PEPYSES

Samuel Pepys 1633-1703 click image to view in new window.

Samuel Pepys was born on February 23rd 1632,He was born near Fleet Street in London. Son of John Pepys a Tailor of Huntingdon. "Within the village and close to the church is the impressive 16th Century farmhouse known as Pepys Farmhouse where Samuel Pepys was a frequent visitor to his uncle who farmed here."

At 23 he married Elizabeth St. Michel, daughter of an Huguenot gentleman who had come over to seek (without success) renewed fortune in England.  Elizabeth was 15 beautiful and penniless.  About this time he entered the service of Sir Edward Montagu, doing the duties of an agent, go between and secretary.

He became secretary of the Admiralty in 1672. He sat in Parliament in 1679.  He was deprived of his Admiralty post in 1679 and commited to the Tower for his alleged complicity in the Popish Plot.  He was reappointed in 1684. In 1684 was named president of the Royal Society. He was forced into retirement on the accension of William III.  Samuel Pepys wrote Memoir...of the Royal Navy(1690). His Diary was written in cipher and was not intended for publication. It was partialy deciphered and published in 1825, and almost all the text appeared from 1893-99.  It is an intimate record of his private life from 1 Jan. 1660, to 31 May 1669, the diary gives a vivid picture of social life and conditions in the early restoration period. Included in Pepys's library bequeathed to Magdalene College, Cambridge.

He died 26th May 1703 and was buried in St.Olaves Church in London City.
References: Oxford Reference Dictionary and Longman Encylopedia.

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