SAMUEL PEPYS

 

See Also: CIVIL SERVANTS Mandarins; MENU

Website: https://pepys-club.org.uk

 

Class In The Seventeenth Century

The naval official Samuel Pepys was born in Salisbury Court off Fleet Street. His background is indicative both of how a single family could have members who were of very different classes from one another and of how peers of the realm could have close kinsmen whose backgrounds were very modest. Pepys s father was a tailor and his mother a washmaid. However, Pepys père had blood links to East Anglian gentry, who in turn were relatives of the courtier the 1st Earl of Sandwich (d.1672). The peer appreciated the ability of Pepys fils and helped his humbly-born kinsman to build a career in which the commoner became a leading administrator of the Royal Navy and had frequent face-to-face dealings with both King Charles II and King James II.

Location: Salisbury Court, EC4Y 8AA (purple, yellow)

See Also: CLASS

 

The Diaries

Pepys wrote his diary in a form of shorthand. The multi-volume work reveals a figure with whom anyone can share their humanity - especially if one is an adulterously-inclined, bibulous, music-loving senior civil servant. His library and papers were bequeathed to Magdalene College Cambridge in 1724. His script was not deciphered until the early 19thC. A version of the diary was first published in 1825. However, the quality of transcription was questionable and much of its contents were unappreciated because the text had no scholarly explanatory notes.

The publisher George Bell proposed a new edition in 1926 but nothing was done until 1950 when Robert Latham took up the project. Initially, he worked in harness with William Mathews, who provided a new transliteration of the original text. The first volume of their work appeared in 1970. A further eight followed. After Matthews's death, Latham was assisted by his own wife Linnet. The work was finished with the publication of Volume 11 in 1983.

The Samuel Pepys Society maintains a collection of material about the diarist and his work.

See Also: DIARIES

Website: www.magd.cam.ac.uk/pepys www.pepysdiary.com

 

The Navy Office

During Pepys's public career, the Navy Office stood in Crutched Friars (i.e. Crossed Friars), the eastward continuation of Hart Street. He lived in Seething Lane and worshipped at St Olave s, Hart Street.

After the Revolution of 1688, Pepys was regarded as having been too close an associate of King James II to be trusted by the exiled monarch's son-in-law and successor King William III. Therefore, the official retired to a house on the northern side of Clapham Common in a due huff.

The corpses of Pepys and his wife were buried under the nave of St Olave Hart Street.

Location: 12 Buckingham Street, WC2N 6DF. By the watergate. The house was occupied by Pepys when he was Secretary of the Navy. (turquoise, turquoise)

The Church of St Olave, Hart Street, EC3R 7NB (blue, white)

Walsingham House, 35 Seething Lane, EC3N 4AH. The site of the Navy Office in Pepys's time. (blue, black)

See Also: CHURCH OF ENGLAND CHURCHES St Olave's Hart Street; THE NAVY The Navy Office

Website: www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/samuel-pepys-navy

David Backhouse 2024