Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys (1633-1703), English diarist and civil servant, who kept one of the most candid, self-revealing diaries known, and who in his official capacity helped to give Britain one of the strongest navies in the world.

The son of a tailor, Pepys was born in London February 23, 1633. After graduation from Magdalene College, University of Cambridge, he worked as a secretary for a relative, Admiral Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich. In 1660 Montagu had him appointed a clerk in the navy office. By diligent application he advanced himself rapidly, becoming one of the key people in that office. In 1673 Charles II made Pepys secretary of the admiralty, a post in which he worked effectively to strengthen the navy. In 1679 he became a member of Parliament. That year he was accused of being a Roman Catholic and of passing naval secrets to the French; after being briefly imprisoned in the Tower of London, he was released and the charges dropped.

Pepys was chosen president of the Royal Society in 1684 and was again named secretary of the admiralty. When James II came to the throne in 1685, Pepys continued in his post but retired after James was deposed (1688). Pepys died May 26, 1703, in London.

From 1660 to 1669, when failing eyesight forced him to give it up, Pepys kept a diary in a contemporary form of shorthand; it was deciphered and first published in part in 1825. The Diary of Samuel Pepys, a modern 11-volume edition, which began publication in 1970, was completed in 1983. The informal, frank entries, recording his private as well as his public life, give a vivid picture of Restoration England. They reveal Pepys's thoughts and daily activities, his love of music and the theater, his domestic felicity as well as his casual amours.

Pepys bequeathed his collection of books and manuscripts, including the diary, to Magdalene College, where they are housed in the Pepysian Library. He also compiled letters and documents relevant to his public career in Memoires Relating to the State of the Royal Navy (1690).