Personal diaries have always been essential, to save historians from being totally dependent on royal chronicles and military reports. But what were the chances of a mid-17th century home-based book surviving fires, wars and bombs, and lasting until today? Slim!
Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) wasn’t a member of the aristocracy or gentry. His father was a London tailor who married a butcher’s daughter and had 11 children. He was sent to Huntingdon Grammar School in 1642, just as King Charles I started the British Civil Wars. At 15, Pepys watched the execution of the king in 1649. He attended Magdalene College Cambridge and gained a reputation as a boozer.
After university, Pepys got lucky; he linked up with relatives who were gentry, and patrons. Cousin Edward Mountagu was a high-ranking naval officer who hired Pepys as his personal secretary. Pepys had a couple of years to learn everything he would need, in order to rise in society: to dance and to buy fashionable men’s clothing.
portrait painted by John Hayls in 1666
National Portrait Gallery
Pepys married 14 year old French Huguenot Elizabeth de St Michel in 1655. It was a stormy relationship with a fiery temper on Elizabeth’s side and constant infidelity on Samuel’s side. In 1658 Pepys underwent a lithotomy, removal of a kidney stone via very scary surgery.
Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell died in 1658. When the Rump Parliament was recalled in early May 1659, Lord Protector Richard Cromwell resigned in late May 1659 and the Puritan Commonwealth ended, British life changed.
Pepys’ first diary entry, Jan 1660, had an intimate introduction to life in Whitehall with his wife. He was moving up in the world, working as a teller for the Exchequer. And this was when he used his writing skill and his passion to describe the world around him. Thanks to all the articles in The Diary of Samuel Pepys. From his detailed writing, it was clear he really liked wine, plays, music and the intimate company of many women.
A power vacuum had opened after the Commonwealth ended, leaving Britain terrified as to who would seize power. The return of monarchy was seen as the safest option, so cousin Edward Montagu quickly allied himself with those wishing to restore the king.
An invitation reached Charles in May 1660, asking him to return to Britain as the next king. Montagu was asked to sail his fleet from Dover and wait at sea, while parliament voted. Now Montague had a new opportunity for Pepys, one that took him into the heart of English politics. Pepys accompanied Montagu as his secretary, spending some days in The Hague and writing diary entries.
On board ship, Pepys listened in awe while Charles told tales of his difficult escape from Worcester 8 years before. On 25 May 1660, Charles landed in Dover after his exile ended.
Safely in London again, Pepys colourfully recorded King Charles II's coronation in detail, describing the glorious royal robes, diamonds gold and silver.
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Charles II's cavalcade through London,
by Dirk Stoop
Museum of London
The King’s coronation was the source of much joy after the Puritans’ tyrannical reign. Pepys recorded the founding of the Bank of England and the appointment of Henry Purcell as organist of Westminster Abbey. He wrote about the contemporary court, his household and major political and social events. And the newly reopened theatre became his passion, as did the coffee houses. Pepys recounted having attended 100+ plays and enjoyed the publication of Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan and John Milton's Paradise Lost.
When Montagu was made Earl of Sandwich by Charles II, he in turn rewarded Pepys with a role at the Navy Board. This came with an attractive salary and a home at the Navy Office. He was an effective member of the Board, and this allowed him to rise to more prominent positions eg Justice of the Peace; administrator in the English colony of Tangier.
Pepys lived in central London during the Great Plague that swept the city in 1665, sending his wife to Woolwich to save her. He was distressed at the number of graves dug and how many poor sick people were in the streets, full of sores.
Worse suffering followed; Pepys described the Great Fire of London in 1666. He recorded a scene of chaos as people struggled to save their children, and goods that they flung into the river. Pepys, who now moved in the inner circles of court, personally informed Charles II of the fire’s progress, reporting the destruction of 13,000+ homes and c90 parish churches. He said that unless his Majesty commanded houses to be pulled down, nothing could stop the fire.
![]()
Great Fire of London
London Bridge (left) and Tower of London (right)
Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) wasn’t a member of the aristocracy or gentry. His father was a London tailor who married a butcher’s daughter and had 11 children. He was sent to Huntingdon Grammar School in 1642, just as King Charles I started the British Civil Wars. At 15, Pepys watched the execution of the king in 1649. He attended Magdalene College Cambridge and gained a reputation as a boozer.
After university, Pepys got lucky; he linked up with relatives who were gentry, and patrons. Cousin Edward Mountagu was a high-ranking naval officer who hired Pepys as his personal secretary. Pepys had a couple of years to learn everything he would need, in order to rise in society: to dance and to buy fashionable men’s clothing.
. ![]()
The very handsome Samuel Pepys
portrait painted by John Hayls in 1666
National Portrait Gallery
Pepys married 14 year old French Huguenot Elizabeth de St Michel in 1655. It was a stormy relationship with a fiery temper on Elizabeth’s side and constant infidelity on Samuel’s side. In 1658 Pepys underwent a lithotomy, removal of a kidney stone via very scary surgery.
Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell died in 1658. When the Rump Parliament was recalled in early May 1659, Lord Protector Richard Cromwell resigned in late May 1659 and the Puritan Commonwealth ended, British life changed.
Pepys’ first diary entry, Jan 1660, had an intimate introduction to life in Whitehall with his wife. He was moving up in the world, working as a teller for the Exchequer. And this was when he used his writing skill and his passion to describe the world around him. Thanks to all the articles in The Diary of Samuel Pepys. From his detailed writing, it was clear he really liked wine, plays, music and the intimate company of many women.
An invitation reached Charles in May 1660, asking him to return to Britain as the next king. Montagu was asked to sail his fleet from Dover and wait at sea, while parliament voted. Now Montague had a new opportunity for Pepys, one that took him into the heart of English politics. Pepys accompanied Montagu as his secretary, spending some days in The Hague and writing diary entries.
On board ship, Pepys listened in awe while Charles told tales of his difficult escape from Worcester 8 years before. On 25 May 1660, Charles landed in Dover after his exile ended.
Safely in London again, Pepys colourfully recorded King Charles II's coronation in detail, describing the glorious royal robes, diamonds gold and silver.
by Dirk Stoop
Museum of London
The King’s coronation was the source of much joy after the Puritans’ tyrannical reign. Pepys recorded the founding of the Bank of England and the appointment of Henry Purcell as organist of Westminster Abbey. He wrote about the contemporary court, his household and major political and social events. And the newly reopened theatre became his passion, as did the coffee houses. Pepys recounted having attended 100+ plays and enjoyed the publication of Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan and John Milton's Paradise Lost.
When Montagu was made Earl of Sandwich by Charles II, he in turn rewarded Pepys with a role at the Navy Board. This came with an attractive salary and a home at the Navy Office. He was an effective member of the Board, and this allowed him to rise to more prominent positions eg Justice of the Peace; administrator in the English colony of Tangier.
Pepys lived in central London during the Great Plague that swept the city in 1665, sending his wife to Woolwich to save her. He was distressed at the number of graves dug and how many poor sick people were in the streets, full of sores.
Worse suffering followed; Pepys described the Great Fire of London in 1666. He recorded a scene of chaos as people struggled to save their children, and goods that they flung into the river. Pepys, who now moved in the inner circles of court, personally informed Charles II of the fire’s progress, reporting the destruction of 13,000+ homes and c90 parish churches. He said that unless his Majesty commanded houses to be pulled down, nothing could stop the fire.
London Bridge (left) and Tower of London (right)
Photo credit: On This Day
In any case the glamour was fading. Years after Charles was crowned, Pepys thought Charles didn’t have the right priorities. He recorded that while the Dutch burned the English fleet at Medway, the king was hunting and dining with Lady Castlemaine. It seemed hypocritical that Pepys was quick to condemn the debauchery of the court yet continued his own adulteries. In 1667, he wrote that the King and Court were never in the world so bad as they are now for gaming, swearing, whoring and drinking, and the most abominable vices that ever were in the world”.
Remarkably Pepys had survived the Great Plague that killed 100,000 Londoners, and in 1666 his home narrowly escaped the fire that razed four-fifths of the city. But he stopped writing his diary in May 1669 due to poor eyesight! Six months later, Elizabeth died from typhoid fever.
Continuing to climb the political ladder, Pepys was elected as an MP first in Norfolk in 1673 and then MP for Harwich in 1679. In these years he introduced many improvements and expansions to the Navy while Secretary to the Admiralty, and was widely respected.
But he acquired a few powerful political enemies as well. Accused of complicity in the Popish Plot, of selling naval secrets to France and of piracy, Pepys was imprisoned in the Tower of London for six weeks in 1679. He was eventually discharged. In 1689, he was gaoled for plotting to restore the exiled King James to the throne and a year later, he was re-arrested on suspicion of being involved in an insurrection to restore James.
Pepys retired from public life and lived quietly into old age. He died in 1703 at 70.
The diary, written between 1660-69, was found in his Cambridge college in 1825, when the shorthand and censored version was published. The uncensored version first appeared in the 1980s by Hyman of London, supplemented with commentary from prominent historians.
In any case the glamour was fading. Years after Charles was crowned, Pepys thought Charles didn’t have the right priorities. He recorded that while the Dutch burned the English fleet at Medway, the king was hunting and dining with Lady Castlemaine. It seemed hypocritical that Pepys was quick to condemn the debauchery of the court yet continued his own adulteries. In 1667, he wrote that the King and Court were never in the world so bad as they are now for gaming, swearing, whoring and drinking, and the most abominable vices that ever were in the world”.
Remarkably Pepys had survived the Great Plague that killed 100,000 Londoners, and in 1666 his home narrowly escaped the fire that razed four-fifths of the city. But he stopped writing his diary in May 1669 due to poor eyesight! Six months later, Elizabeth died from typhoid fever.
Continuing to climb the political ladder, Pepys was elected as an MP first in Norfolk in 1673 and then MP for Harwich in 1679. In these years he introduced many improvements and expansions to the Navy while Secretary to the Admiralty, and was widely respected.
But he acquired a few powerful political enemies as well. Accused of complicity in the Popish Plot, of selling naval secrets to France and of piracy, Pepys was imprisoned in the Tower of London for six weeks in 1679. He was eventually discharged. In 1689, he was gaoled for plotting to restore the exiled King James to the throne and a year later, he was re-arrested on suspicion of being involved in an insurrection to restore James.
Pepys retired from public life and lived quietly into old age. He died in 1703 at 70.
The diary, written between 1660-69, was found in his Cambridge college in 1825, when the shorthand and censored version was published. The uncensored version first appeared in the 1980s by Hyman of London, supplemented with commentary from prominent historians.