We continue our series on famous British historical figures with a profile of Samuel Pepys
Born in 1633, Samuel Pepys was an esteemed English diarist who also had a long and storied career in naval administration. In addition to spending time as the administrator of the Navy of England, he was also a member of English Parliament, among other positions.
A diarist, as the name suggests, is simply defined as someone who keeps a diary.
But in the case of Samuel Pepys, the documents that he kept from between 1660 and 1669 were so detailed that they were eventually published for public consumption.
His work is considered to be among the most critical in terms of the English Restoration period and his mixture of personal information and first-hand observations continue to shed valuable light about everything that was going on during that time.

THE EARLY YEARS
Pepys was born on Fleet Street in London, England in late February, 1633. His father was a tailor and his mother was a butcher in the area.
He had ten brothers and sisters when he was born but, due to various diseases and an unsettlingly low mortality rate at the time, he quickly became the oldest surviving member of his siblings.
It was 1650 when he went to the University of Cambridge. He also received a grant from the Mercers’ Company.
He eventually moved onto Magdalene College, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1654. (The college subsequently named a building in his honour – see picture)
All throughout this period, he suffered various illnesses that were common for the time.
He had bladder stones, for example – something that his mother, his father and one of his brothers also had to deal with later on in life.
It has been reported that he was in constant pain for years and, by the time he married Elisabeth de St Michel in 1655, his illness had grown to its worst.
THE DIARIES OF SAMUEL PEPYS

Pepys is most notable for the diary he began to keep on January 1, 1660. In it, he made it a priority to record the events of his regular life for nearly a decade.
The finished document itself amounts to more than a million words because of the level of detail that he was known to go into.
Because of his dedication to the craft and his almost unparalleled attention-to-detail, Pepys has been singled out by scholars as someone who may very well be the greatest diarist in human history.
He was equal parts specific and frank, jotting down everyday activities and major events in a concise way that truly captures the period in which he lived.
One of the major reasons why we have any idea what daily British life was like at all during this time was because of the work of Samuel Pepys.
Even to this day, historians and other professionals still use his diary to generate insight into what it was like to be in London during the 17th century.
Of course, it’s also important to note that Pepys wasn’t just jotting down anecdotes from his everyday life. England was going through a significant period of change at this time and Pepys was nothing if not an active, first-hand observer.
Just a few of the events that he wrote about in his diary include the death of Oliver Cromwell and the turbulent period that followed.
He also wrote about the experience of being on the ship that took Charles II back to his throne, and his observations about the early years of the Restoration Period.
Note that some of what he witnessed personally and wrote about during the Restoration include but are not limited to the Great Plague and the Anglo-Dutch Wars, among others.
PEPYS AND THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON
One of the most significant events of the era that Pepys wrote about in his diary was what would eventually become known as The Great Fire of London.
This was a truly massive fire that overtook much of central London, burning from September 2 to September 6, 1666 (we’ve covered it more comprehensively earlier in this issue).
Even though the number of deaths that happened as a result of the event were relatively minor, it still destroyed much of the area – especially those places that were located inside the old Roman city walls.
At the time of The Great Fire of London, Pepys was still a naval administrator, so he quickly became personally involved in the relief effort. However, he soon spoke of his frustrations with the process.
In his diary he indicated that despite the best of intentions, people would not listen to him. He and his colleagues spent their days demolishing houses, but the fire was spreading so quickly that it overtook them before they could make much progress.
He also wrote that despite the circumstances, he didn’t need more soldiers to come into the area – such an activity would be futile.
One of the only reasons that we have any idea of how The Great Fire of London progressed at all is because Samuel Pepys kept such detailed insights in his diary.
In the end, Pepys died in May of 1703. He had no children and left the entirety of his estate to his nephew.
But what he left to the world was far more important – an incredibly vivid picture about what life in England was like during this time, including the lessons that he learned and the insights that he gained along the way.
Given that we’re still benefiting from all of it, it’s beyond clear that the effort was more than worth it.
