Evelyn, John ___ 1620-1706 ___ British ___ writer

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
John Evelyn studied law, and then, at 22, joined the King's Army - for three days only. Fearing his support for the Royalist cause might prejudice the safety of his brother's estate at Wotton in Surrey, which was then in parliamentary territory, he decided to avoid the Civil War and go travelling. He ended up in Paris, where he married Mary Browne, daughter of Charles I's French ambassador. He and his wife returned to England in 1652, where they took over his father-in-law's estate at Deptford. After the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Evelyn was favoured by Charles II and James II and held various prestigious posts. He was connected with the Royal Mint, improving conditions for prisoners of war and the wounded, colonial affairs, and the Royal Society. Although he wrote many books (including one on trees), Evelyn is most famous for his long and detailed diary which provides a rich and historically important record for much of the 17th century. Although Evelyn's diary covers over 50 years, and that of his friend Samuel Pepys covers only eight years, Pepys's diary is actually longer; and, unlike Pepys, Evelyn reveals very little about himself.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio
The Diary Review - Virtues and imperfections
The Diary Review - 10,000 houses in one flame
The Diary Review - A most excellent person

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1640-1706 ___ political religious social travel culture science historyeye people

WEB TEXT LINKS
etext
about
etext
 

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
British Library, Manuscript Collections

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
The Diary of John Evelyn
Diary and Correspondence of John Evelyn
 

May 2005, July 2008, April 2013
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.