Pepys, Samuel ___ 1633-1703 ___ British ___ civilservant

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Samuel Pepys' diary is the most famous diary in the English language. Remarkably, it wasn't decodified from the shorthand Pepys used and published until the 19th century. Born the son of a tailor, Pepys was also related to nobility. Through this connection and by dint of hard work, intelligence and brilliant social skills he rose from a humble civil servant to become Clerk to the Admiralty. In 1655, he married Elizabeth, the daughter of a French Huguenot exile, but she died when still young in 1669. Pepys' meticulous diaries, which record everything from the petty to affairs of state and from the tragic to the comic, reveal a man interested in everything, a man as comfortable presenting Navy affairs to Parliament as flirting with servant girls. The diaries are undoubtedly of historical importance, since Pepys wrote with such detail about events of his time (not least Charles II's troubles, the plague and the great fire). However, they also provide a wonderfully honest insight as to Pepys' own weaknesses and frailties (not least his constant leching after women).
A biography link
Wikipedia bio
The Diary Review - In celebration of Pepys

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1660-1669 ___ domestic political social people historyeye self love/sex health culture society family

WEB TEXT LINKS
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ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
Magdalene College, Cambridge University

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
The Diary of Samuel Pepys
 

May 2005, April 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.