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Samuel Pepys

Type Figure Region England Time 1633–1703 Also known as Pepys

Samuel Pepys was a senior British Admiralty official and famous diarist whose private diary (1660–1669) vividly records the Restoration of Charles II…

Timeline

  1. 1633–1660London · LondonPepys was born in London, graduated from Cambridge, and served as a clerk in the Navy Office from 1655, rising steadily through administrative ability and political acumen. He began keeping his diary in the final years of the Republic, laying the groundwork for the detailed private record of the following decade.
  2. 1660–1669London · LondonAfter the Restoration in 1660 Pepys became chief clerk of the Navy Office; his diary from 1661 to 1670 records court, Parliament, the navy, and social life in detail. He witnessed the plague in 1665 and saw the Great Fire of London in 1666 firsthand, taking part in the aftermath discussions; the diary became a primary source for studying English society of the period.
  3. 1669–1703London · LondonHe stopped writing his diary in 1669 due to failing eyesight, thereafter rising to secretary of the Admiralty and taking part in naval reform and parliamentary affairs. In 1684 he became president of the Royal Society; in his later years he remained active in science and collecting, and in 1701 was elected MP for Harwich.

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