Samuel Pepys
Who was Samuel Pepys?
Samuel Pepys (Pepys is pronounced Peeps) lived more than 300
years ago. He was born in London in 1633. He was one of 11
children and went to Huntington Grammar School. Pepys worked
as a clerk for the Royal Navy. He was lucky to have a rich relative
who helped him get a good job. However, he is famous because
he was an eye witness to the Great Fire of London. (That means
that he was there and saw what happened during the Great Fire.
Samuel Pepys told us what happened by writing his diary!) He
lived through two disasters - the Plague and the Great Fire of
London. Pepys worked as a tailor which meant he met lots of
different people.
Samuel Pepys
When did he live?
Samuel Pepys’ lived in a house in Seething Lane and he
had a good view of London from his window. When
Pepys’ first got married to Elizabeth, they were quite
poor. However, after working for a while, Pepys was
soon able to afford to have servants to take care of
him and his wife. From his house, Pepys was able to
watch the Great Fire’s progress as it burnt through
London.
What was his job like?
Pepys’ job was to run the Navy - to make sure old ships were
repaired, and new ships were built properly. Sometimes, he even
went to sea on one of the navy boats. However, Pepys discovered
that many of the ships were too rotten to go to sea and fight.
Pepys decided to change this and went to the dockyards to see
how the ships were built. He learnt all about the Navy. When he
started his job, the Navy had only 30 battleships. When Pepys
stopped working for them in 1689, the Navy had 59 ships. He
worked hard to make the Navy much better. Pepys made lots of
enemies doing his job and at one time was sent to prison in the
Tower of London! Luckily, King Charles II liked him and set him
free.
An English
battleship.
What did he do when he saw the fire?
Pepys wrote about the fire in his diary, noticing how the wind
direction changed and how he could see people escaping in boat
across the River Thames. He decided to send his wife to safety in a
boat across the River Thames. When Pepys thought his own house
was in danger, he dug a hole and buried his cheese and wine! His
cheese was an expensive Parmesan cheese from Italy. He wanted to
keep it safe.
Why is his diary famous?
Pepys started his diary in 1660 (6 years before the Great Fire) and stopped writing in
1669 because he started to go blind. He wrote about London, himself and about great
events such as the Great Fire in his diary. Pepys’ diary is very important because it tells
us what life was like at the time of the Great Fire of London. We say that it is an
eyewitness account or an eyewitness report. Pepys did not want people he knew to be able
to read his diary, so he wrote his diary in shorthand, it was like a secret code. He wrote
with quills (a feather) and a simple fountain pen.
Wednesday 5th September 1666
About two o’clock in the morning I was woken and told there were new
cries of “Fire! Fire!” coming from the area around Barkeing Church which
is at the bottom of our lane. I got out of bed quickly and found it to be
true. I took my wife and my gold away by boat. What a sad sight. The
whole city seems to be on fire. When I returned I expected my own house to
be on fire but it is not. The wind has dropped!
A decoded page from Pepys’ diary
In formation sourced from:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/famouspeople/samuel_pepys/