Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete 1660 N.S. Samuel Pepys
Herald
Cooke, who conducted the Visitation of Norfolk in that year. From
that date the majority of the family have been in good
circumstances, with perhaps more than the average of its members
taking up public positions."
There is a very general notion that Samuel Pepys was of plebeian birth because his father followed the trade of a tailor, and his own remark, "But I believe indeed our family were never considerable,"—[February 10th, 1661–62.] has been brought forward in corroboration of this view, but nothing can possibly be more erroneous, and there can be no doubt that the Diarist was really proud of his descent. This may be seen from the inscription on one of his book-plates, where he is stated to be:—
"Samuel Pepys of Brampton in Huntingdonshire, Esq., Secretary of the
Admiralty to his Matr. King Charles the Second: Descended from ye
antient family of Pepys of Cottenham in Cambridgeshire."
Many members of the family have greatly distinguished themselves since the Diarist's day, and of them Mr. Foss wrote ("Judges of England," vol. vi., p. 467):—
"In the family of Pepys is illustrated every gradation of legal rank
from Reader of an Inn of Court to Lord High Chancellor of England."
The William Pepys of Cottenham who commences the pedigree had three sons and three daughters; from the eldest son (Thomas) descended the first Norfolk branch, from the second son (John Pepys of Southcreeke) descended the second Norfolk branch, and from the third son (William) descended the Impington branch. The latter William had four sons and two daughters; two of these sons were named Thomas, and as they were both living at the same time one was distinguished as "the black" and the other as "the red." Thomas the red had four sons and four daughters. John, born 1601, was the third son, and he became the father of Samuel the Diarist. Little is known of John Pepys, but we learn when the Diary opens that he was settled in London as a tailor. He does not appear to have been a successful man, and his son on August 26th, 1661, found that there was only £45 owing to him, and that he owed about the same sum. He was a citizen of London in 1650, when his son Samuel was admitted to Magdalene College, but at an earlier period he appears to have had business relations with Holland.
In August, 1661, John Pepys retired to a small property at Brampton (worth about £80 per annum), which had been left to him by his eldest brother, Robert Pepys, where he died in 1680.
The following is a copy of John Pepys's will:
"MY FATHER'S WILL.
[Indorsement by S. Pepys.]
"Memorandum. That I, John Pepys of Ellington, in the county of
Huntingdon, Gent.", doe declare my mind in the disposall of my
worldly goods as followeth:
"First, I desire that my lands and goods left mee by my brother,
Robert Pepys, deceased, bee delivered up to my eldest son, Samuell
Pepys, of London, Esqr., according as is expressed in the last Will
of my brother Robert aforesaid.
"Secondly, As for what goods I have brought from London, or procured
since, and what moneys I shall leave behind me or due to me, I
desire may be disposed of as followeth:
"Imprimis, I give to the stock of the poore of the parish of
Brampton, in which church I desire to be enterred, five pounds.
"Item. I give to the Poore of Ellington forty shillings.
"Item. I desire that my two grandsons, Samuell and John Jackson,
have ten pounds a piece.
"Item. I desire that my daughter, Paulina Jackson, may have my
largest silver tankerd.
"Item. I desire that my son John Pepys may have my gold seale-ring.
"Lastly. I desire that the remainder of what I shall leave be
equally distributed between my sons Samuel and John Pepys and my
daughter Paulina Jackson.
"All which I leave to the care of my eldest son Samuel Pepys, to see
performed, if he shall think fit.
"In witness hereunto I set my hand."
His wife Margaret, whose maiden name has not been discovered, died on the 25th March, 1667, also at Brampton. The family of these two consisted of six sons and five daughters: John (born 1632, died 1640), Samuel (born 1633, died 1703), Thomas (born 1634, died 1664), Jacob (born 1637, died young), Robert (born 1638, died young), and John (born 1641, died 1677); Mary (born 1627), Paulina (born 1628), Esther (born 1630), Sarah (born 1635; these four girls all died young), and Paulina (born 1640, died 1680), who married John Jackson of Brampton, and had two sons, Samuel and John. The latter was made his heir by Samuel Pepys.
Samuel Pepys was born on the 23rd February, 1632–3, but the place of birth is not known with certainty. Samuel Knight, D.D., author of the "Life of Colet," who was a connection of the family (having married Hannah Pepys, daughter of Talbot Pepys of Impington), says positively that it was at Brampton. His statement cannot be corroborated by the registers of Brampton church, as these records do not commence until the year 1654.
Samuel's early youth appears to have been spent pretty equally between town and country. When he and his brother Tom were children they lived with a nurse (Goody Lawrence) at Kingsland, and in after life Samuel refers to his habit of shooting with bow and arrow in the fields around that place. He then went to school at Huntingdon, from which he was transferred to St. Paul's School in London. He remained at the latter place until 1650, early in which year his name was entered as a sizar on the boards of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He was admitted on the 21st June, but subsequently he transferred his allegiance to Magdalene College, where he was admitted a sizar on the 1st October of this same year. He did not enter into residence until March 5th, 1650–51, but in the following month he was elected to one of Mr. Spendluffe's scholarships, and two years later (October 14th, 1653) he was preferred to one on Dr. John Smith's foundation.
Little or nothing is known of Pepys's career at college, but soon after obtaining the Smith scholarship he got into trouble, and, with a companion, was admonished for being drunk.
[October 21st, 1653. "Memorandum: that Peapys and Hind were
solemnly admonished by myself and Mr. Hill, for having been
scandalously over-served with drink ye night before. This was done
in the presence of all the Fellows then resident, in Mr. Hill's
chamber.—JOHN WOOD, Registrar." (From the Registrar's-book of
Magdalene College.)]
His time, however, was not wasted, and there is evidence that he carried into his busy life a fair stock of classical learning and a true love of letters. Throughout his life he looked back with pleasure to the time he spent at the University, and his college was remembered in his will when he bequeathed his valuable library. In this same year, 1653, he graduated B.A. On the 1st of December, 1655, when he was still without any settled means of support, he married Elizabeth St. Michel, a beautiful and portionless girl of fifteen. Her father, Alexander Marchant, Sieur de St. Michel, was of a good family in Anjou, and son of the High Sheriff of Bauge (in Anjou). Having turned Huguenot at the age of twenty-one, when in the German service, his father disinherited him, and he also lost the reversion of some £20,000 sterling which his uncle, a rich French canon, intended to bequeath to him before he left the Roman Catholic church. He came over to England in the retinue of Henrietta Maria on her marriage with Charles I, but the queen dismissed him on finding that he was a Protestant and did not attend mass. Being a handsome man, with courtly manners, he found favour in the sight of the widow of an Irish squire (daughter of Sir Francis Kingsmill), who married him against