Samuel Pepys was born in February 1633 in Salisbury Court off Fleet Street in the City of London. He was baptised in the pre-fire church of St.Bride, next door to his birth place. His father John Pepys, a tailor, was descended from a family which had grown to some importance in the community in the fens. Of his mother little is known; she was a Londoner.
After education at Huntingdon Grammar School, St.Paul’s School and Magdalene College Cambridge, Sam entered the service of his second cousin Sir Edward Montague, later created first Earl of Sandwich. Due to the Earl’s good offices Sam was appointed in June 1660 to the Navy Board as its clerk. He very soon became its most knowledgeable member. Over the next 28 years he rose in importance becoming in effect by 1688, when he resigned his office, the senior civilian in charge of the Royal Navy. He died in May 1703 aged 70.
He married his wife, Elizabeth, at St. Margaret’s Westminster in 1655 and kept his famous diary from 1660 to 1669. It was written in a form of shorthand which had been freely available for many years.
Elizabeth, his wife died after a short illness in November 1669 aged 29. Sam never remarried. They are both buried in the Navy Office church,
St. Olaves Hart Street, close to the Tower of London, where their memorials may be seen. Hers was erected by Samuel Pepys soon after her death.