What was Pepys legacy to posterity?

First and foremost his diary. The picture which he painted of contemporary life is without equal, in  content, detail and a history of life in London and a little beyond during the Restoration period.

There were many other diaries and journals kept and later published covering the period covering the end of the Commonwealth and the Restoration of the Monarchy. Notable among these was the diary of John Evelyn who had become a close friend of Pepys by the end of the latter’s life. But none of the other diaries of the period give such a detailed portrait of Restoration life, nor of the character, foibles and innermost thoughts of the writer of the diary as does Pepys.

Secondly his magnificent library bequeathed to his old college Magdalene. Apart from his actual journal and the manuscript for his song “Beauty Retire”, which he is holding in the portrait by John Hales; there is a  collection of ballads, which is the largest surviving collection of English ballads which had been printed in London in the seventeenth century. There are also theatre handbills from his period and in addition the 3000 odd books which he collected during his long life. They are very carefully preserved in the “Bibliotheca Pepysiana” and his will stipulates that the books may not be removed from the library except by the Master of the College, and he may take out no more than two books at a time. If this condition is breached the whole library is to be removed from Magdalene and given to Trinity College. He arranged his books by their size in the bookcases or “presses” which were specially made to hold his library by a naval carpenter. His methodical mind liked to see regularity, so the books were mounted on wooden blocks, each made to raise its particular book to a uniform height when one looks along each bookshelf. His bookcases are unusual as being the first in the country to have glazed doors to protect the books.

Thirdly his legacy to the Royal Navy. By insisting that sea-going officers, no matter how aristocratic or wealthy, should serve for three years under an experienced master and then sit an examination in seamanship, he changed the way in which the Navy operated. Nelson largely owed the efficiency of his fleet to the Pepysian reforms. By contrast the army continued the purchasing of Commissions until after the Crimean War, when the exposure of the total lack of leadership by the aristocratic generals forced changes to be made. Fourthly in retirement he served  as Treasurer to Christ’s Hospital and instituted a “Mathematical Scholarship” for boys who were to be trained as Naval Officers as he had come to realise that in order to be a good navigator mathematics were essential. There are still such scholars at the school and they wear the silver badges on their uniform as they did in Pepys’ time.