Who was Samuel Pepys?

Samuel Pepys was a writer.

He was born on 23 February 1633 in Salisbury Court off Fleet Street in London, England.

Why is Samuel Pepys Famous?

Samuel Pepys is famous for writing a diary. He started to write his diary in 1660 and continued writing it until 1669. His diaries tell us much about what life 350 years ago.

Samuel Pepys is famous because he kept a diary. He began his diary in January 1660 and
continued writing it until May 1669, when eye sight became to deteriorate too much for him to write.

Samuel wrote about events in 17th century England - such as the plague of 1665, the Great Fire of London and Charles II's coronation. He also wrote about some of the key figures of the era, including Sir Christopher Wren and Sir Isaac Newton.

22 August 1665
“I went on a walk to Greenwich, on my way seeing a coffin with a dead body in it, dead of plague. It lay in an open yard . . . It was carried there last night, and the parish has not told anybody to bury it. This disease
makes us more cruel to one another than we are to dogs.”

Links

More about Samuel Pepys on the BBC site

Samuel Pepys Diary

Also on this day .....

23 February 1863: Lake Victoria, in Africa, was declared to be the source of the River Nile by British explorers John Speke and J.A. Grant.