Research Paper On Samuel Pepys

“As happy a man as any in the world, for the whole world seems to smile upon me!” Samuel Pepys wrote this in his diary. This diary was encrypted with an encoded shorthand text in which he wrote in daily for almost a decade. In this diary, Pepys recounts everyday activities and events ranging from simply having dinner with his wife to the common lifestyle in the 17th century. He also recorded historical events such as the Great Fire in London, the Great Plague, and the restoration of King Charles II. A well-known seventeenth century diarist and British Parliament member, Samuel Pepys is a politic and radical because he revolutionizes the developments of the British Navy, resulting in the progression of the Naval Ship, and formations being used

When the civil war began in Great Britain, he is a student at Huntington Grammar School. It is here that he began his writing skills at an early age. At the age of seventeen, he transferred to St. Paul’s School (Barber, ix; Tomalin, 2002). Later in his infamous life, he is accepted to the Magdalene College under suspicion. He would go on to study here for the next four years and eventually graduate. In 1654, Pepys received his Bachelor’s degree from Magdalene College (Latham, 1994). One year later, Pepys went on to marry Elizabeth Marchant de Saint-Michel, a fifteen-year-old Huguenot immigrant from France (Wilde, 2006). Once his schooling was complete, Pepys’ intentions were to become a public prosecutor. Upon seeing the putting to death of King Charles I and the establishment of a republic, another occupation opens up for him (Latham,

Through the increased quality of military ships, merchant ships became increasingly better for merchants (Tanner, 1926). As Tanner states here in Samuel Pepys Naval Minutes: “What to be learnt for my present purpose from Mr. Berty's building a merchant ship abroad, and whether by an Englishman or no ; and consequently must have communicated so much of our shipbuilding to foreigners.”

With the improved sailing quality of merchant ships, the import and export rates skyrocketed. This affects Pepys because he would receive credit from the King and praise from the people of Britain who were thriving in the economic boom. With the evolution of the merchant ships, the economy boomed and never dropped again until the long depression in 1873, securing Pepys everlasting influence.

In 1660, Pepys started to write in a diary (Sark, 2015). The curious style of writing that Pepys used in his diary was known as “tachography”, which was developed by Thomas Skelton in 1641 (Sark, 2015). He used this “short hand” not only because he was a busy man but also for confidentiality reasons also (Sark, 2015). This was his diary that he wanted to keep for his own historical records. In his diary, he recounted renowned events such as the Great Fire in London and the Great