Pepys Originals
Colonel Pepys, a long standing and much respected member of the Pepys Club, most kindly deposited a number of original Pepys documents in the Guildhall Library in London. They are catalogued Mss 22424-8.
To make the most of the documents the skills of a scholarly C17 expert in naval documents is required, but a lay perusal is interesting, and “translations” are made of some of the documents.
The documents include:
Warrants of appointment, of the Council for the Navy, the Surgeon-General, and the Judge of Admiralty. The annual allowance of a sea commander, and for the captain’s table. Management instructions for the Guard Ships at Chatham and Portsmouth Harbours. Rules for a sea lieutenant. Instructions for the replacement of a small boat for the Foresight. Instructions to captains for voyages to Jamaica, and to the East Indies. Instructions to the Attorney-General for legislation. Precedents for sentence of death, and of pardon. Instructions regarding volunteers (“pressed men”) 6 May 1674. Detailed accounts of various kinds. A safe conduct 27 July 1685 for the Swallow sailing from Dublin to Lisbon.
10 June 1685 Patent for the appointment of the Secretary for the Affairs of the Admiralty of England, appointing Pepys.
5 July 1685 Pepys to Admiral Arthur Herbert, countersigned by James II, approving the forbearance (defiance) of the Admiral to follow earlier instructions to take the fleet around to the Bristol Channel and the Severn, and directing him to stay at Exeter. Monmouth had landed at Lyme Regis 11 June 1685. [Where had the fleet been? What of naval intelligence? The same thing happened in 1688.]
2 January 1689 warrant to the Master Shipwright at Woolwich, signed by the Commissioners of the Navy Office, including the signature of Pepys, but the signature seems to have been added later.
There is a family tree included:
