Resurrecting Pepys: Samuel’s Heirs & the Pepys Cockerell Legacy (1625 - 2025)

When the 70-year-old naval administrator and diarist Samuel Pepys was approaching death in 1703, childless, and with his sister Paulina Pepys married to John Jackson, the Pepys name appeared destined to be lost from this side of the family, a great sadness to Samuel with his strong sense of self-identity and legacy-obsession. However, barely 50 years later the Christening of a descendent and heir, Samuel Pepys Cockerell (1754-1827), would provide resurrection of both his names, future generations also frequently adopting Pepys as a middle name, with Samuel and Paulina often chosen as first names. Several of the descendants emerging from this ’Pepys’ resurrection succeeded to a host of high-profile public roles, which would have delighted Samuel. These included an Archbishop of Canterbury, a Countess of Shrewsbury, a Governor of the Bank of England, two Surveyors to St. Paul’s Cathedral, a succession of baronets, and numerous renowned architects and artists. Also featured are several prominent military figures, including naval officers and influencers, resonating with Pepys’s crucial role in radically modernising and restructuring the 17th century Admiralty, an important catalyst for Britain’s emerging naval dominance in the 18th and 19th centuries.