Samuel Pepys

1633-1703. Went to school at the renowned St Paul's School, London. Studied at Magdalene College, Cambridge. English naval administrator and, in later years, Member of Parliament. Famous for his diary, which he kept during the 1660s, thus chronicling major events of the Restoration, including the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London, and offering valuable insights in the private and public life of the period. A wonderful busybody who happened to be almost everywhere and met almost everyone. Rose from rather humble origins to a quite prominent position in the administration of the Navy. Good example for the principle of meritocracy (his father John was a tailor). Was, however, also promoted and supported by his patron (and distant relative), Edward Montague, later Lord Sandwich (who did not invent the Sandwich), proving that the old principle of birth, patronage and clan-networking had not died. Also typical of the Restoration period he was married and had several mistresses. Quite untypical for the 17th century, Pepys married his wife for love - he was 22, Elizabeth 15, the daughter of a French Huguenot refuge and an English mother. He found her attractive, but a bit dull after a while. And he persecuted her with his jealousy. After the early death of his "poor wife" (as he liked to call her), he did not remarry, but cohabited with one of his mistresses.

Source: Oxford Companion to English Literature, ed. Margaret Drabble, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.