24 Hour Museum - official guide to UK museums, galleries, exhibitions and heritage
Gateway to Over 3,000 UK museums, galleries and heritage attractions
Skip to navigation
Exhibitions
MGM 2003 - The Real Samuel Pepys At The Museum Of London
By Matt Havercroft
12/05/2003
Image: Shows a reproduction of Pepys' diary and a quill and inkwell.
Left: nowadays it would be a PC and a weblog, but for Mr Pepys, it was a little harder to document his life and times. Image courtesy of the Museum of London.
Grasping a flagon of the finest ale and dusting down his new wig, Matt Havercroft boarded the nearest stagecoach and headed to London for a date with a top diarist.
Forget what you were taught of school, The Museum of London is where you can find out about the real Samuel Pepys.
Documenting the achievements of London's greatest diarist 300 years after his death, Pepys' London, running until November 3, is a celebration of life in the capital during one of the most turbulent periods in history.
Image: Shows a contemporary sign for the Wild Boar Public House.
Right: a contemporary sign for the Wild Boar Public House. Image courtesy of the Museum of London.
Described by Hazel Forsyth at the museum as "A Pepys eye view of London" the exhibition combines 17th Century artefacts with candid extracts from Pepys' diary.
From Oliver Cromwell's death mask to wig curlers and false teeth: newspapers and contemporary art to surgeon's instruments and a plague bell, original items from the period create a sense of the times in which the diarist lived.
Image: Shows a painting of the Great Fire of London.
Left: Pepys' diary provides us with a vivid account of the Great Fire of London. Image courtesy of the Museum of London.
During the 9 years Pepys kept his diary (1660 - 1669), he recorded the restoration of the monarchy following Oliver Cromwell's death against the backdrop of a city ravaged by the plague and the great fire of London.
Whilst the historical context is remarkable, Pepys' own story is equally compelling. From government secretary to founder of the professional navy and President for the Royal Society, Pepys worked his way up through the social echelons of London, enjoying great wealth and the trappings of city life.
Image: Shows a mourning ring, worn to remember the Plague dead.
Right: a mourning ring, worn to remember the Plague dead. Image courtesy of the Museum of London.
With an appetite for wine and a penchant for attractive women, Pepys accounts of 17th social life make for interesting reading "…we made ourselves a great deal of mirth, but spoiled my clothes with the ale that we dash up and down; and after that, to bed very late - with drink enough in my head." April 30 - 1660.
Even during the great fire of London, Pepys made sure that his interests were safeguarded: "Sir W Batten…did dig a pit in the garden and laid it in there; and I took the opportunity of laying all the papers of my office that I could not otherwise dispose of …and I did dig another and put our wine in it…" September 4 -1666.
Image: Shows some of the instruments used to try to fend off the Plague.
Left: some of the instruments used to try to fend off the Plague. Image courtesy of the Museum of London.
On fashion, Pepys was uncompromising: "…I must go handsomely, whatever it cost me…" October 21 - 1664. Only the plague could put him off the latest trend: "It is a wonder what will be the fashion after the plague is done as to periwigs, for nobody will dare to buy any haire for fear of the infection - that it has been cut off the heads of people dead of the plague." September 3 -1665.
Pepys' was a life less ordinary and this exhibition is an entertaining tribute to London's 'accidental historian'.
Image: Shows Oliver Cromwell's death mask.
Right: Oliver Cromwell's death mask - Pepy's diary traces the restoration of the monarchy following the Lord Protector's death. Image courtesy of the Museum of London.
Who else can claim to have been imprisoned in the tower of London, had bladder stones the size of a 17th Century tennis ball, witnessed the first attempts to transfuse blood and to have named Isaac Newton amongst his drinking companions?
300 years on, Pepys' story is still as compelling as ever.
Reviewer Matt Havercroft is participating in the 24 Hour Museum / Museum and Galleries Month Arts Writing Prize.
Image: Shows the Museums and Galleries Month logo.
Museum of London
Museum of London, London Wall, London, EC2Y 5HN, England
T: 0870 444 3852
Open: Museum and Shop opening times:
Open daily 10am to 6pm.
Last admission 5.30pm
Café opening times:
Open 10.00am to 5.00pm
Closed: 24-26 December
Related Articles
News In Brief - Week Ending October 19 2008
Old Roots - Nu Shoots In Detail - Project Information
Museum of London calls for Memories of Brixton Riots
From Anarchists To Islamists - A History Of Terrorism In London
News In Brief - Week Ending August 31 2008
Museum Of London Archaeologists Uncover Shakespeare's First Theatre In London
Get Your Digs During National Archaeology Week, July 12 - 20 2008
E-news registration
E-mail story to a friend
Tell us what you think
Wildlife Photographer of the Year At Natural History Museum
Future 50 - Top Online Axis Artists In Leeds Exhibition
Yoko Ono Takes Her Love To Tyneside For BALTIC Show
Shetland Museum Unveils Evocative First World War Collection
Sisley In England And Wales At London's National Gallery
Darwin And His Big Idea At The Natural History Museum London
Babylon: Myth Or Reality? At The British Museum
The Hub's Guitars, Made In Britain, Played All Over The World
Interactive Map Explores Coastal Communities At Jaywick, Essex
The Post Office During WWI At The Cabinet War Rooms
St. Barbe Museum Hosts The Women's Land Army - A Portrait
Oliver Clegg's Night's Move At The Freud Museum London
New Walk Museum Hosts Ernest Gimson & The Arts And Craft Movement
Paths To Fame: Turner Watercolours From The Courtauld
National Portrait Gallery - Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life
Disposable People - Slavery Exposed At Southbank Centre
Soho Of The 1950s And 1960s At Photographers' Gallery
Eileen Agar: An Eye For Collage At Pallant House Gallery
Search this site
Home Page
News Page
Exhibition Page
What's On
Trails Page
Website of the Week
Letters Page
Welsh Home
Graphical Version
Copyright © 24 Hour Museum
Information published here was believed to be correct at the time it was prepared. Welsh language pages developed with CYMAL: Museums Archives and Libraries Wales, funded by the Welsh Assembly Government.