Samuel Pepys Club
The Samuel Pepys Club is a London club founded in 1903 to do honour to the memory of Samuel Pepys (1633–1703), the English naval administrator and Member of Parliament now best known as a diarist.
On 26 May 1903, at the Garrick Club in London, a group of four men interested at various degrees in Samuel Pepys met together over dinner to celebrate the exact bicentenary of the death of the diarist. They were:
They resolved to found a club to honour the memory of Pepys, "to dine annually and to hold meetings at which they would hear readings from the Diary, listen to music of his era, and give and listen to papers on various aspects of his life". The response of admirers of Pepys was enthusiastic, and the first dinner was held on 1 December 1903 at Clothworkers' Hall, in memory of Pepys's Mastership (1677-8). They listened to music arranged by Sir Frederick Bridge, consisting of songs and of instrumental music on the flageolet, recorder, and trumpet marine. One of the quotations read from the Diary was thoroughly appropriate to this opening meeting of the Club: "To Clothworkers' Hall to dinner. Our entertainment very good, a brave hall, good company, and very good music." (Diary, 28 June 1660).
The first president was Henry B. Wheatley, assisted by his brother Benjamin R. Wheatley acting as secretary, and by Sir D'Arcy Power as treasurer.
In 1953, fifty years after its foundation, the Club established an executive committee charged with the general conduct of the affairs. It includes four officers, eight elected members, and four ex-officio members. Since 1985, the president of the Club has been John Montagu, 11th Earl of Sandwich.
The Club has no fixed club house nor building. Its meetings and dinners are held in diverse venues in and around London.
Besides the annual dinner usually held in October in one of the many livery halls of London, St Olave Hart Street, in coordination with the Samuel Pepys Club, holds a Pepys Commemoration Service each year in May, as close as possible to the anniversary of his death on 26 May. An invited speaker gives an address on some aspect of Pepys's life. Recent subjects have included: Pepys's Musical World, Pepys and Trinity House, and Pepys and St Paul's School.
Several outings to Pepysian places of interest are also organized round the year.
The Club initially aimed at bringing together those who had made significant academic contributions to Pepysian studies, and the initial membership was restricted to 50. Due to demand, this number was rapidly increased to 70, Pepys's age when he died. The first female member was elected in 1952.
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