The Pett Dynasty

The so-called Pett Dynasty was a family of shipwrights who prospered in England between the 15th and 17th centuries. It was once said of the family that they were "so knit together that the Devil himself could not discover them". This saying refers to the era during which Samuel Pepys was much involved in getting royal aid for Ann Pett, widow of Christopher Pett.

Peter Pett, Master Shipwright of Deptford, was granted a Coat of Arms in 1563. His son, Joseph Pett of Limehouse, succeeded his father as Master Shipwright before Peter's death in 1605. Joseph surveyed the timber for the construction of a ship named Sovereign of the Seas, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Hoborn, another shipwright and churchwarden at Chatham. Joseph died in 1652, aged about 60. Joseph's son, the second Peter Pett, carried on the private family business of shipbuilding at Wapping. Joseph's other son, also named Joseph, became the master carpenter employed at Chatham in 1643 by the then Earl of Warwick.

Another son of the first Peter Pett was Richard Pett, who raised his son (Peter of Deptford (1593–1652) and the third Peter Pett) to be a shipwright. The sons of this Peter Pett were Phineas (a captain in the Royal Navy) and another Peter (the fourth).

This fourth Peter was baptised in St Nicholas' Church in 1630, and was later educated in St Paul's School and Sidney Sussex College of Cambridge, where he was admitted in 1645. He then graduated to Pembroke College, Oxford, and in 1648 was elected to a fellowship at All Soul's College. He was bachelor of civil law to Gray's Inn from 1657 to 1658, and was knighted in 1661, after which he sat as a member of parliament for Askaeton in the Irish Parliament. He was called to the bar in 1664, as a barrister in law of the Middle Temple, and one of the original Fellows of the Royal Society in 1663, from which he was later expelled in 1675 for "not performing his obligations to the society". He also became Advocate-General in Ireland, before his death in 1699. Peter was a learned author and many of his manuscripts have survived him.

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