'The Life and Loves of Samuel Pepys' was the subject of a talk given at the February meeting of the East Devon Luncheon Club.

The speaker was Tony Venning, a Budleigh Salterton resident and member of the Samuel Pepys Club formed in 1903.

Samuel Pepys is famous for his diary, but Tony brought alive aspects of his personal life, of which many in the club might not have been aware. Pepys was intellectually curious and unashamedly hedonistic. Throughout his life he had the uncanny knack of being present at the very times and places where history was being made, including the English Civil War, the Interregnum, the Restoration and the Glorious Revolution, the war with the Dutch in 1665, the great Plague and the Great Fire of London.

Born in 1633, the fifth of 11 children, all of whom he outlived, he was educated at St Paul’s and bunked off school to see Charles 1st executed. At Magdalene College, Cambridge, he was admonished by the Dean following a drinking escapade.

Despite his humble beginnings, through commitment and sheer hard work he became Head of the Admiralty and confidant to Charles II and James II. He numbered the greatest intellects of his day amongst his friends and acquaintances, including Sir Isaac Newton.

He loved life and women, and married Elisabeth in 1655. However, he was a lothario of mixed success, having regular mistresses and engaging in casual affairs with servants, barmaids etc, along with wives, daughters and mothers of friends and colleagues; he was necessarily discreet in his diary entries to hide his several dalliances from his wife. The marriage was volatile, however, and Elisabeth ultimately caught him in flagrante with one of her companions, whom she immediately dismissed. She insisted that he write a letter to her afterwards and he did so, but failed to deliver it. He died in 1703 after a full and adventurous life.

The East Devon Luncheon Club meets every month at the Victoria Hotel in Sidmouth. The next meeting will be on Tuesday, March 19, followed by the AGM. The subject of the talk will be ‘The Suffragette Emily Davison.’