Biography

William Weller Pepys. (1740-1825)

Son of William Pepys (ca. 1698-1743) and Hannah Weller Russell (d. ca. 1760). Married (1776 or 1788) to Elizabeth Dowdeswell, daughter of Right Hon. William Dowdeswell of Pull Court (d. 1775). Educated at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford. Master in the High Court of Chancery. An intimate friend of James Macdonald. A sometime friend of Henry and Hester Thrale. Pepys was created a baronet in 1801.

One of William and Elizabeth's sons, Charles Christopher Pepys, became Solicitor General (1834), High Commisioner of the Great Seal (1835) and Lord High Chancellor (1836-41 and 1846-50).

Life with James Boswell:

Boswell met William Pepys in the company of James Macdonald during his visit to the latter in Oxford, April 23-26, 1764. Boswell seems to have been erroneus in his claim in LJ that Pepys had a Devonshire connection.

External links:

• Portrait of William Weller Pepys - at the National Portrait Gallery

Literature:

Not a lot of litterature about William Weller Pepys is available. It is possible, however, to find rather inexpensive editions of A.C.C. Gaussens A Later Pepys (The Correspondence of Sir William Weller Pepys) via the Abebooks used books search engine. Included is his correspondence with, among many others, Sir James Macdonald.

Be sure not to confuse him with the much better known Samuel Pepys, Boswell's predecessor as a master diarist.

This article was last updated at February 05 2008 12:30:29 CET

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