Did you know?

From 1777 to 1783 James Boswell was a columnist for the London Magazine, writing a total of seventy essays under the pseudonym the Hypochondriack.

Biographies

James Boswell mentioned thousands of people in his extensive journals and other writings. Read about an ever increasing number of those people, and about their relationship with Boswell, in our biographies section.

Literature

In our literature section you can read about the numerous books published by Boswell in his own lifetime, and about more than 40 other books about or related to Boswell published since his death in 1795.

Wiliam Weller Pepys - a Later Pepys

William Weller Pepys

Born 1740
Died Jun 02, 1825

Alias:

1st Baronet of Cottenham

Biography:

Son of William Pepys (ca. 1698-1743) and Hannah Weller Russell (d. ca. 1760). Married (1777) 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 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 Boswell's London Journal 1762-1763 that Pepys had a Devonshire connection.

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, and a distant relation of William Pepys'.