Abstract
Reference was made in the article on Pepys in Nature of February 18 to his association with the Royal Mathematical School of Christ's Hospital, and the circumstances attending the foundation of the School are worth recalling. The project for a naval seminary, communicated to Charles II for his approval, was backed, in the first instance, by Sir Robert Clayton, Sir Jonas Moore, and Sir Christopher Wren; afterwards they were materially assisted by Pepys. Sir Jonas Moore was Surveyor General of the Ordnance and he solicited the favour of the Duke of York, then Lord High Admiral. A royal charter was granted and the School was opened in 1673 for forty boys. Little was done, however, by King Charles towards its maintenance, and the foundation suffered many vicissitudes. Pepys offered various objections from time to time to what he deemed inefficient methods of administration and teaching, and when, in 1698, he was appointed vice-president, he turned his attention to the re-modelling of the Mathematical School. The following is an extract from a letter of Pepys to the governors, dated May 4, 1694:—“… when, in the yeare 1676 a shipp of the King's (with another of certain private adventurers) design'd upon an Expedition for Discovery of a passage by the N.E. to China; wherein his then majesty had reason to expect many unusual occurrences, and therefore fit for a Child of this Foundation to share in the first advantage of: He was pleased to communicate his pleasure in it to the Hospital. In which, provision was made for the child's being not only well instructed in his service during the voyage . . . but returned at the end of it; as he accordingly was, and by us afterwards bound apprentice to a Merchant Man, Bartholomew Clement, Master of the Ffortune, tradeing to Virginia”. In April 1699, Pepys was presented with the freedom of the City of London “in acknowledgment of the great zeal and concern for the interest of Christ's Hospital which he hath manifested on all occasions”.
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Christ's Hospital and Samuel Pepys. Nature 131, 267 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1038/131267a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/131267a0