Sir Richard Pepys (2 July 1589 – 2 January 1659) was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

in 1640 and was

Lord Chief Justice of Ireland The Court of King's Bench (or Court of Queen's Bench during the reign of a Queen) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The Lord Chief Justice was the most senior judge ...

. He was a great-uncle of

Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys ( ; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English writer and Tories (British political party), Tory politician. He served as an official in the Navy Board and Member of Parliament (England), Member of Parliament, but is most r ...

, the diarist. Pepys was born at Bunstead,

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, the son of John Pepys of Cottenham,

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

and his wife Elizabeth Bendish, daughter of John Bendish of Bowes Hall, Essex. He entered

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

in 1609 and was called to the bar in 1617. He was a bencher of his inn in 1636 and acted as reader in 1640.F. Elrington Ball ''The Judges in Ireland, 1221-1921''
/ref> In April 1640, Pepys was elected Member of Parliament for Sudbury in the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on 20 February 1640 and sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640. It was so called because of its short session of only three weeks. After 11 years of per ...

. He was active in local government, attending meetings of the County Committee for Suffolk between 1642 and 1648. He acted as treasurer of the Middle Temple in 1648. He was appointed Baron of the Exchequer on 30 May 1654 and became Serjeant-at-Law at the same time. He was appointed Chief Justice of Ireland in 1654 between 22 August and 3 November. He sat in court with Miles Corbet on occasion and was also appointed chief justice of the Upper Bench and commissioner of the

great seal A great seal is a seal used by a head of state, or someone authorised to do so on their behalf, to confirm formal documents, such as laws, treaties, appointments and letters of dispatch. It was and is used as a guarantee of the authenticity of ...

in 1655. He was on the circuit in Ulster in early 1657. In 1658, he presented books to the Inner Temple. He died suddenly in 1659 and was buried in

Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin Christ Church Cathedral, more formally The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity (Irish: ''Ardeaglais Theampall Chríost''), is the cathedral of the Diocese of Dublin and Glendalough, United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough and the cathedral of the e ...

. Pepys married firstly Judith Cutte, daughter of Sir William Cutte of Arkesden, in 1620. He married secondly Mary Gosnold, daughter of Bartholomew Gosnold, who played a major part in the establishment of

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along with his wife, Mary Goldinge.John Frederick Dorman ''Adventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia, 1607-1624/5: Families G-P''
/ref> He had three sons and three daughters and was an ancestor of the Earl of Cottenham. From the Diary of Samuel Pepys, it is known that the great diarist, Richard's first cousin once removed, was on friendly terms with at least one of his sons, also called Samuel, and two of his daughters, Elizabeth Strudwick and Judith Scott, who died in 1664. Pepys grieved at the death of Judith, "a good woman", more so since like so many of the Pepys family of their generation, she was childless: "it is a sad consideration how the Pepyses do decay."

References

*''Burke's Peerage and Baronetage,'' 107th edition *Samuel Pepys, ''Diary'' , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Pepys, Richard 1589 births 1659 deaths English MPs 1640 (April) People from Steeple Bumpstead Serjeants-at-law (England) Members of the Middle Temple Emigrants from the Kingdom of England Immigrants to Ireland Lords chief justice of Ireland

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...