Elisabeth Pepys

Elisabeth Pepys (Élisabeth de St. Michel) (1640–1669) was the wife of Samuel Pepys, whom she married in 1655, shortly before her fifteenth birthday.

Her father, Alexandre de St. Michel, was born a French Catholic but converted to the Protestant faith. He married Dorothea, the daughter of Sir Francis Kingsmill, in Ireland. Elisabeth was born at or around Bideford in Devon on 23 October 1640. She died of typhoid on 10 November 1669.

Elisabeth was second cousin once removed to the writer Anne Kingsmill Finch.

Elisabeth in Samuel Pepys' Diary

Much of the information on Elisabeth comes from her husband's diary, which he kept between January 1660 and 31 May 1669. Their marriage and relationship is a key theme throughout the private diary. The wedding itself is remembered by Samuel Pepys in great detail and it is recalled that Elisabeth had worn a petticoat trimmed with gold lace. Although the couple had a civil ceremony on 1 December 1655, they celebrated their wedding anniversary on 10 October when a religious ceremony had been held and they formally started to live together. Richard Ollard attributes this lapse of time to Elizabeth's youth.