Emily Pepys

Emily Pepys (9 August 1833 – 12 September 1877) was an English child diarist.

Family

Emily was born on 9 August 1833, at Westmill, Hertfordshire, where her father was rector at that time. Her father, Henry Pepys (this branch of the family pronounced the name "peppis", not "peeps", 1783–1860), was created Anglican bishop of Sodor and Man in 1840 and translated only a year later to Worcester. He played a minor political role as a Liberal in the House of Lords. Her mother, Maria Pepys (1786–1885), was the daughter of John Sullivan, a privy councillor and a commissioner of the Board of Control. Emily was the youngest of the four children who survived to adulthood, the others being Philip Henry (1824–1886), later registrar of the London Court of Bankruptcy, Maria Louisa (1827–1924), who would marry a well-connected Worcestershire parson, Rev. Edward Winnington-Ingram, and Herbert George (1830–1918), who become vicar of the new parish of Hallow, Worcestershire.

Emily Pepys married Rev. Hon. William Henry Lyttelton (1820–1884), rector of Hagley, Worcestershire, and son of William Lyttelton, 3rd Baron Lyttelton, on 28 September 1854. His niece, Lucy Lyttelton, then aged 13 and surprised at the news, described Emily in her diary as "charitable, young (21), amiable, humble, good-looking...".