Heather Macbeth

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Heather Macbeth has posted two annotations/comments since 29 April 2013.

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Second Reading

About Wednesday 6 June 1660

Heather Macbeth  •  Link

"my Lord’s place of Clerk of the Signet"

This would seem to be a mistake (on Pepys' part?) -- Mountagu obtains one of the Clerkships of the Privy Seal
(list of holders) http://www.history.ac.uk/publicat…
not one of the Clerkships of the Signet
(list of holders pre-1660) http://www.history.ac.uk/publicat…
(list of holders post-1660) http://www.british-history.ac.uk/…
Both the Privy Seal and the Signet were among the four "royal seals;" the others were the Great Seal and the Quarter Seal.
http://www.scan.org.uk/researchrt…

Same mistake last month, when Mountagu was discussing with Pepys the likelihood of his obtaining the place:
"my Lord . . . did at last think of an office which do belong to him in case the King do restore every man to his places that ever had been patent, which is to be one of the clerks of the signet, which will be a fine employment for one of his sons."
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
See WKW's annotation there also suggesting "signet" should be "privy seal."

From the Encyclopedia entry
http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…
and discussion at the links with lists of holders, it would seem that there were four of each Clerkship, and that the (rich and important) holders of the Clerkships typically delegated the actual work to deputies.

Presumably the first sentence of today's entry means that Mountagu (or one of his sons) will hold the Clerkship, and Pepys will "execute" it -- that is, be the deputy.

About Saturday 28 April 1660

Heather Macbeth  •  Link

Today we meet our first member of the large Pett family of ship-builders and sailors. More will turn up in future. At least two will be important characters.

For earlier discussion of the difficulty of keeping them straight, see Emilio's comment
http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…
and Wikipedia ("Some confusion may arise between the identities of Peter Pett and his many relatives; even the Navy Board had difficulty in keeping its records straight on this matter")
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete…

Today's Mr Pett is hyperlinked as Peter Pett, 1610-1672, Commissioner of the Navy.
http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…
But is this the right Pett? Navy-Commissioner Peter Pett will appear in the Diary soon, on May 16 and 18, but under the appellation "Commissioner Pett" (not "Mr Pett"). He is now 50, likely too old and too important to be playing ninepins with hangers-on and servants of Montagu.

Who knows what Pett this is. If it's one of the five male Petts for whom we have Encyclopedia entries, my guess is Phineas Pett (b), 1628-1678, a shipbuilder currently aged 32, nephew of Navy-Commissioner Peter.
http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…