As the Gavels Fell: 240 Years at Old Bailey By PATRICIA COHEN

For 240 years the grand parade of human greed, love, cruelty, longing, and foolishness was captured in the Proceedings, the published record of trials that took place at the Old Bailey, the central criminal court, in London.

Now, powerful digital tools developed by an international team of researchers to search these trial reports and summaries have begun to offer new insights into the evolution of the justice system, the institution of marriage and changing morals.

 The Old Bailey offers a unique window into the criminal justice system and, by extension, British culture. The free searchable online archive, oldbaileyonline.org, contains accounts of nearly 198,000 trials between 1674 and 1913. “It’s the largest body of accurately transcribed historical texts online,” said Tim Hitchcock, a historian at the University of Hertfordshire in England and part of the team. “All of human life is here.”

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Sue Nicholson has written this lovely article for us about the Pepys' home at
the Navy Office on Seething Lane:
http://www.pepysdiary.com/indepth/archive/2011/09/23/at_home.php


Here are the first couple of paragraphs to whet your appetite:

Samuel Pepys was anxious. He had been promised a house to go with his new job at
the Navy Office, at the extraordinary salary of £350 per annum. The newly
restored Monarchy meant a complete changeover of staff in all areas of the
administration. The Commonwealth mandarins were being superseded by the King’s
Men and Samuel Pepys, having played an active role in returning Charles to the
throne alongside his cousin and patron Sir Edward Mountagu, was rewarded with
the position of Clerk of the Acts.

When he went for an initial look round on 4th July 1660, he could barely contain
his excitement. The houses belonging to the Navy Office on Seething Lane all
looked very attractive (“the worst very good”) and his first thought was that he
risked being “shuffled out” by the older, more powerful men he was working
alongside. It would be a huge step up from his current “little house” in Axe
Yard, in the sprawling complex of Westminster. When just a week later he noticed
a “busy fellow come to look out the best lodgings for Lord Berkely”, he acted
quickly and decisively. He finished the business of the day and then rushed home
to Axe Yard, gathered up a pair of sheets and hurried to the Navy Office, where
he boldly knocked on the door ofCommissioner Willoughby’s house, to which he had
taken a fancy, and invited himself in for the night. “where I was received by
him very civilly and slept well”.


Many thanks Sue!

http://www.pepysdiary.com/indepth/archive/2011/09/23/at_home.php



--
Phil Gyford
http://www.gyford.com/









--
Phil Gyford
http://www.gyford.com/

I am very new at this.
The entry for 29th February, 1659 starts:
29th. To my office, and drank at Will's with Mr. Moore, ...
At first reading, I thought Samuel had had a bit too much to drink with Mr.
Moore. (Leap Year on an Odd Numbered Year). But then I got to thinking ... As I
perceive it there were three annual calendars in force at the time.
a) the common or garden variety starting 1st January;
b) the Civil Legal calendar ... 24th March, I think - but correct me if I'm
wrong;
c) the Fiscal year - April, 5th/6th.

Now, ignoring the problems inherent in the (tri)chotomy, my question is:
Is this particular 29th Feb part of that web of possible dates or just a bit of
booze talking ? ... or some other reason.

I really am interested.

Eric.

Why do some years appear like 1659/60 instead of just 1660?

In Pepys’ time the new year officially began on 25 March, but in practice many people tended to take 1 January as the first day of the year. Thus in the official style 1 February 1659 is 1 February 1660 to most people. Pepys wrote such dates in his diary along the lines of “1 February 1659/60”. You can read more on this subject on the Calendar topic of the Encyclopedia.

Pepys family tree updated
http://www.pepysdiary.com/about/archive/2011/10/14/13007.php

If anyone likes to keep the latest version of the extended Pepys family tree to
hand, you should note that I've just updated it. The only addition is some of
the Pickerings, distant relatives of Samuel by marriage through the Montagus.
Let me know if you ever think of more people who can be added to this
ever-growing chart!

http://www.pepysdiary.com/background/familytree/



--
Phil Gyford
http://www.gyford.com/

I hate to make a new member feel unwelcome, but Ms vsdxvm, signed up on October
10th, is surely the comely lass whose presence may have something to do with the
spam emails we are getting.

A Red-Letter Day, and a Party to Match
By MARC LACEY

LAKE HAVASU CITY, Ariz. — When Arizona executes prisoners, it uses
lethal injection — not drawing and quartering, hanging or beheading,
all of which have fallen out of favor since they were used with some
regularity in Europe centuries back.

But for a brief period this week, the state will be simulating that
gorier era, when the most notorious outlaws have their heads put on
stakes and displayed for all to see. Red food dye will take the place
of real blood, of course, and plastic mannequin heads will be used
instead of actual skulls.

[details
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/13/us/a-celebration-for-the-london-bridge-in-ariz\
ona.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Daily London weather descriptions
http://www.pepysdiary.com/about/archive/2011/11/12/13067.php

I’ve just added another little piece of period data to the sidebar, which you’ll
see on all diary entries from 11 November 1668 onwards: A brief description of
the day’s weather, taken from John Gadbury’s London Weather Diary. That
particular day, for example, was described as “Great winds and rain at night”.

These descriptions are taken from Keith J Tinkler’s formidable Daily Weather
page which has lots more historical data on it:
http://web.mac.com/keithjtinkler/Weatherbytheday/DailyWeather.html

Unfortunately Gadbury only began his diary a little while before Pepys finished
his, but it should add some colour to the remaining months.



--
Phil Gyford
http://www.gyford.com/

End of the diary in London, May 2012
http://www.pepysdiary.com/about/archive/2011/11/27/13102.php


As most of you are probably aware, the diary ends next year. (Apologies if this
is a spoiler for you, but I fear this particular surprise is unavoidable.) It
would be great to see Sam off with a gathering in London for anyone who’s able
to make it.

So, a date for your diary: Saturday 26th May 2012. I don’t have a precise plan
yet, but consider that a definite date on which anyone who’s able to be in
London can celebrate Sam, Elizabeth, the diary and the past nine-and-a-bit
years.

I’m currently thinking of maybe a guided walk of Pepys’ London in the afternoon
and a dinner together in the evening. Any other suggestions are very welcome!

At some point nearer the time I’ll need to know how many people will be able to
make it, but that’s not necessary right now — I just thought some advance
warning would be good for anyone hoping to come over from far afield!

I’ll post further updates both here and on the discussion group. If you have any
questions or concerns, do post a comment below, or email me directly.



--
Phil Gyford
http://www.gyford.com/

I wish I could make it, but alas my UK trip in 2012 will be mid-February
to late March. I'd like to think that my old friend Keith Wright, who died
a couple of years ago now, will be there with you in spirit, having
followed the diary all along until his sudden death. I miss him, even
though we only met in a virtual fashion and occasionally corresponded the
old-fashioned snail mail way.

Jenny

On 11/27/11 7:21 AM, "Phil Gyford" <lists@...> wrote:

>End of the diary in London, May 2012
>http://www.pepysdiary.com/about/archive/2011/11/27/13102.php
>
>
>As most of you are probably aware, the diary ends next year. (Apologies
>if this is a spoiler for you, but I fear this particular surprise is
>unavoidable.) It would be great to see Sam off with a gathering in London
>for anyone who¹s able to make it.
>
>So, a date for your diary: Saturday 26th May 2012. I don¹t have a precise
>plan yet, but consider that a definite date on which anyone who¹s able to
>be in London can celebrate Sam, Elizabeth, the diary and the past
>nine-and-a-bit years.
>
>I¹m currently thinking of maybe a guided walk of Pepys¹ London in the
>afternoon and a dinner together in the evening. Any other suggestions are
>very welcome!
>
>At some point nearer the time I¹ll need to know how many people will be
>able to make it, but that¹s not necessary right now ‹ I just thought some
>advance warning would be good for anyone hoping to come over from far
>afield!
>
>I¹ll post further updates both here and on the discussion group. If you
>have any questions or concerns, do post a comment below, or email me
>directly.
>
>
>
>--
>Phil Gyford
>http://www.gyford.com/
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>------------------------------------
>
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>

A great idea.

I will definitely try to make it (though now living in Belgium).

I followed the online diary much more closely in the early days and often left
comments. More recently, I've been less dedicated, but retain a passion for
Pepys, and dip in from time to time, often via my Blackberry - a gadget that Sam
would unquestionably have been fascinated by.

In spring 2004, I spent a couple of days doing my best to walk in Sam's
footsteps around London. From this, I prepared some short articles with photos,
which are now in the Sept 2005 section of 'In-depth articles' - on St Margaret's
Church, The Banqueting House and Fleet Street. I had plans for more, but so far
did not get round to it!


Peter Easton / PHE



--- In pepysdiary@yahoogroups.com, Phil Gyford <lists@...> wrote:
>
> End of the diary in London, May 2012
> http://www.pepysdiary.com/about/archive/2011/11/27/13102.php
>
>
> As most of you are probably aware, the diary ends next year. (Apologies if
this is a spoiler for you, but I fear this particular surprise is unavoidable.)
It would be great to see Sam off with a gathering in London for anyone who's
able to make it.
>
> So, a date for your diary: Saturday 26th May 2012. I don't have a precise plan
yet, but consider that a definite date on which anyone who's able to be in
London can celebrate Sam, Elizabeth, the diary and the past nine-and-a-bit
years.
>
> I'm currently thinking of maybe a guided walk of Pepys' London in the
afternoon and a dinner together in the evening. Any other suggestions are very
welcome!
>
> At some point nearer the time I'll need to know how many people will be able
to make it, but that's not necessary right now — I just thought some advance
warning would be good for anyone hoping to come over from far afield!
>
> I'll post further updates both here and on the discussion group. If you have
any questions or concerns, do post a comment below, or email me directly.
>
>
>
> --
> Phil Gyford
> http://www.gyford.com/
>

I cannot make it, but hope that the diary will remain online? Or perhaps find
life in another format? (I, for one, would love to have it on CD-ROM, with all
the links internal, for hours of chasing down one rabbit hole after the other).

Fred Kiesche

--- In pepysdiary@yahoogroups.com, Phil Gyford <lists@...> wrote:
>
> End of the diary in London, May 2012
> http://www.pepysdiary.com/about/archive/2011/11/27/13102.php
>
>
> As most of you are probably aware, the diary ends next year. (Apologies if
this is a spoiler for you, but I fear this particular surprise is unavoidable.)
It would be great to see Sam off with a gathering in London for anyone who's
able to make it.
>
> So, a date for your diary: Saturday 26th May 2012. I don't have a precise plan
yet, but consider that a definite date on which anyone who's able to be in
London can celebrate Sam, Elizabeth, the diary and the past nine-and-a-bit
years.
>
> I'm currently thinking of maybe a guided walk of Pepys' London in the
afternoon and a dinner together in the evening. Any other suggestions are very
welcome!
>
> At some point nearer the time I'll need to know how many people will be able
to make it, but that's not necessary right now — I just thought some advance
warning would be good for anyone hoping to come over from far afield!
>
> I'll post further updates both here and on the discussion group. If you have
any questions or concerns, do post a comment below, or email me directly.
>
>
>
> --
> Phil Gyford
> http://www.gyford.com/
>

On 28 Nov, 2011, at 14:18, Planet_Stories wrote:

> I cannot make it, but hope that the diary will remain online? Or perhaps find
life in another format? (I, for one, would love to have it on CD-ROM, with all
the links internal, for hours of chasing down one rabbit hole after the other).

The website won't be going anywhere!

It should be possible for me to make an archive version of the site - a folder
of many files that you could always view in your web browser, no matter what
happens to the real website. I'll bear that in mind...


--
Phil Gyford
http://www.gyford.com/

Interview on Irish radio
http://www.pepysdiary.com/about/archive/2011/12/13/13147.php

A few weeks ago I met Regan Hutchins near Seething Lane and he recorded us
chatting about Pepys for 'Culture File' <http://www.rte.ie/lyricfm/culturefile/>
on the Irish radio station RTE Lyric FM.

The interview was broadcast on 2nd December and you can listen to it as an MP3
here:
http://www.rte.ie/podcasts/2011/pc/pod-v-02121106m56sculturefile-pid0-415968.mp3



--
Phil Gyford
http://www.gyford.com/

Scarburgh, Sir Charles (1615â€"1694), physician and natural philosopher, son of
Edmund Scarburgh, gentleman, of the parish of St Martin-in-the-Fields, and
Hannah Butler, was born in London on 29 December 1615 and was sent to St Paul's
School. ... includes mention of Pepys

Continued for one week at:
http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/lotw/

What happens to this website after the diary ends
http://www.pepysdiary.com/about/archive/2012/01/03/13186.php


I keep getting asked what will happen to the website when the diary ends in 2012
(or 1669). And so that I have one place to point people for the answer, here's
the current plan, such as it is.


### What will definitely happen

Some people will be getting together in London to celebrate/commiserate the end
of the diary! http://www.pepysdiary.com/about/archive/2011/11/27/13102.php

After a few days, I'll change the front page of the website so that it makes for
a better general introduction to the diary. It will probably feature links to
diary entries for the current day in all the years of the diary, and probably
all or some of the text for one of them.

I'll probably include other things yet to be decided: Links to (and maybe
excerpts of) interesting or popular diary entries or periods (such as the Great
Fire). Links to In-Depth Articles or particularly good Encyclopedia entries. Any
other ideas welcome!

Other than the front page, the website will definitely stay much as it is, and
will remain online.


### What definitely won't happen

* The front page of the site won't immediately "start again" by beginning to
show diary entries in sequence from the first year of the diary (1660).
* The RSS feed won't immediately start again with 1660's diary entries (it won't
be updating at all).
* The daily emails won't immediately start again with diary entries from 1660.
* @samuelpepys on Twitter won't immediately start tweeting 1660's events.

After running this site for nearly a decade I'm looking forward to a break from
having to pay it attention (even if only a small amount at times!) so often.

Also, it seems more appropriate that we should accept that Pepys has stopped
writing. It was a big event for him, and it should be a big event for us --
re-starting things immediately diminishes the effect I think.


### What might happen

I *might* turn off the ability to add new annotations at some point after the
diary ends -- I expect there won't be many new ones added after a while. But the
site still has to filter an awful lot of spam annotations and, eventually, it
may be simpler to accept no new annotations at all.

When 2013 starts, I *might* start showing the diary again, in order, on the
front page, in the RSS feed, and by email, from 1st January 1660. If so, it
*might* be a "read-only" experience, with annotations turned off. As I'll
already have all the diary entries in the system, with all their links, this
shouldn't require much of my time once it's set up.

At the start of 2013 I *might* also start @samuelpepys on Twitter again, from
1660. I'd like to see this happen, because I enjoy his tweets, but it would be
more work -- I only have the final few years of the diary already prepared in
tweet form from this time around.


### That's it

So, that's it. If you have any other questions about what happens when the diary
finishes, do ask!



--
Phil Gyford
http://www.gyford.com/

Nicolas Steno Google doodle marks his 374th birth anniversary

Google home page celebrates the legacy of Danish anatomist widely
regarded as the father of modern geology

Nicolas Steno, the Danish anatomist widely regarded as the father of
geology, has been commemorated in a Google doodle marking his 374th
birth anniversary on 11 January.

The doodle illustrated the search engine's six letters in a geological
style, with fossils in various bottom layers, with a green surface on
top.

Steno's work on the formation of rock layers and the fossils they
contain was pivotal to the development of modern geology while his
catholic piety has also been evaluated in recent decades with a view
to his possible canonisation.

Born as Niels Stensen, he left his native of Copenhagen in 1660 to
study medicine in the Netherlands, eventually finding his way to Italy
where he became part of a body of researchers following in the
footsteps of Galileo's mathematical approach to science.

His work on the teeth of a shark that was caught by fishermen near the
town of Livorno led him to the question of how solid objects could
come to be found in other solid objects, such as rocks or layers of
rock.

In what is now referred to as Steno's law of superposition, he
reasoned that layers of rock are arranged in a time sequence, with the
oldest on the bottom and the youngest on the top, unless later
processes disturb this arrangement.

Originally a Lutheran, he converted to Catholicism and was beatified
in 1987 by Pope John Paul II, completing the first step towards being
declared a saint.

To see the doodle:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/jan/11/nicolas-steno-google-doodle