Call Number:

Item 0120

Repository:

University of Delaware Library Special Collections

Extent:

1 volume (118 pages)

Language:

French and English

Preferred Citation:

MSS 0097, Item 0120, Walter Courtenay Pepys travel journal, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.

Date:

1866 december 31-1868 january 13 (inclusive)

Creator:

Pepys, Walter Courtenay, 1840-

Form:

Diaries

Abstract:

The journal of Englishman Walter Courtenay Pepys chronicles trips to Italy, France, Monaco, and Algeria in 1867. Entries describe travel conditions, landmarks visited, hotels, meals, and social engagements.

Walter Courtenay Pepys was born on November 27, 1840, in London, England. He was one of fifteen children and the sixth son of Charles Christopher Pepys, the 1st Earl of Cottenham. His mother was Caroline Elizabeth Wingfield Baker, daughter of William Wingfield, a Member of Parliament. Walter Courtenay Pepys served as a Lieutenant in the 60th Royal Rifles. He then became Barrister at Law at Lincoln’s Inn in London.

On August 4, 1874, he married Ann Harriet. They had five children: Helen Emily, Amy Theresa, Dorothy Caroline, Walter Evelyn, and Charles Courtenay, who did not survive infancy. In 1887, Courtenay complied and published

Pepys, Walter Courtenay. Genealogy of the Pepys Family 1273–1887 (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1970).Burke’s Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 105th ed., 2nd impression (London: Burke’s Peerage Limited, 1975)."Walter Courtenay Pepys." Ancestry.com Library Edition. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2004. http://search.ancestrylibrary.com (accessed May 22, 2014).

The journal of Englishman Walter Courtenay Pepys chronicles trips to Italy, France, Monaco, and Algeria in 1867. Entries describe travel conditions, landmarks visited, hotels, meals, and social engagements.

Pepys’s journal contains short, daily entries written in an embossed cloth-covered book entitled

At the top of the first page, Pepys wrote "Walter Courtenay Pepys / Paris – 31 December 1866." The majority of the entries chronicle two trips made by Pepys in 1867. The first is a tour of Italy. After spending the beginning of January in Paris, Pepys traveled through Hyéres, Nice, and Monaco. He then arrived in Italy and visited Genoa, La Spezia, Pisa, Rome, Naples, Mt. Vesuvius, Pompeii, Salerno, Castellammare di Stabia, Sorrento, Capri, Foligno, Assisia, Perugia, Florence, and Turin. Pepys wrote about sightseeing including museums, plays, operas, meals, hotels, weather, and the people he met. On May 6, Pepys left Italy to return to London through France.

During his time at home in England, Pepys’s entries were shorter and less frequent. He noted only occasional social engagements and short excursions such as a trip from May 22 to 25 to see the derby in Epsom, England.

On October 10, Pepys’s began a trip to Algiers via Paris, Lyon, and Arles, France. He arrived in Algiers on November 30 and spent the rest of the year traveling in Algeria. Other cities he visited include Phillippeville and Constantine. In addition to sightseeing, Pepys also went hunting or "shooting."

The "Notes" section at the back of the volume contains entries for the beginning of January 1868 describing additional travel in Algeria. There is a list of cities in Italy, Switzerland, Austria, and Germany headed "Proposed Trip for 1867." The names of months and days of the week are printed in French on the front endpaper. At the end of the book, there is a section listing the titles and names of various ministers in the French government (in 1867). The names of three senators are crossed out by hand and noted as "mort" or dead. Following this section is a list of the streets of Paris, featuring districts each street is located in as well as their starting and ending points.