The school attended by 17th century diarist Samuel Pepys has re-named a house named in his honour following a vote by pupils because of his ‘abusive’ treatment of women.
Hinchingbrooke School, in Huntindgon, Cambridgeshire, was attended in the 1640s by the chronicler of the Great Fire of London and the Great Plague.
Pepys House is one of five houses at the school that are named after famous people connected with the area.
But questions were raised by two members of staff after a recent transcription of lesser-known parts of Pepys diary resurrected accounts of his serial philandering and rape.
The proposal to rename the house triggered a furious debate, with one parent branding it an attempt to ‘erase history’.
Others pointed out Pepys’ misdeeds were ‘hardly a shock’ as they were recounted in his writings.
But pupils at the school have now voted for change, with 1,054 out of the 1,764 who took part deciding to ‘seek a new figurehead for Pepys House’.
The school’s website described Pepys as having been ‘highly successful and respected by many’.
The school once attended by diarist Samuel Pepys has decided to rename a house named after him because of his ‘abusive’ treatment of women
Pupils who are members of the house ‘work hard to achieve success throughout the wide variety of activities that Pepys himself enjoyed; music, theatre, mathematics, literature and public speaking’, the school adds proudly.
But parents received an email late last year about his ‘exploitative’ relationship with women after concerns were raised by associate principal Femi Solano and history teacher Tom Wheeley.
They said in an email to parents: ‘While Pepys is an important historical figure who attended our school, recent research on his personal behaviour, recorded in his own diaries, includes actions that were harmful, abusive and exploitative, especially in his relations with women.
‘These behaviours do not align with the values we hold as a school – respect, equality, kindness, and high standards.’
The teachers added that it is ‘right to ask the question: Should Pepys House be renamed?’
They also insisted: ‘This re-evaluation is not about erasing history. Instead, it is about ensuring that the figures we celebrate as role models reflect the values we want our students to live by.’
In October, Ms Solano announced plans for a new project about toxic behaviours in relationships to ‘educate staff and students about misogyny’.
The email followed historian Guy de la Bedoyere’s transcription of more obscure parts of the diaries which recount how Pepys, who was at the school when it was known as Huntingdon Grammar School, was a serial adulterer and rapist.
Hinchingbrooke School, in Huntindgon, Cambridgeshire, was attended in the 1640s by the chronicler of the Great Fire of London and the Great Plague
One angry parent said at the time: ‘It’s another attempt to erase history that doesn’t suit modern times when really we should be learning about those times.
‘He was candid enough to write about it and in a way we are learning what the attitudes to women were like at that time.
‘We should read it and learn from it and do better.’
Journalist Nigel Pauley, a former pupil at the school, wrote on X: ‘Looks like famous Ex-pupil Samuel Pepys is being cancelled by his (and my) old school Hinchingbrooke – aka Huntingdon Grammar.
‘No more Pepys House! His behaviours? Hardly a shock or recent discovery. He wrote about them in his diary!’
Pepys’ diaries openly reveal the extent of his wrongdoing.
On one occasion, he described how his wife, Elizabeth, called him a ‘dog and a rogue’ after he was caught groping their 16-year-old servant.
According to De la Bédoyère: ‘It’s too glib to dismiss him as a “sex pest” or a “sex offender”.’
Instead, he concluded, Pepys’ behaviour was ‘consistent with the neuropsychological disorder of addiction’.
Pepys also had a string of extra-marital lovers dotted across London. Of one, called Betty, he wrote: ‘I f****d her under the chair two times.’
Another, a poverty-stricken naval widow, appears to have only slept with Pepys because she knew he was the gatekeeper to her pension.
And of his treatment of Mrs Bagwell, the wife of a naval officer who wanted a promotion, he wrote: ‘Many hard looks and sighs the poor wretch did give me and I think verily was troubled at what I did but at last after many protestings I did arrive at what I would, with great pleasure.’
He was, at one point, so violent that he injured his hand while holding her down.
‘Nevertheless in the end I had my will,’ he added.
Pepys concealed much of his poor behaviour by using a made-up mixture of foreign languages, English and his own shorthand.
School principal Andy Hunter said after the vote: ‘I am proud of the way that the school community conducted itself over the course of this process.
‘The students have been curious, reflective and, above all, respectful throughout.’
The school, which was founded in 1565, asked Chip Colquhoun, warden and current tenant of Pepys House in nearby Brampton to moderate the process.
Mr Hunter added: ‘It is important to note that there are no plans to rename the Pepys Building (a modern block which houses the geography department), nor to change long-established references such as the Pepys Stairs. These aspects were never under consideration.
‘The school maintains a strong and valued historical association with Samuel Pepys and remains proud of that connection.’