This biography, written by Lois Burke, has been republished with permission from the Dangerous Women Project, created by the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh.
Born: 9 August 1833, United Kingdom
Died: 12 September 1877
Country most active: United Kingdom
Also known as: Emily Lyttelton
10 year-old English diarist Emily Pepys (1833-1877) documented her quest for the kind of knowledge which was off-limits.
Herbert and I were left alone, and looked at several nice things in the Encyclopoedia, such as Anatomy, Midwifery etc. etc. etc. but Mama told me to go to bed 10 minutes before 9 so we had not much time. Herbert and I always go together let one another into all our secrets that we would not tell anybody else for worlds.
As at this point in history there existed no candid medical texts which sought to inform girls about their bodies – their only option was to acquire it covertly, and in Pepys’ case, divulge that rebellion in their daily writing. Thus the girls’ diary is an invaluable fragment of social history which records this gendered struggle.
As she was a collateral descendant of Samuel Pepys, Emily Pepys’ diaries were published contemporaneously.