Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
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A footnote elsewhere says of Pierce: “Husband of pretty Mrs. Pierce. After the Restoration James Pearse or Pierce became Surgeon to the Duke of York, and he was also Surgeon-General of the Fleet.”
“for gossip and good company”
Gleaned from Claire Tomalin’s biography:
Close friend to Sam throughout his adult life. He was Montagu’s surgeon aboard the Naseby and went on to become surgeon to the Duke of York (James) in 1660. As such, he was a source of information about what was going on in the royal court. Sam relied on this friendship “for gossip and good company.”
Tomalin spells it Pearse.
Family members
James and Elizabeth Pearse have a son, James, and a daughter, Betty. The children are mentioned, each more than a dozen times, late in the diary.
The index volume (11) of the Latham & Matthews edition of the diary also lists an Andrew Pearse (a/k/a “Pierce”), a much lesser friend of Pepys’s, but doesn’t say he’s related to James.
L&M; also spell the name “Pearse.”
Husband of Elizabeth Pearce: http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/785.php
from L&M; Companion
“….From being surgeon on the ‘Naseby’ (c. 1658-60) he rose to become Surgeon-General of the Fleet in both the Second and Third Dutch Wars, and was responsibnle for the introduction of hospital ships and other reforms, such as the use of medical records which ensured that the wounded received appropriate treatment ashore…..the report he wrote in 1687 on the treatment of the sick and wounded is the most important 17th-century statement about the organization of the naval medical service. (Pepys kept a copy in his library.)”
James Pearse Surgeon gained his Commission in Colonel Eyre’s Regiment jan 31 ‘60 {‘59}.
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