Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
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Companion entry:
John Creed was Pepys’s principal rival for Sandwich’s favor. Born in or near Oundle [in Northamptonshire, about 30 miles northwest of Cambridge], by Apr. 1656 he was in London conducting financial business at the orders of the Council of State, possibly through attachment to Mountagu’s service in the Treasury. Certainly by March 1659 he was established in the Mountagu household as a secretary. In that summer he accompanied his master on the Baltic voyage as Admiral’s secretary and Deputy-Treasurer of the fleet. But for the Dutch voyage of 1660 Mountagu preferred Pepys, and thereafter Pepys overhauled him in the race for advancement, although Creed remained on Mountagu’s household staff and held three more appointments as muster-master and Deputy-Treasurer to the fleet in 1660-3. One reason for his falling back in Mountagu’s favor was his puritanism. His letters to Mountagu before the Restoration drip with sanctimonious jargon… He had some private wealth, and (if Pepys is to be believed) was thoroughly mean with it
Creed comes to life for me in this annotation…
‘great Dickensian touch lh!
How large was the poll tax that avoiding it would justify the expense and hassle of moving?
The actual Poll Tax in 1694, for example, was a shilling each quarter (i.e. 20 new pence p.a.)per member of the household, including servants etc. but Creed might have also been avoiding the other parts of the tax, he might have had to pay
He would also have been liable for the progressive salary tax to support the militia per an act of late 1662
http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive/1662/12/05/#c38884
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