School Considers Renaming Pepys House Over Writer’s ‘Abuse of Women’
2nd December 2025
A school once attended by Samuel Pepys has proposed renaming one of its houses because of his “abusive and exploitative” behaviour towards women.
Hinchingbrooke School in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, has five houses named after famous people connected with the area, including the 17th-century diarist and Oliver Cromwell.
Parents of its pupils have been told that recent research into the writer’s behaviour revealed “actions that were harmful, abusive and exploitative, especially in his relations with women”.
As a result, the secondary school has suggested a consultation over renaming Pepys House, in a move that has left some parents furious at attempts to “erase history”.
Hinchingbrooke is associated with the Earl of Sandwich, Pepys’ patron. The heir to the Earldom is styled by courtesy Viscount Hinchingbrooke.