William Haseldine Pepys

Who was William Haseldine Pepys?

William Haseldine Pepys FGS FRS was an English scientist and founder of learned institutions who contributed significantly to the advancement of the chemical and physical sciences during the first half of the nineteenth century.

Pepys was born in London, the son of William Pepys and his wife Laetitia Weedon. He was descended from Richard Pepys MP cousin of the diarist. His father was a cutler and maker of surgical instruments and Pepys was apprenticed to his father as a cutler on 16 April 1789. He was released on 10 May 1796 and became a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Cutlers of London in 1796. He also became part of a group of London-based Quakers and dissenters who were excluded from the political and social mainstream because of their religion, and being occupied in skilled proprietarial enterprises "fostered zealous commitment to the progress of utility, wealth, knowledge and talent".

In 1796 he was one of the founders of the Askesian Society, and on 2 April 1799 at a meeting held at his laboratory at 2 Plough Court he was part of a group including William Allen that founded the British Mineralogical Society. The membership of the BMS was made up of middle-class chemists, physicians, and owners of businesses such as iron-making and instrument manufacturers which were increasingly subject to technological change. The BMS was a forerunner of the Geological Society of London.