John Smith (priest, born 1799)

John Smith (1799 – 3 March 1870) was the rector of St Mary's church in Baldock in Hertfordshire and is noted for being the first person to transcribe the Diary of Samuel Pepys.

Smith laboured on the Diaries for three years, from 1819 to 1822, and had assumed that they were written in code.

He broke the code by comparing the section in the Diary concerning the escape of Charles II from Worcester Castle with the longhand version of the same event Pepys published later.

Smith also worked on other material by Pepys, transcribing the so-called Tangier Diary of 1683 in the Bodleian Library.

Smith was Rector at St Mary's in Baldock from 1832 to 1870 and is buried beside his wife and son in the churchyard.

The grave of Rev. John Smith (left) and his son Josiah William Smith (right) in the churchyard of St Mary's church in Baldock