In 1660 Samuel Pepys, the new Clerk of the Acts, employed Hewer as his clerk in the Navy Office and also as a domestic employee. Their relationship developed into a professional partnership as well as a friendship. Pepys moved to the Admiralty in 1673 taking with him Hewer, who became chief clerk the following year. In 1685 he became MP for Yarmouth Isle of Wight, and in 1686 a special commissioner of the navy with responsibility for accounts. In his old age Pepys went to live in Hewer’s house on Clapham Common and died there in 1703. His library remained there until 1724. The portrait is a pair to Kneller’s portrait of Pepys (BHC2947) and both remained in Pepys family possesion until they were acquired for the Museum in 1931. This one was engraved by Robert Cooper in 1825, for inclusion in the first published edition of Pepys's diary that year.