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Papers of Alfred Ernle Montacute Chatfield, consisting mainly of semi-official and private letters, 1932 to 1940, from Churchill (1874-1965), Lord Lothian (1882-1940), Admirals Sir Roger Backhouse (1878-1939), Sir Frederic Dreyer (1878-1956), Sir W.W. Fisher (q.v.), Lord Beatty (1871-1936), Sir John Kelly (q.v.), Sir (William) Howard Kelly (q.v.), Sir Charles Little (1882-1973), Sir Eric Fullerton (q.v).), Sir Dudley Pound (1877-1943) and other commanders-in-chief. The topics referred to in this correspondence include the battle of Jutland, 1916, the Invergordon Mutiny, 1931, the Naval Disarmament Conference, 1935, the Abyssinia crisis, 1935, the Spanish Civil War, 1936, the problems of defence and rearmament during the 1930s, international relations and control of the Fleet Air Arm. There are also photograph albums relating to the Royal Tour of India, the Mediterranean Command and the India Mission.

Papers of Clumber House. The collection mainly consistis of eleven volumes of copies, some of them contemporary, of original documents. Dating from the early seventeenth century is a copy of 'Admiralli Angliae a tempore regis Edwardi secundi ano 1307 ad anui domini 1590'; some notes added to the text in a different hand extend this list of admirals to cover the years 1264 to 1618. Slightly later is a seventeenth-century copy of judges' opinions regarding the payment of ship money, 1638. There is a collection of bound documents relating to naval administration which includes copies of 'A brief discourse of the Navy', 1638, and 'The Navy Ript and Ransact', c 1659, by John Hollond (fl 1624-1659) (printed in Hollond's Discourses, ed. J.R. Tanner, Navy Records Society, 1896). Also relating to politics and maritime affairs is a volume of original seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century documents compiled c 1815 by an antiquarian, William Hamper (1776-1831). Four volumes, possibly compiled for or by Josiah Burchett, Secretary to the Admiralty, ([1666]-1746), contain notes, transcripts and some original documents relating to the Navy, 1659 to 1743; they include copies of orders issued by the Admiralty and King in Council and a volume of accounts, tables and orders relating to the equipment, management and expense of maintaining the Navy, including the dockyards, c 1732. Notes and transcripts, c 1799, formerly belonging to William Locker (1731-1800) comprise two volumes; these were compiled for a history of the Navy and include some biographical sketches of naval officers. Finally, there is the log of the H.E.I.C.S. Melville Castle, 1786 to 1788.

Papers of the Elliot family including:

Papers of Lord Gilbert Elliot, 1st Earl of Minto, comprising sixty-two volumes and covering the official correspondence of Lord Minto when he was Commissioner at Toulon and Viceroy of Corsica. In addition, there is an account of the attack and defence of Toulon, 1793, a journal for March 1794, a few loose papers and some correspondence between Elliot, Nelson and Lady Hamilton.

Papers of Lord Gilbert Elliot, 2nd Earl of Minto consisting of correspondence and papers covering the period when he was First Lord of the Admiralty. There are forty volumes of in-letters and some draft replies in his own hand including the letters from commanders connected with the events of the Carlist war, 1836 to 1841. There are also loose papers which consist of reports and memoranda and correspondence on a wide variety of naval topics. Further naval papers of the 2nd Earl form part of the Minto collection in the National Library of Scotland.

Papers of Sir Gilbert Elliot, 3rd Baronet, content is mainly official and consists of account rolls of the Treasurer of the Chambers, 1762 to 1770, and an account made as Treasurer of the Navy, 1776 to 1777. There are some miscellaneous papers and a few letters, some personal and some official, relating to the settlement of Elliot's naval accounts. There are other papers relating to Elliot as Treasurer of the Navy and as Lord of the Admiralty in the National Library of Scotland.

Papers of George Eliott, consisting of three cases of orders and letters relating mainly to the siege of Gibraltar.

Papers of of Hugh Elliot consisting of diplomatic correspondence, 1803 to 1806, and contain sixty-two letters from Nelson (q.v.), together with drafts and copies of Elliot's replies and correspondence with Admiral Collingwood (q.v.). There are also intelligence reports and other material which throw light on the diplomacy of the Neapolitan Court.

Papers of Adm John Elliot, consisting only of one volume, containing a biographical note and seventy-two letters sent mostly by Elliot to his father or brother, 1745 to 1805. There are also letters received, including some from Lords Sandwich (q. v.) and Barham (q.v.). Also included is a description by Captain Erasmus Gower (q.v.) of Lord Macartney's Embassy to China in 1793 and another of the First of June, 1794.

Three logs kept by Willaim Elliot between 1803 and 1810.

Papers of Sir Peter William Gretton. A small proportion of the documents relate to Gretton's naval career (1926-1963) and include reports, standing orders, workbooks and journals. The majority of the archive, however, relates to Gretton's life after active service, including: his correspondence with naval personal, fellow academics and political figures; projects and research on a variety of naval defence topics, including the 1966 Defence White Paper, and work for the Ditchley Foundation and the Institute of Strategic Studies; typescripts and preparatory material for speeches, lectures, book reviews and contributions to radio and television programmes presented by Gretton; and research and copies of articles for newspapers and leading publications, including the Naval Review and the Dictionary of National Biography. All of Gretton's published books (see above Biography) and unpublished works are extensively represented by correspondence, notes, research materials and full drafts, in the case of 'The Forgotten Factor' (on the Spanish Civil War), 'The Battle of the Atlantic', 'The True Glory' (on minor naval actions in World War Two) and 'The Victorian Navy'. The collection also includes a small number of personal papers, including an outline of Gretton's working life, October 1942-July 1969, written by his wife, and a bound volume of memoirs, written by Gretton himself.

The papers in the Museum relate to the Henleys' shipping and other commercial interests between 1771 and 1830. From about 1784, when Joseph seems to have taken charge, the records become fairly systematic and the 'ships' collections' begin. Most of the 109 wooden boxes (now replaced) related to individual ships, but 24 related to general matters. A small number of the ships were owned jointly with someone outside the family, usually the master; only one seems to have been divided into sixteenths. The bulk of the collection consists of ships' boxes, containing correspondence from masters, agents, brokers, merchants, government boards and sailors and their families. Masters' voyage accounts and vouchers have nearly always survived from 1784 on onward, together with some Articles of Agreement, portage bills, crew lists and wages and receipts; sometimes, and especially during the last decade of the eighteenth and the first decade of the nineteenth centuries, memoranda books were kept detailing Henleys' own expenditure on ships; and papers relating to freights including Charter Parties, Bills of Lading, manifests, protections, customs documents, freight and brokers' accounts were often retained. 'Transport papers', relating to voyages under charter to the Government, include agents' orders and certificates, individual orders and receipts for victualling ships, and forms with details of troops victualled. The subjects range over every aspect of the employment of the ship, including building, maintaining, victualling and manning, the process of chartering or seeking cargoes, and the convoys in which she sailed. The general boxes contained books with accounts, receipts, memoranda and lists covering all Henleys' activities and are the main source of information for the early years from ca.1771. There are detailed records of their activities as coal merchants, especially for the last years of the eighteenth century; there is a continuous series of cash books, 1807 to 1824, with various 'weekly expense' books and petty cash books kept by individual clerks. The Henleys ran their own sail loft and there is a run of account books from 1813 to 1824, in addition to material covering other years. The rest of the general boxes contained papers on other aspects of their activities: boxes of loose receipts covering business and domestic expenditure, a box relating to the premises at Wapping containing correspondence about leases, building and repairs, with detailed receipts for building and rebuilding the Henleys' three houses, counting house and warehouse; boxes with accounts, receipts and correspondence relating to shipping matters generally and sometimes to particular ships or groups of ships. At different times it was the practice to keep freight papers separate from ships' papers. There were four boxes relating to the supply of coal to government departments, particularly the dockyards and the Ordnance Board, 1790 to 1802 and 1807 to 1820. There were three boxes of correspondence and accounts reflecting the activities of James Kirton, 1800 to 1825; he had been successively carpenter, mate and master in Henley ships from the earliest years and set up as a shipowner and agent in Newcastle at the turn of the century. There is also correspondence with agents in other places.

This catagory contains examples of various types of ships' papers and documents relating to the operation of merchant ships. There are examples of Charter Parties, including one of 1322 between Walter Giffard, master of the cog OUR LADY of Lyme and Sir Hugh de Berham for a freight of wine; the remainder are twentieth-century examples. The earliest example of a Bill of Lading is for the TRIPLE CROWN of Bristol, 1689; there are others from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Among the examples of Bills of Sale of ships and shares of ships is one for the Dutch East India Company ship DEHELDWOITEMADE, sold to James Mather, a London merchant, 1782; and also one for the SPECULATOR, a French prize, formerly LE CARME, sold in 1810. Examples of documents relating to insurance include a Statement of General Average for the POLLY AND EMILY made after she had been damaged in a gale in 1895. There are also Muster Rolls and Articles of Agreement of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (see also entry no.13); Bills of Health, nineteenth and twentieth centuries; Safe Conducts, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; and various nineteenth-century passenger documents and papers relating to wreck and salvage, including an order issued by Sir Cyril Wyche (1632-1707) and Sir Henry Capel (d 1696), Lord Justices of Ireland, for the arrest of the pilot of the wrecked TALBOT pink, 1695.

General Records: This group contains a large vellum-bound volume of Spanish diplomatic papers, mainly dating between 1603 and 1672, but with a section dealing with the Armada, 1587 to 1588; two English documents relating to the expedition to Cadiz, 1596; an enquiry into the loss of ships in the convoy guarded by Sir George Rooke (1650-1709) and the Streights Squadron, 1693; a gathering of Italian papers relating to the capitulation of Malta, 1799 to 1807. There are also a number of items relating to Lord Nelson and his family, 1805 to 1845. (PHB/: PHB/P: 2 vols: 3 items) Merchant Shipping Records: relating to merchant shipping, including the journal of the Blackham on a voyage to Constantinople, 1696 to 1698; the log of H.E.I.C.S. Ceres, 1743 to 1745; of H.E.I.C.S. Wager, 1745 to 1746; and an account in verse of H.E.I.C.S. Ceres, 1812 to 1814, on a voyage to China. There is also a memorial of 1774 by a Harwich pilot to the Treasury, seeking to establish an excise cutter there. Among the documents are Bills of Sale, 1651, 1695, 1775; Letters of Marque, 1780, 1799. (PHB/: PLA/P: 4 vols: 12 items) Royal Navy: Administration: This group consists of nineteen volumes and four documents relating to the administration of the Navy. It includes the naval accounts from 1422 to 1427 of William Soper (fl.1410-1459), Clerk of the King¹s ships; a list of ships' stores 'wasted' in the Prymrose after the Rochelle expedition, 1573; a volume of the records collected by Sir Robert Cotton (1571-1631), the antiquarian and collector, containing summaries of papers on naval matters and defence from the time of Henry III to Elizabeth I; a copy, dated 1638, of the first 'Discourse of the Navy of England' by John Hollond (fl 1624-1659); regulations for the Ordnance Office, 1683; an account, written by a clerk, of the dispute between Samuel Pepys and Colonel Middleton (d 1672) about the importation of cottons and kerseys, 1667 to 1668; two lists of official documents transferred by Pepys to his successor on leaving the Admiralty, 1689; two volumes of Navy Board orders to Deptford and Woolwich dockyards, 1644 to 1722; and eleven volumes of papers, bound by Phillipps in no particular order, relating to general administrative matters, including sea-men's pay, 1711 to 1790; however, among these papers are three letters from Vice-Admiral Benbow (1653-1702) written from Jamaica, 1699. Finally, there are a number of lists; of Admiralty Commissioners, 1673 to 1782; of ships, 1625 to 1636, 1705, 1706 to 1745, and of foreign navies, 1755 to 1778 (PLA/: PLA/P: 2 1/2ft: 76cm) Royal Navy: Law and Prize Money: This group consists of a volume, 1658 to 1673, containing a collection of sentences and decrees made at the Court of Admiralty; a volume of 1685 chiefly concerning the powers and rights of the Lord High Admiral, with an abstract of the judgements of Oleron, translated from the French; a further seventeenth-century volume concerning maritime customs and law from the time of Henry III; a French treatise of maritime law, 1690; a volume containing bound letters from senior naval officers expressing their opinion on the prize money dispute between Lord Nelson (q.v.) and Lord St Vincent (q.v.), 1801 to 1802; vindication of the conduct of Surgeon D.T. McCarthy, court-martialled 2 lines 1 field in 1804.

Copies of the Certificates of Competency and Service, 1850 to 1890, as well as the application forms for examination submitted by the candidates. The copies of the certificates record the name, certificate number, year and place of birth of the candidate, rank examined for and the date and place of the certificate's issue. The application forms record the name, date and place of birth of the candidate, rank examined for, date and place of application and examination, together with a list of vessels with dates and the capacity in which the candidate served. When a candidate passed an examination for a certificate of higher rank than that which he already held, a new certificate number was not normally granted. The number of his existing certificate was retained and the new application form and copies of the new certificate were placed with those of the earlier date. Frequently, on the death of a master or mate, the number of his certificate was re-used and given to another candidate.

See sub-fonds level descriptions for individual scope and contents.

Records of the Royal Navy Club of 1765 and 1785. They consist of: Minutes: meetings, 1846 to 1888; annual general meetings, 1765 to 1845: Navy Club of 1785, general meetings, 1810 to 1888: United Club, the committee, 1889 to 1924; agenda, 1894 to 1939. Accounts: United, 1895 to 1940. Cash books: 1765 Club, 1830 to 1877; 1785 Club, 1840 to 1873. Donations to Memorialists: 1765 Club, 1824 to 1934. Other records include: Club, 1827 to 1841; United Club, 1889 to 1934. Attendance Books: 1765 Club, 1822 to 1830, 1845 to 1849; 1785 Club, 1785 to 1803; United Club, 1895 to 1903, 1938 to 1954. Subscription Books: 1765 Club, 1797 to 1888; 1785 Club, 1825 to 1841; United Club, 1889 to 1954. Address books: 1785 Club, c 1881; United Club, c 1914 to 1919 and ca.1939 to 1950. There are also nine boxes of loose letters, accounts, reports, correspondence, memorials and copies of the rules relating to the whole range of the Clubs' activities, 1824 to 1927; and a book of pencil drawings, c 1840, by Admiral Robert Patton (1791-1883).

This class consists of ten contemporary lists of naval personnel. There is usually little detail beyond the lists of names themselves. An exception to this rule is the earliest volume, a list of captains between 1688 and 1696, which gives a number of biographical details; similarly, there are notes in a volume in a clerical hand of promotions for lieutenants for 1801, kept for Lord St Vincent. The most comprehensive is a four-volume copy of the 'Naval General Service Medal Roll, 1793-1840', containing the names of those awarded and the actions in which the medal and bars were won.