The collection consists of four series, of which three directly relate to Dr Thomas Trotter's life and career. The first contains 19 documents 1792 to 1800 relating to Trotter's naval career. The second contains 41 letters mainly taking the form of correspondents including Nelson and Wilberforce thanking Trotter for copies of his published works or otherwise acknowledging his contributions to medicine and the navy. The third series contains a certificate awarded to Trotter, autographs, and an obituary. The fourth series consists of documents which do not directly relate to Trotter, but which were collected by his descendants.

Administrative / biographical background
Thomas Trotter was born in 1760 in Melrose, Roxburghshire. He studied medicine in Edinburgh but left in 1779 without graduating to enlist in the Royal Navy as a surgeon's mate onboard BERWICK. He was commended for his treatment of the wounded during the Battle of Dogger Bank in 1781 and promoted to surgeon but at the conclusion of hostilities found himself unemployed. Trotter then signed on as surgeon onboard the slave ship BROOKES and following the experience of this voyage he became an ardent abolitionist. He would later give evidence to the House of Commons on the suffering endured by the enslaved people he witnessed during the voyage. He then established a practice in Wooler, Northumberland and resumed his studies at Edinburgh, graduating M.D. in 1788. Trotter then returned to the navy serving in ROYAL WILLIAM and VENGEANCE before taking a position as physician at the Royal Hospital, Haslar. He was then appointed physician to the Channel fleet under Lord Howe in 1794 and later that year was present at the Glorious First of June. As Physician to the Fleet Trotter pressed for reform of the medical department in the navy and for improved pay for surgeons. On retiring from the navy in 1802 he opened a private practice in Newcastle upon Tyne. Trotter published various works during his career including a collection of poetry. He wrote 'Observations on the Scurvy' in 1786 and can be credited as one of the people who helped to introduce the distribution of lemon juice throughout the navy in 1795. In addition to this and his three-volume work 'Medicina Nautica' on the diseases of seamen, he also wrote on drunkenness and its effects on the human body, and naval recruitment without the need for impressment. He died in 1832 at Newcastle.