Littleton, Algernon Charles, Rear-Admiral, 1843-1912.

The collection consists of the memoirs and letters. The memoirs are very detailed and were written by Littleton using his letters to his mother, as well as his memory, mainly to amuse his children and enlighten them about the great changes he saw during his life in the Navy. The location of the original manuscripts is unknown. The letters were sent by Littleton to his mother from the time he joined the Navy at 13 years old. They contain details of life aboard ship, training exercises, social events and voyages. Some of Littleton's papers, including journals relating to his command of HMS RAMBLER (1880) on the west coast of Africa, are held by Duke University Library, Durham, North Carolina.

Administrative / biographical background
Littleton was born in 1843, the second son of Edward Richard Littleton, 2nd Baron Hatherton, and Lady Margaret Percy, daughter of George Percy, 5th Duke of Northumberland. He entered the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth in 1856 and went to sea on HMS SANS PAREIL (1851). During the Second Opium War in China, he was with the naval brigade at the capture of Canton and was wounded during the storming of Namtau. While a midshipman on HMS EXMOUTH (1854) in 1860, he went ashore for the protection of British inhabitants in the early part of the conflict between Druze and Maronites in the Mount Lebanon area. In the following year, he was in hospital in France with a leg injury and during the journey back to his ship witnessed the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. After being promoted to lieutenant in 1865, he served on HMS CLIO (1858) on the Pacific station. In 1872 he was appointed to command the paddle dispatch vessel HMS SALAMIS (1863) on the China station. Between 1875 and 1878 he commanded the gunboat HMS EXPRESS (1874) at Gibraltar; then the gunvessel HMS RAMBLER (1880), on the west coast of Africa and in the South Atlantic. He was promoted to the rank of captain in 1886, while in command of the training ship HMS BOSCAWEN ex TRAFALGAR (1841) at Portland. He retired from the Navy in 1890 and gained the rank of rear-admiral while on the retired list in 1901. Littleton married Lady Margaret Needham, daughter of Francis Jack Needham, Viscount Newry and Mourne, and Anne Amelia Colville, in 1874. He held the office of Justice of the Peace for Staffordshire. He died in London and was buried at Brompton Cemetery in 1912.