The papers contain service papers, logs, charts, photographs and printed material. Most of the collection deals with Whittaker's service during the First World War, especially the Battle of the Falklands, with some items covering the Second World War.

Administrative / biographical background
Whittaker was born in Brockley, Kent, in 1892. He enlisted in the London Division of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) in 1912, subsequently being mobilised at the outbreak of the First World War. His first posting was to HMS KENT, and almost immediately he saw action at the Battle of the Falklands. During this action, the KENT sunk the German light cruiser NURNBERG. Three months later, the KENT and HMS GLASGOW tracked down and sunk the DRESDEN, the only German vessel to escape from the Battle of the Falklands. In 1917, after three years in the KENT, Whittaker was promoted to temporary sub-lieutenant, and attended HMS EXCELLENT for gunnery training. He then served in HMS MINDFUL and HMS WOLSEY, before resigning from the RNVR with the rank of lieutenant in 1919. Whittaker re-joined in 1939, serving on HMS LYNX, HMS HAMPTON, HMS SPARTIATE and HMS SOUTHERN PRINCE. He was promoted to temporary acting lieutenant-commander in 1940, and was mentioned in despatches in 1941, before being appointed to the inter-service Radio Direction Finding Board in 1942. He was then posted to the Admiralty Signal Department for a short time, before getting transferred to the escort carrier HMS VINDEX for Russian convoy duty. He was posted to HMS DRAKE in 1945, before being made executive officer of HMS BLACKCAP, the Royal Naval Air Station at Stretton in Cheshire. Whittaker was released from service in 1945. He died at Farnham in Surrey in 1978.