The papers include logs, 1825 to 1831, 1834 to 1835, 1839 to 1841, 1846 to 1850 and 1854 to 1856; letter and order books, 1834 to 1850, 1853 to 1856, 1858 to 1872, and loose papers, among which are personal letters from Codrington to his family, 1831 to 1855.

Administrative / biographical background
Codrington, third son of Sir Edward Codrington (q.v.), joined the Navy in 1823 and spent the early years of his service in the Mediterranean, being Signal Midshipman in his father's flagship, Asia, at the battle of Navarino, 1827, where he was severely wounded. He was made a lieutenant in 1829 and commander in 1831. His first command was the Orestes, Mediterranean Station, 1834 to 1836. As Captain of the Talbot he took a leading part in the operations culminating in the siege of Acre, in 1840. In 1846 he was again sent to the Mediterranean in the Thetis where the circumstances leading to the revolutions of 1848 involved him in various diplomatic missions. At the outbreak of the Crimean War, 1854, Codrington was in the Baltic in the Royal George, moving to the Algiers after the war. He became a rear-admiral in 1857 and was Admiral Superintendent of Malta Dockyard, 1858 to 1863. He was Commander-in-Chief at Plymouth, 1869 to 1872, but never hoisted his flag afloat. He was made Admiral of the Fleet in the year of his death. The papers have been used by Lady Bourchier, Codrington's sister, in Selections from the letters, private end professional, of Sir Henry Codrington Admiral of the Fleet (London, 1880).