The papers are part of the collection from Hartwell, Buckinghamshire, sold by Mrs Benedict Eyre at Sotheby's in 1939. Fiott's life is fully covered by this collection, which is composed largely of loose papers These consist of official service documents, material on Walcheren, both his courts martial, papers covering the Renegade period and a log, 1823 to 1824. There are extensive papers and volumes for the period when he was merchant ship master and owner, including legal agreements, crew lists and account and freight books. Finally, there are private letters received, 1809 and 1848, and yearly diaries, 1837 to 1847.

Administrative / biographical background
William Edward Fiott joined the Navy as a volunteer in 1798 and was present at the battle of Copenhagen, 1801. He took part in the Walcheren expedition of 1809 and in 1810 was made a lieutenant but court-martialled in the same year for using seditious language, dismissed from his ship and put to the bottom of the Lieutenants' List. Soon afterwards, however, he was appointed to the Marlborough and served in the West Indies. After two years on half-pay he bought the Queen, a trading vessel, which was lost in 1818. From then until 1827 he owned the Retrench, sailing as master while still on half-pay until 1823. In this year the Retrench was attacked by Spanish pirates off Cuba. When he received a commission In 1823 to command H.M.S. Renegade in the West Indies, he employed another half-pay naval captain on the Retrench, which was wrecked in 1824 but salvaged and, in 1827, sold In 1824 he was court-martialled again on various charges including that of mistreating his crew but was acquitted. From 1827 Fiott lived on the continent and remained there until his death.