The papers are part of the Hamilton collection, Keppel's daughter having married Sir Frederick Tower Hamilton (q.v.). They were presented in 1957 and 1958 by Miss Jean Hamilton and consist of logs, 1824 to 1825, 1830 to 1831, 1834 to 1835, 1842 to 1845, 1847 to 1851, 1853 to 1857, 1860 to 1861; private journals, 1867 to 1869; annual diaries, 1834 to 1838, 1842 to 1844, 1855 to 1857, 1867 to 1869; private letterbooks, 1867 to 1869, 1874 to 1875 and loose papers. These are mainly letters received, 1841 to 1900, the bulk of which date from 1870. Of the two groups of Keppel's letters to his family, one covers the Crimean War and the other his tour of the Far East, 1897 to 1900.

Administrative / biographical background
Keppel entered the Navy in 1822 and was promoted to lieutenant in 1828, when he was appointed to the Galatea in home waters and later in the West Indies. He then went to the East Indies in the Magicienne. In 1833 he was promoted to commander and the following year commanded the Childers off Spain during the Carlist War. In 1837 he was promoted to captain and in 1841 commanded the Dido during the China War. After this he remained in the East Indies, helping Sir James Brooke (1803-1868) to suppress pirates off Borneo. He commanded, after two years on half-pay, the Meander on the same station, returning to England in 1851. In 1853 he was appointed to the St Joan d'Acre in the Baltic and then, in 1855, went to the Rodney in the Black Sea, serving with distinction in the Crimea. In 1856 he went again to China where he lost his ship the Raleigh; Keppel was acquitted in the subsequent court martial. He commandeered the Hong Kong, a river steamer, and at the battle of Fatshan Creek, on the Canton River, destroyed a powerful force of pirates in 1857, the year he was promoted to rear-admiral. In 1860 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Cape and Brazil Station. He became a vice-admiral in 1864 and from 1866 to 1869 commanded the China Squadron. Between 1872 and 1875 he was Commander-in-Chief at Devonport and in 1877 was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet. Keppel published his memoirs, 'A sailors life under four sovereigns' (London, 1899). See also Sir Algernon Edward West, 'Memoir of Sir Henry Keppel G.C.B. Admiral of the Fleet' (London, 1945) and V.E. Stuart, 'The beloved little admiral' (London, 1967).