The papers include papers relating to the establishment of the Navigation School at Portsmouth, and to the Dardanelles Operations, 1915 to 1917; included in the latter are minutes and notes by Churchill. There is also a Report of the Grand Fleet Committee on Officers' Pay and Prospects, 1919. Other letters and papers span Oliver's career, 1914 to 1965, although thinly. There is a diary, 1925 to 1927, a draft autobiography and official service documents.

Administrative / biographical background
Oliver entered the Navy in 1878 and passed for lieutenant in 1884. In 1903 he was promoted to captain and while in command of HMS MERCURY (1878) founded the navigation school at Portsmouth, later the shore establishment HMS Dryad. Oliver became naval assistant to the first sea lord in 1908, and after a seagoing appointment in command of the new battleship HMS THUNDERER (1911), became Director of the Naval Intelligence Division in 1913. He was promoted to rear-admiral in the same year. In 1914 he became naval secretary to the first sea lord. At the end of the First World War he commanded the First Battle Cruiser Squadron in the Grand Fleet, hoisting his flag in HMS REPULSE (1916). In 1919 he was promoted to vice-admiral and in 1921 he was appointed second sea lord. In 1923 he was made admiral. His last active employment was as commander-in-chief of the Atlantic Fleet, in which post he remained until 1927. He was promoted to admiral of the fleet in 1928 and retired in the same year. See 'A Great Seaman: The Life of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry F. Oliver' by Admiral Sir William James, published in London, 1956.