The papers consist almost entirely of Phillimore's private and semi-official correspondence from 1835 until the end of his life. These include many letters from relatives, including Phillimore' s numerous brothers and sisters, and some of his letters to them. The remainder are mostly from naval officers. Admiral Sir George Ommanney Willes (1823-1901) was a regular correspondent from the 1840s onwards. There are official letterbooks, papers relating to Jamaica and some papers for the Channel Squadron, a few letters and official service documents and some biographical notes.

Related Material
For a guide to the collection see Mark Phillimore's 'The Phillimore Papers, 1798-1945 an illustrated guide to a naval, political, country house and estate archive' published in 1997. A copy is available on open access in the Caird Library [call number 930.253; item number PBP5237].

Administrative / biographical background
Phillimore entered the Navy in 1835 and studied at the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth, until 1837. From 1837 to 1840 he served as a first-class volunteer and midshipman in the North Star and Tweed on the coast of Spain during the Carlist War. He was in the Endymion from 1840 to 1843 on the East Indies Station and during the First Chinese War, returning home in 1844 in the Cornwallis, flagship of Sir William Parker (q.v.). He had been promoted to mate in 1842. In 1845 he was appointed to the Hibernia, Parker's flagship in the Mediterranean, and promoted to lieutenant in the same year. In 1847 he became Parker's Flag-Lieutenant. In 1849 he transferred with him to the Queen, on the same station. Phillimore later wrote a biography of Parker, 'The life of Sir William Parker' (3 vols. London, 1876-1880). In 1852 he was promoted to commander and attended a course at the Royal Naval College, before sailing as Admiralty agent in the first mail steamer to Australia. From 1853 to 1855 he commanded the Medea in the West Indies and was promoted to captain in 1855. He was appointed to command the Curacoa on the south-east coast of South America in 1859 and was Senior Officer on the Station. He commanded the Defence in the Channel from 1862 to 1866. Phillimore was Senior Officer at Jamaica from 1868 to 1869 and at Gibraltar from 1869 to 1873, becoming a rear-admiral in 1874. In 1876 he was second-in-command, Channel Squadron, and from 1876 to 1879 Admiral Superintendent of the Royal Naval Reserve. He was promoted to vice-admiral in 1879 and to admiral in 1884 and was Commander-in-Chief, Devonport, from 1884 to 1887, when he retired.