The papers chiefly refer to James Stuart's stay in India as an officer (later Commander-in-Chief) of the forces of the East India Company based at Fort St George (Madras). The most detailed portions of the papers cover the year immediately prior to Stuart's dismissal from the Company's service in 1783. Stuart appears to have retained these papers as justification of his actions and as a defence against accusations of inefficiency. He made different sets of copies of much of his correspondence for this purpose (see MSS.8403-8412: ‘Extracted Correspondence’). Accordingly the same letters may appear in several different sections of the papers, and they may have been indexed more than once.