The collection, in which family correspondence predominates, reflects all aspects of the naval career of Robert Kirk Dickson. He took part in the Battles of the Falkland Islands, 1914, Gallipoli, 1915, and Jutland, 1916. In the Second World War he served as Duty Captain in the Admiralty War Room, 1939-1940, and commanded the fast minelayer, H.M.S. Manxman, 1940-1942, when he took part in a series of offensive minelaying operations in the Channel, Mediterranean and Indian Ocean. He was Deputy Director of Plans, Naval Staff, 1943-1944, and Chief of Naval Information, 1944-1946. He served finally as Head of the British Naval Mission to Greece, 1949-1951, and retired in 1952. The correspondence and papers of Archibald Dickson largely concern his brief naval career before his death at the Battle of Jutland in 1916, when he was serving on board H.M.S. Queen Mary.