Noel, Sir Gerard Henry Uctred, Admiral of the Fleet, 1845-1918.

The papers consist of some volumes and a large collection of correspondence, papers and printed material. The volumes include Noel's midshipman's log, 1861 to 1865,' the captain's letterbook of the IMMORTALITE, 1877; for the TEMERAIRE and NILE, a night order book, 1889 to 1893; Noel's admiral's journal, 1898 to 1900, and three letter-books, 1904 to 1906. There are papers for Noel's service on the torpedo committee, 1884, for his time at the Admiralty; his command in the Mediterranean, in particular for Crete, 1898; and for his commands at home, 1901 to 1903; in China, including reports on the Russo-Japanese War, 1904 to 1906; and at the Nore. There are papers and printed reports for the National Service League, of which Noel was an active member, and many printed pamphlets, some by Noel himself who wrote on education and various other naval topics. His personal papers include diaries, 1880 to 1918, student's notebooks, personal notebooks, press cuttings and a large amount of private and semi-official correspondence, for all his career. There are also letters by Noel to his wife and letters written by his son, Francis Noel, to Admiral Noel's wife during the 1914 - 1918 war.

The papers numbered NOE/50-58 were presented by Noel’s great-granddaughter in 2013. They mainly relate to Noel’s appointments from 1893 onwards and include correspondence discussing his opposition to the reforms of Admiral of the Fleet Sir John A. Fisher as First Sea Lord. The important aspects of these papers are discussed in ‘A Difficult Person to Tackle’ by Admiral Richard Hill in ‘The Mariners Mirror’, Volume 98, Number 4, November 2012.