Admiral Sir Herbert Richmond was Master of Downing College 1936-46. He was elected on 1 November 1936 and died, in post, in December 1946. He had crowned a naval career of great responsibility and influence, as Admiral in the Royal Navy, with international renown as a naval historian and served as the Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History at Cambridge University from 1934-6. After his death, a selection of books and papers from his library were donated to the College in 1951. These were mainly on naval history and sea power. They were selected by the Librarian of the time, W.L. Cuttle, with the assistance of his widow Lady Richmond (Florence 'Elsa', nee Bell). The books have been kept together as the Richmond Library, while the papers were accessioned into the archives.