Most of the papers had been placed in large envelopes, prior to deposit at Churchill Archives Centre, but few of the envelopes had been labelled and there was no distinguishable order or arrangement in the contents of each envelope. The one exception to this was the official Gallipoli files (DRBK 4/1-44) which were in official jackets, well-arranged and labelled. As a result it was necessary to break up the contents of almost every envelope into smaller groups. The papers were divided into three main groups of Personal, Naval and Literary papers. The bulk of the papers are in the naval group and the arrangement of them is largely chronological. This is because Admiral de Robeck's career is divided into clearly-defined periods of service and at the end of each period his papers seem to have been gathered together and put in store. At the end of each section the "private correspondence" for the period has been arranged in chronological order. The Admiral, or his secretary, described everything as private which was not sent officially to the Board of Admiralty or similar body. Where some of the private correspondence has been arranged by correspondent or subject, this reflects a tentative arrangement found when the papers were being sorted.