The earlier letters include several of the poet Beattie, of Aaron Lithgow, a Dundee shipowner, relating to his voyages, 1809-1833, and Edwin Lithgow, writing from the Australian goldfields, 1853. Major-General Lithgow's correspondence relates to his service at the Cape of Good Hope, 1855-1856, in India (including the Mutiny), 1856-1871, on the Nile expedition, 1885-1886, and with the Zhob Field Force, 1890, and includes the warrant for the first grant of the Distinguished Service Order (folio 174).