The manuscripts comprise:
- anecdotes of public figures by Robert, 2nd Baron Monkswell, c. 1900, some related by his father, including several concerning W.E. Gladstone, Thomas Huxley, A.P. Primrose, Frederic Baron Leighton, Edward VII when Prince of Wales, Oliver Wendell Holmes, junior, and Alfred Lord Tennyson. Many relate to Monkswell's time as Lord-in-Waiting to the Queen, 1892-5
- accounts by Lord Monkswell of conversations with John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley, on 25 May, 21 July 1901 and 9 Feb. 1902, in a notebook originally used for brief notes on legal cases, 1871
- narrative of political events from June 1855 to july 1867 written on loose sheets by Lord Monkswell, as an account of the inconsistencies of Disraeli in opposition and in office.