Samuel Barrington (1729-1800), a son of the first Viscount Barrington, entered the Royal Navy in 1740. He was posted in 1747 and eventually was promoted to Admiral in 1787.

Papers in the possession of Barrington's collateral descendants form these two volumes and cover his naval career. They comprise order books (1747-71), a private letter book (1770-99), his journal and three bound documents relating to the Leeward Islands command (1778-79), some loose correspondence, and printed matter: the general sailing and fighting Instructions, two signal books, and instructions. None of Barrington's public letter books survives.

This includes Barrington's negotiations at Tetuan to release British subjects held by the Barbary corsairs, and his cruising off the coast of Guinea where some Royal Navy captains had been personally profiting from commercial dealings including the transportation of slaves.

Commanding the 60-gun Achilles, he served from 1757-59 off the coast of France, in 1760 under Captain the Hon John Byron destroying the fortifications of Louisbourg in North America, and in 1761 under Commodore Augustus Keppel in the operations against Belle-Île. From 1762 until the 1763 Treaty of Paris, he commanded the 74-gun Hero. From 1768, when he again took to sea, until 1778 when he received his flag, he saw service in the dispute with Spain over the Falkland Islands (1771) and in the Channel.