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This collection contains a diverse range of records relating to the Lilburn family of Limerick city. The first part contains material created and generated by the accountancy firm of Metcalfe, Lilburn and Enright, illustrating the growth and development of the company from the 1920s to the 1970s. The client files show the practice to have been the leading Protestant accountancy firm in the city, with clients such as Adare Tobacco Manufacturing Company established by the fourth Earl of Dunraven in the early 1900s. The second part consists of personal records of the Lilburn family, predominantly relating to the education and hobbies of Hugh Lilburn and his son Stewart Lilburn. Of particular note is a set of personal account books which provides useful insights into middle class household economy from the 1920s to the 1970s. Also of interest are the minute books of the North Munster branch of the Irish Hockey Union from 1901 to 1941. The third part comprises records of the Limerick Presbyterian Church, mostly created by Stewart Lilburn in his role as Honorary Secretary in the 1960s and 1970s. This part also contains a copy of Hugh Lilburn’s book Presbyterians in Limerick (1946) and a subsequent reprint (1959). Together, these three parts provide a valuable cross-section of all aspects of the lives of three generations of a well-to-do Protestant middle-class family in twentieth-century Limerick.

The main portion of this collection consists of wills, accounts, correspondence and statements from the mid- to late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries relating to the family’s financial affairs, mostly arising from the will of the 1st Earl of Limerick and the dramatic reduction in rents at the turn of the century, which necessitated the sale of holdings through the Land Commission Court in the early 1900s. There is a small but interesting series of leases of property in Limerick City (P51/3/1/1-3 and P51/4/1-2) and a comprehensive set of documents (P51/3/2/1-28) relating to a dispute over title to St George’s Church at No. 1 Mallow Street, Limerick, which was demolished to make way to the Provincial Bank of Ireland, designed by James and George Richard Pain (for a ground plan of the bank by the Pain brothers, see P51/3/2/11).

While much of the early material relating to the Earls of Limerick and their antecedents is deposited in the National Library of Ireland, some interesting early documents can also be found in this collection. Of particular note is a compilation of manuscript transcripts of letters and petitions (P51/1/1) by Edmond Sexten the elder (1486-1555) and his grandson Edmond Sexten the younger (1595-1636) concerning among other things their disputes with Limerick Corporation. The document is written in secretary hand, but a more easily legible version can be found in P51/1/2. Also worth noting is a compilation of abstracts and copies of early deeds relating to the Sexton, Casey and Stackpole families (P51/1/3). A wonderful example of the emergence of the Age of Enlightenment can be found in P51/2/1 in the shape of a commonplace book, in which Colonel Edmund Pery kept notes between 1671 and 1681 on weights and measures, foreign coins, chronology, geography, astronomy, orthography, pronunciation and usage of English, significance of colours, instructions concerning the keep of horses, recipes for ink, boot polish etc., gardening activities and meteorological predictions.

A shortcoming of this collection is its limited scope. There are no rent rolls, no estate correspondence and no personal correspondence of family members. The building of Dromore Castle remains unrecorded, except for a scrap book (P51/5/4/1) compiled in 1868-1869 to contain sketches by the architect Edward William Godwin and rare photographs of Dromore Castle taken at various stages of its construction and a sketch of fireplace tiles by Godwin (P51/5/4/2). The only item of personal nature in the collection is an album of photographs, sketches, and signatures collected by May, Countess of Limerick during house parties (P51/6/3/2/2).

It should be noted here that the material deposited in the National Library of Ireland dates primarily from 1371 to 1806. A significant gap of the nineteenth-century material therefore exists, both in terms of estate and personal documentation.

The collection comprises papers relating to C Company 2nd Limerick City Battalion Mid Limerick Brigade 1917-1924 and includes narrative accounts of the Brigade activities during the War of Independence and information on the reorganisation of the Limerick Brigades during and following the Civil War. The collection is unusual as the anti-Treaty IRA was considered to be an illegal organisation and their records as a consequence were usually kept secret.

The collection comprises primarily letters and copies of letters by members of the Monsell family or individuals associated with them. Of particular note is a letter book kept by the shipping merchant William Monsell (P2/1/1), which contains copies of some 1,200 items of mainly business correspondence, giving a unique insight into Limerick as a maritime mercantile city in the early eighteenth century. Of equal interest is the fragment of a diary (P2/1/12) kept by his grandson, the Reverend Samuel Monsell (1743-1818), Precentor of Ardfert from 1791 to 1811, which provides an extraordinary account of the private life and innermost thoughts of a Church of Ireland clergyman struggling to stay on the path of virtue.

The O’Mara Papers comprise predominantly business and personal records created and generated by Stephen O’Mara Junior (1884-1959) in the course of his life. Material relating to his parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and siblings is perfunctory.

The business records cover mainly correspondence in O’Mara’s capacity as director of O’Mara’s Bacon Company and later as director of the Bacon Company of Ireland and do not encompass all operational aspects of the business. However the material provides an interesting view of the bacon industry in early 20th-century Ireland and its gradual decline from the 1930s onwards.

The personal records cover O’Mara’s political career, including his three terms as Mayor of Limerick from 1921 to 1923; the second Bond Drive to the United States, his subsequent imprisonment in 1922-1923 and the ensuing court case of 1927; and his later political involvement, particularly his role as a founding director of The Irish Press. His personal correspondence is extensive and illustrates O’Mara’s prominent role in the family as a provider of employment opportunities for the younger generations and as a generous source of financial support in times of hardship. Other material of note includes extensive correspondence and architectural drawings relating to Strand House, New Strand House and Ivy Bank House, homes of the O’Mara family.

One of the most significant aspects of the collection is material relating to the O’Brien family of Boru House, particularly the private correspondence of the novelist Kate O’Brien with her sisters, brother-in-law and nephew. The letters illuminate O’Brien’s method of writing, the creative process behind each of her novels and the ups and downs of her career as author. They also reveal her complete lack of financial acumen, her tendency to live wildly beyond her means, and her lifelong dependency on the fiscal good will of Anne and Stephen O’Mara. Of Kate O’Brien’s private life the letters reveal almost nothing, demonstrating a high degree of circumspectness and a tendency to compartmentalise various aspects of her life. The one rare exception is correspondence relating to her brief marriage and its aftermath in 1922-1925 which, while not revelatory as such, exposes a more vulnerable aspect of Kate’s personality.

The O’Brien material also contains correspondence to and from lesser known members of Kate O’Brien’s family, including her parents and her brothers Tom and Eric who died in 1918 and 1920, respectively. A small number of items relate to Michael O’Brien who died in institutional care in 1923. The identity of this individual has not been ascertained but he could possibly be Michael Alphonsus O’Brien who was born between 1888 and 1889 and is claimed to have died in infancy. Also of interest are letters from Austin Clarke to Anne O’Brien in 1916-1917 written in the early stages of the poet’s literary career, which reveal the fragility of his search for expression and sense of identity.

The material also comprises an extensive photographic record of the O’Mara and O’Brien families particularly in the 1920s and 1930s.

The material contains primarily correspondence, petitions and resolutions created and generated by Thomas Spring Rice during his political career.

The collection comprises correspondence, press cuttings, press releases, reports, TV and radio broadcasts and photographs which reconstruct in considerable detail the events surrounding Herrema’s kidnapping and release and the subsequent trials of his abductors. Included among these items are police surveillance tapes recorded during the siege at Monasterevin and interior photographs of the house in which Herrema was held captive. Also included in the collection are correspondence, press cuttings, speeches, reports, photographs and recordings which illustrate Herrema’s career prior to and following his kidnapping, and his personal interests in later life. These items, in particular the considerable amount of material relating to Herrema’s appearance in the media, reflect the dramatic way in which the kidnapping changed the course of Herrema’s life.