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This collection contains material created and generated by the Armstrong and Kemmis families during their ownership of Moyaliffe House, county Tipperary, and includes both administrative records and personal documents. Seventeenth-century material is scarce and limited in the main to leases of small pockets of land in counties Tipperary and Limerick. A more unusual item from this period is the satirical manuscript poem On the Bill of Conformity (P6/2137), attributed to Henry Hall, one of only sixteen known copies in the world. Eighteenth-century administrative records are mainly of financial and legal nature and arise from the badly managed affairs of William Armstrong (1704-1768), which affected his brother, the Reverend John Armstrong, who succeeded to the estate. Of personal items, the collection of early eighteenth-century sermons (P6/375-P6/427) attributed to the Reverend Edward Armstrong, the Reverend John Armstrong and others is of particular interest.

The nineteenth-century administrative material relates predominantly to the management of the Moyaliffe estate, and the succession to and management and eventual disposal of the family’s estates in Mayo and Sligo. There are also some clerical records of interest, most notably material relating to tithe wars of the 1830s (P6/758-P6/766 and P6/789-P6/813), and the state of dilapidation of the Mansion House of the See of Tuam discovered after the death, in 1819, of the Most Reverend Honourable William Beresford, first Baron Decies, Archbishop of Tuam, whose daughter Catherine was married to the Reverend Willam Carew Armstrong (1791-1847) (P6/850-P6/860).

By far the most voluminous, and perhaps the most interesting, part of the collection is that relating to the twentieth century. The administrative records in this section are in the main concerned with the management not only of Moyaliffe House but also of Ballinacor, county Wicklow, home of Captain William Daryl Olphert Kemmis. There is also a large quantity of material relating to Moyaliffe Stud (P6/1547-P6/1595), and to the problem of succession to the Moyaliffe and Ballinacor estates following Captain Kemmis’s death without issue in 1965 (P6/1812-P6/1834). On the personal side, the extensive correspondence of Rosalie Armstrong and her daughter Jess provide a unique insight into the genteel Anglo-Irish lifestyle and the irrevocable changes wrought upon it by the onset of the First World War. Of unique significance are the letters of Captain Kemmis to his father (P6/1475-P6/1479), and the letters and diaries of Captain William Maurice (‘Pat’) Armstrong written during the First World War (P6/1209-P6/1212 and P6/1414-P6/1418), providing first-hand accounts of events as they unfolded in the various theatres of war.

The twentieth-century material was roughly arranged by Jess Kemmis, who also appears to have destroyed some of it for personal reasons. Items thus lost included letters written by her niece, Bettyne Spencer (née Everard), to justify her actions during the Moyaliffe House dispute (for which see P6/1821-P6/1831). The letters were destroyed by Mrs Kemmis because she felt her niece’s views to be wrong. Also missing are Jess Kemmis’s diaries for the years 1955-1982 which she is known to have kept assiduously with the view to their permanent preservation within the family papers.

Jess Kemmis provided many explanatory notes and dates relating to the Armstrong Papers and the people and events to which they relate. These notes, which can be found scattered throughout the collection, should be treated with due caution as most, while well-intentioned and often helpful, can be misleading or inaccurate, written as they were in advanced old age.

The material consists of leases, mortgages, conveyances, marriage settlements and wills relating to the families of Odell (1782-1891), Morony (1831-1937), Lloyd (1829-1965) and Allott (1947-1999). Of particular interest is the copy will relating to Helen Sophia Chenevix (1890-1963), General Secretary of the Irish Women Workers’ Union (1955-1957), member of the Irish Trade Union Congress executive committee (1946-1956), and one of the first female graduates of Trinity College, Dublin (see P27/1/4/1/3/1). There are also extensive records relating to the dairy farm managed at Odellville from 1945 to 1994, including stock breeding and sales records, milk records and farm accounts (P27/2/1/2-6). There is some architectural material relating to improvements carried out at Odellville between 1880 and 1900 (P27/1/2/7/1-3). There are also 19th-century scrapbooks and other items of Quaker interest relating to the Watson and Webb families (P27/3/1/1-4).

This collection comprises a scrapbook compiled by Agnes Mary Gaffney and a number of loose items found inserted inside it. It provides insights into the life and lifestyle of the members of a prominent and politically influential Roman Catholic family and their role not only in the formation of the Irish republic but on the wider arena of Irish-American republicanism and the campaign for women’s rights.

This collection contains records of the organisation, management and finances of the Limerick Protestant Young Men's Association, its members, staff, premises and club activities, particularly during the height of the Association's popularity in the 1920s and 1950s. There are no records relating to the Association’s foundation or early years (1853-1874), and few relating to its activities after 1959, when its popularity began to vane. The records are purely of administrative nature and reveal little of the Association’s temporal and spiritual aspirations. Arising from the fact that the Association’s secretaries were not obliged to hand over records in their possession upon resignation, some years and some aspects of the Association’s activities remain poorly recorded.

CD-R containing Excel, JPEG, PDF and Word files of biographical and photographic information relating to the officers of the 10th Royal Hussars (The Prince of Wales’s Own) and their activities in India in 1910-1913 and during the First World War.

Bound hardback Collins Balmoral Series account book containing on pages 1-9 and 332-354 minutes of the annual general meetings of the Mid-Limerick Brigade of the National Association of Old IRA between 17 January 1965 and 5 February 1976 and on pages 11-165 minutes of their monthly, special and extraordinary meetings held between 2 March 1967 and 1 January 1976, pages 10 and 166-331 being blank. Interspersed with the monthly meetings are also intermittent minutes of the Dinner Dance Committee.

The meetings took place at the Mechanics Institute [Hartstonge Street] in the mid-1960s, in the Clare Chambers [10 O’Connell Street] from October 1969 and at the Transport Union Hall at 91 O’Connell Street from April 1973. Occasional meetings also took place at the Gaelic League Hall on Thomas Street. The primary purpose of the annual general meetings was the election of officers. At the 1970 annual general meeting a decision was made to rotate the chairmanship annually; however, just two years later, after the particularly successful chairmanship of Tom Dargan, the resolution to bar a chairman from seeking re-election was rescinded.

The general monthly meetings revolved around preparations for special events such as St Patrick’s Day parade, Easter Rising commemorations and the annual dinner dance and social. In 1965, a committee was formed between the Old IRA and Sinn Fein to organise an Easter parade. As Sinn Fein objected to carrying rifles through the streets or at the graveside, a decision was made that ‘for the sake of unity… the Rifles should be left aside for the Parade’ (AGM, 17 January 1965). In 1969, a debate began on whether members should revert to carrying their rifles. As no decision could be made on the subject, it was eventually decided that the Army should take over as a firing party at Old IRA funerals (5 October 1972).

The needs of members also played a central role. At each meeting, the names of deceased members or deceased relatives of members were read out and masses organised in their honour. Condolences were sent to grieving families and financial assistance was organised for those who struggled to carry the cost of funeral expenses. Hospital visits were made every Christmas to deliver gifts to hospitalised members. The committee also assisted with applications for pensions, service medals, free travel cards and other forms of financial assistance. In 1970, the committee complained to the Department of Defence that ‘the peak hours which prohibited [free] Travel Card holders on City Bus Services was too long’ (1 February 1970). In the same year, they unsuccessfully sought an increase in free electricity allowance (1 April and 3 June 1970).

Although the Organisation avoided becoming involved with Irish politics, it by no means remained immune. In 1971, it made a resolution to ‘ask the Government to resist completely the present attempt by American Carriers to secure landing rights in Dublin and continue to afford Shannon & the mid West the opportunity of continued development and posterity [sic]’ (4 November 1971). In 1974, two visiting members of the Anti-Internment Committee attended the monthly meeting, as a consequence of which a resolution was adopted that ‘we are opposed in principal to the internment of civilians without trial… [and] that internment in Northern Ireland now 3 years in operation is both a continuing cause of violence & a primary obstacle to the success[ful] call of the immediate release of all internees’ (7 November 1974). Advantage was also taken of the changing of the political guard. In 1970, when the committee’s petition for free travel for the wives and widows of Old IRA members was rejected by the Minister for Defence, they turned to the newly appointed Minister for Justice, Desmond O’Malley, to see if he could make it happen (1 October 1970).

Commemoration played an important part in the Organisation’s activities. They contributed to the Limerick Memorial fund, the purpose of which was to erect a monument on Sarsfield Bridge to honour those who died in the Easter Rising and attended the unveiling in great numbers. Although ‘ranks had been broken at conclusion of march’ and ‘there were complaints too regarding seating accommodation’, the unveiling was deemed a great success (AGM 3 February 1972). In 1970, the Organisation campaigned for a special stamp to be issued to commemorate the murders of Michael O’Callaghan and George Clancy, Mayors of Limerick in March 1921 (3 December 1970, 25 February 1971). The news of the death of Éamon de Valera was received with due decorum. All present stood in silent prayer as a mark of respect, the Chairman paid tribute to his memory and ‘recalled de Valera’s meeting with the Old I.R.A. in Limerick just after the Truce in 1921’ (2 October 1975).

What dominates the minute book is the steadily increasing number of condolences to bereaved families of deceased members. Already in 1966 the honorary secretary noted how ‘the ranks were getting thinner & thinner every year and that for the year that had passed a lot of our members had gone to their eternal reward’ (3 March 1966). In 1975, by which time meetings had moved to a room in the Transport Union Hall, some members ‘considered the stairs climbing a bit strenuous’ and requested ‘that the Chairman & Secretary see Union Officials with a view to getting a Room nearer the basement’ (6 February 1975). The minute book thus serves as a poignant record of the increasing frailty and gradual fading away of the generation who fought for Irish freedom.

Bound hardback account book, embossed on the spine 'Limerick Rent Book 180-1824' in gilt lettering. The book contains accounts kept by Francis Arthur, merchant and developer of Limerick city, primarily of rents collected from tenants of properties in his possession, including Arthurs Quay, Francis Street, Patrick Street, Denmark Street, William Street, Market Alley, Market Stalls, Boherboy & Sexton Street, Georges Street, Mary Street, Robert Street, Coloony Street, Pennywell, Coonagh and Mary Field in Limerick together with stores and ‘two extensive & valuable tenements situate in Buckingham Square & White Street' in Cork city. The book also contains accounts of Francis Arthur's annual business income and outgoings and of insurances payable by him, lists of rents assigned by Francis Arthur to his son Patrick Edmond Arthur and his son-in-law Daniel Leahy upon their respective marriages; transactions with various private banks including Robert Shaw & Co; Curtis, Robarts & Co.; and Thomas and William Roche; accounts of various court cases in which Arthur was involved and legal matters relating to the death of his son-in-law Patrick Grene [Greene] and his son Patrick Edmond Arthur; statements concerning bonds, mortgages and dividends; statements concerning rent arrears and other debts due to Arthur; and business accounts of his son-in-law Daniel Leahy. The latter pages contain accounts of financial transactions with individuals and businesses in France, including Luke Callaghan of Paris, Monsieur Everard Surdobbel of St Omer and Dominick Morel & Fils of Dunkerque [Dunkirk]. The accounts conclude with a list of Francis Arthur's funeral expenses added to the book in a different hand.

The back of the book contains a handwritten copy of a conveyance dated 1822 between Francis Arthur of the first part; his daughter Ellen Arthur of the second part; and his son-in-law Daniel Leahy of the third part, in which Arthur transfers the entirety of his property to Daniel Leahy to create a provision for his daughters Ellen Arthur and Margaret Leahy and to create a fund for his own maintenance and support.

The book is paginated but the pagination is irregular. For the accounts part, mirrored pagination has been applied, that is the verso and recto sides of an opening bear the same page number. Pages 1a-4a are missing, as are pages 10b/11a, 31b-35a, 42a/43b (except for the topmost part), 48b/49a, 51b/52a and 70b/71a. About one third of page 61b/62a is missing, while pages 74b/75a and 96b-98a lack bottom halves. From page 147 each page is numbered individually; page 154 appears three times, and from page 155 to book reverts to mirrored numbering until its conclusion with page 165. The pages at the end of the book containing the copy conveyance have been numbered individually, from 1 to 74. The intervening pages between these two sections are blank, except for sketches by a young person. Similar sketches appear on other pages throughout the book and are probably of late nineteenth- or early twentieth-century origin.