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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the particularly successful chairmanship of Tom Dargan, the resolution to bar a chairman from seeking re-election was rescinded.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.

Last page of a letter from James Butler, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cashel to an unidentified group of gentlemen, urging them to exercise their vigilance and diligence 'to extirpate vice, & plant virtue & good morels [sic] that they may gain the Celestial Reward'. The missive incorporates a letter from Ellicebeth Swift addressed 'to all & every Clergymen [sic] in Care of souls within the Dioceses of Cashel & Emly', accusing them of ill treatment and threatening to make them 'dance & gallop in sich [sic] a manner that the Munster Lass in her Prime would not catch you till you pass the post at Mitchelstown' if they do not mend their ways. The letter constitutes a rare and useful account of relations between clergymen and parishioners within the Catholic Church in the archdiocese of Cashel and Emly from the female perspective.

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.

Calendar of 66 persons awaiting trial in Carlow town compiled by Alexander John Humfrey, Clerk of the Peace. The calendar lists the name and age of each defendant, the nature of their crime, date of committal to jail, name of the person by whom committed and whether bailed or in custody. The persons listed comprise 50 men and 16 women aged between 13 and 63. Their crimes include theft (mostly of food items), possession of stolen goods, assault, fighting and making an affray.

Printed circulars and postcards from Cannock and Company, Limited, mainly addressed to the Secretary or to ordinary stockholders of the company, and mainly relating to extraordinary general meetings and other business of administrative and financial nature.