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.

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.