Waistcoat, Peadar Clancy, Bloody Sunday, 1920

Waistcoat, Peadar Clancy, Bloody Sunday, 1920

On the morning of the 21^st November 1920 members of The Squad - the counter-intelligence and assassination unit founded by Michael Collins - carried out an operation against a British undercover intelligence operative called The Cairo Gang, killing 15 members and civilians. That afternoon members of the RIC and Auxiliaries reataliated, carrying out a mass shooting in Croke Park, killing 14 civilians and wounding 60 more as they watched a Gaelic football match between Tipperary and Dublin. That evening British forces in Dublin Castle tortured and killed two IRA members - Peadar Clancy and Dick McKee - and civilian Conor Clune.
This is the waistcoat of the suit which  Peadar Clancy was wearing when he was killed.  It is in two pieces, as both his jacket and waistcoat were cut open at the back to remove them from his body after death.