waistcoat / British Secret Service, c.1920-21

Steel bullet-proof waistcoat worn by officers of the British Secret Service and by the officers of the auxiliaries and the Black and Tans. Before adopting this device the steel used was tested in the Dublin Dockyard Company (It was found that it could not be pierced by the heavy punching machines of the type used for punching rivet holes in the sides of ships). The steel waistcoats were imported.;