Michael Collins House Museum has received a new artefact for its collection in the form of an umbrella previously owned by Michael Collins. The umbrella was left behind following one of his visits to Devlin’s Pub on Parnell Street, Dublin and has since been safeguarded by the Devlin family. It was their wish to have the historic item available for public display and recognised the Cork County Council run facility in his home county as the ideal location.
The umbrella was presented to the museum on long term loan by John Merivale, husband of the late Jocelyn Merivale, granddaughter of Liam Devlin, the proprietor of Devlin’s Pub and a trusted intelligence officer in the Irish War of Independence. A plaque has recently been erected on the site of the pub to mark its importance in Irish history as a crucial meeting point and safe house for Michael Collins and members of his ‘squad’.
The silk mechanical umbrella is tightly wound and held in a telescopic faux wood cover that doubles as a walking cane. Walking canes have become synonymous with Michael Collins with several different canes coming to prominence in recent years. It seems that Collins, though rarely photographed with a cane, may have used a cane as part of his disguise of a normal businessman about town. It is also an item he seems to have favoured as a gift with many of the canes appearing to have origins as gifts to people close to him.
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