The IRA bicycle bombing of Coventry

Available for over a year

On the 25th August 1939, just nine days before the outbreak of WWII, at around 2.30pm, a bomb went off in Broadgate, killing five people and injuring 70. The bomb had been planted in the carrier basket of a bicycle by the IRA. The five victims were Elsie Ansell, 21, Rex Gentle, 30, James Clay, 82, Gwilym Rowlands, 50 and John Arnott, who was just 15-years-old. The bike at the centre of the incident is now on display in Coventry's Police Museum.