List of disasters in Great Britain and Ireland by death toll
The following list of disasters in Great Britain and Ireland is a list of major disasters (excluding acts of war but including acts of terrorism) which relate to the United Kingdom since 1801, or the states that preceded it (England and Wales and Scotland before 1707, Ireland and Great Britain from 1707 to 1800), or involved their citizens, in a definable incident or accident such as a shipwreck, where the loss of life was forty or more.
Over 200 fatalities
| Deaths Italics indicate an estimated figure | Event | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3,500,000 | Black Death pandemic | 1347–1350 | See discussion of death toll estimates at Black Death in England#Death toll. |
| 1,000,000[1] to 1,500,000 | Great Irish Famine | 1845–1849 | See discussion of death toll estimates at Great Famine (Ireland)#Death toll. |
| 300,000 to 480,000[2] | Great Irish Famine of 1740-41 (The Great Frost) | 1740–1741 | Some estimates indicate a death toll as high as 500,000 from starvation and disease.[3][4] |
| 250,000 | Spanish flu pandemic | 1918 (Sep–Nov) | An estimated 200,000 people died in England and Wales.[5] Although the official number of deaths in Scotland due to the pandemic is 17,575, a modern estimate of total pandemic mortality in Scotland is between 27,641 and 33,771.[6] About 20,000 died in Ireland.[7] |
| 75,000+[8] | Great Plague of London | 1665-1666 | |
| 65,000 | Year Without a Summer | 1816 | Famine and typhoid fever in Ireland[9] and food riots in England and France, caused by the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora affecting the weather. |
| 20,000 [10] | Laki volcano fissure eruption | 1783–1784 (Jun–Feb) | |
| 8,000 | Great Storm of 1703 | 1703 (26 November) | |
| 5,000+ | Great Famine (14th century) | 1315–1317 | |
| 4,000 to 12,000 | "The Great Smog", London | 1952 (December) | |
| 4,000+ | Blockade of Porto Bello | 1726–1727 | Deaths resulting from yellow fever. |
| 3,500+ | 1782 Central Atlantic hurricane | 1782 (16–17 Sep) | Loss of HMS Ramillies, HMS Centaur; storeships Dutton and British Queen; captured French prize ships Ville de Paris, Glorieux, Hector and Caton; plus other merchantmen. |
| 3,000 | 1212 Great Fire of London | 1212 (July) | Source for fatalities is the Guinness Book of Records,[11] but historical evidence unclear. |
| 2,500+ | Tainted blood scandal | 1970s–1980s (deaths up to decades later)[12] | Importing and use of blood products known to be contaminated with HIV, Hepatitis B & C. People continue to die up to the present time.[13] |
| 2,139 [14] | 2003 European heat wave | 2003 (4–13 August) | |
| 2,000 | Bristol Channel floods | 1607 (30 January)[15] | |
| 2,000 | Sweating sickness (sudor anglicus) | 1485 ff. | |
| 1,900+ | Christmas Eve storm | 1811 (24 December) | Wrecks HMS St George, HMS Defence and HMS Fancy off Thorsminde, Jutland; and HMS Hero and HMS Archimedes off Texel, Netherlands. |
| 1,550+ | Scilly naval disaster | 1707 (22 October) | HMS Association, HMS Eagle, HMS Romney and HMS Firebrand. |
| 1,500+ | RMS Titanic | 1912 (15 April) | Estimates vary but most official sources and historians put the death toll at upwards of 1500. |
| 1,200 | Strait of Gibraltar storm | 1694 (1 March)[15] | Wrecks HMS Sussex and accompanying ships. |
| 1,198 | RMS Lusitania | 1915 (7 May)[16] | Struck by torpedo on starboard side. Sank in the Celtic Sea within 18 minutes |
| 1,012 | RMS Empress of Ireland | 1914 (29 May) | Ship registered in London, crew almost entirely from Merseyside. |
| 1,000 | 1867 Barbados hurricane | 1867 | RMS Rhone, RMS Wye and up to 50 other vessels driven ashore.[17] |
| 1,000 | Great Hurricane of 1780 | 1780 (10 October) | Royal Navy ships lost included HMS Stirling Castle, HMS Laurel, HMS Andromeda, HMS Thunderer and HMS Phoenix |
| 900+ | Plymouth Sound storm | 1691 (3 September) | Wrecks HMS Coronation and HMS Harwich. |
| 900 | HMS Victory (1737) | 1744 (3 October) | Wrecked on the Casquets in the Channel Islands. |
| 890+ | Walker Expedition disaster | 1711 (22 August) | Seven transport ships and one storeship wrecked in thick fog on the Saint Lawrence River, Canada. |
| 843 | HMS Vanguard explosion | 1917 (9 July) | Magazine explosion. |
| 800 | HMS Royal George capsizes | 1782 (29 August) | |
| 748+ | Royal Charter Storm | 1859 (26 October) | The Royal Charter and other ships wrecked in Lligwy Bay, Anglesey. |
| 738 | HMS Bulwark explosion | 1914 (26 November) | Magazine explosion. |
| 699 | HMS Ramillies [18] | 1760 (15 February) | Runs aground off Bolt Head, Devon. |
| 690 | HMS Queen Charlotte fire | 1800 (17 March) | |
| 646 | SS Mendi | 1917 (21 February) | Rammed by SS Darro off the Isle of Wight. |
| 640 | Princess Alice disaster | 1878 (3 September) | Collision with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames near Woolwich. |
| 635 | SS Norge shipwreck | 1904 (28 June) | |
| 612 | Tramore storm | 1816 (30 January) | Wrecks the ships Sea Horse,[19] Boadicea and Lord Melville.[20] |
| 600+ | an unidentified troop ship | 1796 (23 January) | shipwreck possibly one of Admiral Christian's West Indies convoy wrecked on Loe Bar, Cornwall.[21] |
| 600 | HMS Coronation (1685) | 1691 (3 September) | 2nd rate ship foundered off Rame Head, Cornwall.[22] |
| 564 | SS Utopia disaster | 1891 (17 March) | Collision with HMS Anson off Gibraltar.[23] |
| 546 | RMS Atlantic | 1873 (1 April) | |
| 531[24] | 1953 North Sea storm and flood | 1953 (31 Jan – 1 Feb) | Included the ferry MV Princess Victoria. |
| 520 | HMS Namur | 1749 (14 April) | Wrecked in a storm near Fort St David. |
| 500+ | 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak | 1854 (Aug–Sep) | Cholera epidemic in London. |
| 500 | HMS Minotaur | 1810 (22 December) | Wrecked on Haak Bank near Texel, Netherlands. |
| 500 | "Black Monday" | 1209 | Massacre of English settlers by Irish clans, near Ranelagh, Dublin, on Easter Monday. |
| 491 | HMS York | 1804 (Jan) | Struck the Bell Rock and sank with the loss of her entire crew. |
| 481 | HMS Captain | 1870 (6 September) | Sank off Cape Finisterre, Spain. |
| 480 | SS City of Glasgow | 1854 (March) | Disappeared after leaving Liverpool for Philadelphia. |
| 473 | Cospatrick | 1874 (18 November) | Caught fire in the South Atlantic. |
| 470 | HMS Courageux | 1796 (18 December) | Shipwrecked at Apes' Hill, Barbary Coast (now Monte Hacho, Ceuta, Africa)[25] |
| 454 | Vryheid | 1802 (23 November) | Formerly Melville Castle, shipwrecked in a gale off the Kent coast between Hythe and Dymchurch. 18 of 472 on board survived. |
| 450 | HMS Birkenhead | 1852 (25 February) | Shipwrecked near Cape Town. |
| 439 | Senghenydd Colliery Disaster | 1913 (14 October) | Gas explosion at the Universal Colliery, Senghenydd, Caerphilly, Glamorganshire. Britain's worst mining accident. |
| 431 | HMS Otranto | 1918 (6 October) | Shipwrecked off Islay. 351 United States troops and 80 crew perished. |
| 421 | HMS Natal | 1915 (30 December) | Magazine explosion. Precise number of deaths disputed; 421 is highest estimate. |
| 421 | Dumfries cholera epidemic | 1832 (15 Sep – 27 Nov) | |
| 406 | Cataraqui | 1845 (4 August) | Shipwrecked off King Island, Tasmania. |
| 400+ | Rochdale and Prince of Wales | 1807 (19 November) | Carried troops leaving Dublin for the Napoleonic Wars. |
| 400+ | HMS Invincible | 1801 (16 March) | Sank off Norfolk while en route to the Battle of Copenhagen. |
| 400 | HMS Winchester | 1695 (1 September) | Shipwrecked on a reef off Key Largo, Florida. |
| 400 | Pomona | 1859 (30 April) | carrying, mainly Irish, emigrants from Liverpool to New York. Shipwrecked on a sandbank at Ballyconigar, off Wexford, Ireland. |
| 384 | Annie Jane | 1853 (28 September) | Emigrant ship out of Liverpool, wrecked Vatersay. |
| 361 | The Oaks explosion | 1866 (12 December) | Colliery disaster, Barnsley, Yorkshire. (383 claimed but not verified) [26] |
| 380 | Mary Rose | 1545 (18 July) | Sank off Portsmouth. |
| 379 | HMS Dasher (D37) | 1943 (27 March) | Accidental fuel explosion, Firth of Clyde. |
| 374 | Driver | 1856 (February) | Clipper ship out of Liverpool, disappeared while crossing the Atlantic Ocean. |
| 372 | Arniston | 1815 (30 May) | Wrecked at Waenhuiskrans, South Africa. |
| 369[27] | Queen | 1814 (14 Jan) | Wrecked in Carrick Roads, Cornwall. |
| 360+ | Elizabeth | 1810 (18 December) | Chartered East Indiaman wrecked off Dunkirk. |
| 358 | HMS Victoria | 1893 (22 June) | Rammed by HMS Camperdown in the Mediterranean Sea. |
| 352 | HMS Princess Irene | 1915 (27 May) | Explosion while on the River Medway, Sheerness. |
| 347 | HMS Athenienne | 1806 (20 October) | Wrecked off Tunisia. 100 survivors crammed into the ship's launch. |
| 344 | Pretoria Pit Disaster | 1910 (21 December) | Underground explosion at the Hulton Bank Colliery, Westhoughton, Lancashire. |
| 340 | Aeneas | 1805 (23 October) | Troopship wrecked on the Îles aux Mortes along the Canadian coastline while carrying troops to Quebec. |
| 338 | HMS Curaçao | 1942 (2 October) | Light cruiser run down and split in two by RMS Queen Mary. |
| 335 | SS Schiller | 1875 (7 May) | Shipwrecked off the Isles of Scilly. |
| 329 | Air India Flight 182 | 1985 (23 June) | Act of terror: destroyed by a bomb, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean while in Irish airspace. |
| 317[28] | HMS Eurydice | 1878 (22 March) | Sank off the Isle of Wight. Commemorated by Gerard Manley Hopkins in the poem "The Loss of the Eurydice". |
| 300 | White Ship | 1120 (25 November) | Shipwrecked off Barfleur, Normandy, taking the only legitimate son of King Henry I of England. |
| 300 | Sibylle | 1834 (11 September) | Emigrant ship out of Cromarty wrecked off St. Paul Island, Nova Scotia. |
| 300+ | HMS Amphion | 1796 (22 September) | Magazine explosion while at Plymouth, Devon. |
| 300 | HMS London | 1665 | Accidental explosion while in the Thames Estuary. |
| 299 | Kapunda | 1887 (20 January) | Emigrant ship out of London, collided with the barque Ada Melmore off Brazil. |
| 297 | RMS Tayleur | 1854 (21 January) | Shipwrecked off Lambay Island, Dublin Bay during its maiden voyage after its iron hull deflected its compass. |
| 293 | Northfleet | 1873 (22 January) | Rammed at night by a Spanish steamboat while anchored off Dungeness. |
| 290 | HMS Sceptre | 1799 (5 December) | Wrecked during a storm in Table Bay, near the Cape of Good Hope. |
| 290 | Albion Colliery explosion | 1894 (23 June) | Firedamp explosion.[29][30] |
| 285 | Gordon Riots | 1780 (2–13 June) | Rioters shot by troops. |
| 281 | HMS Atalanta | 1880 (31 January) | HMS Eurydice's sister ship, disappeared after leaving Bermuda bound for Falmouth, Cornwall. |
| 276 | VOC Hollandia | 1743 (13 June) | Shipwrecked off Annet, Isles of Scilly. |
| 270 | Great Sheffield Flood | 1864 | Caused by collapse of Dale Dike Reservoir during its first filling. |
| 270[31] | Pan Am Flight 103 | 1988 (21 December) | Blown apart at 31,000 ft over Lockerbie, Scotland, by terrorist bomb in forward hold. |
| 268 | Abercarn mining disaster | 1878 (11 September) | Mining disaster at Abercarn, Monmouthshire. |
| 266 | Gresford Disaster | 1934 (22 September) | Mining accident near Wrexham, North Wales. |
| 260 | Earl of Abergavenny | 1805 (5 February) | Shipwrecked off Portland Bill. |
| 253 | HMS Saldanha | 1811 (4 December) | Shipwrecked during gale off Lough Swilly, Donegal, Ireland. |
| 250+ | Night of the Big Wind | 1839 (6–7 January) | |
| 250 | RMS Royal Adelaide | 1849 | Shipwrecked on a sandbank off Margate, Kent. |
| 247 | Doddington | 1755 | Shipwrecked in Algoa Bay, South Africa. |
| 246 | HMS Avenger | 1847 (20 December) | Wrecked off the Galite Islands, Tunisia. |
| 241 | Exmouth of Newcastle | 1847 (28 April) | Shipwrecked off Islay.[32] |
| 240 | HMS Lutine | 1799 (9 October) | Shipwrecked off Vlieland. |
| 238[33] | MV Dara | 1961 (8 April) | British-India Steam Navigation Company passenger liner evacuated in the Persian Gulf off Dubai following explosion and fire. |
| 238 | HMS Tribune | 1797 (16 November) | Wrecked during a storm off Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. |
| 237 | SS Anglo Saxon | 1863 (27 April) | Wrecked in dense fog off Cape Race, Newfoundland, Canada. |
| 226 | Quintinshill rail crash | 1915 (22 May) | Three-train collision in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. |
| 224 | Neva | 1835 (13 May) | Convict ship out of Cork wrecked on reefs off King Island, Tasmania. |
| 220 | SS London | 1866 (11 January) | Sank during gale in the Bay of Biscay.[34] |
| 220 | Great Blizzard of 1891 | 1891 (9–13 March) | [35] |
| 220 | Hartley Colliery Disaster | 1862 (16 January) | Caused by steam engine metal fatigue. |
| 215 | Lady of the Lake | 1833 (11 May) | Struck iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank. |
| 212 | Sovereign | 1814 (18 October) | Wrecked off St. Paul Island (Nova Scotia). |
| 210 | Rinaldo | 1878 (18 December) | Collision with French steamship Byzantin in the Dardanelles.[17] |
| 208 | Harpooner | 1818 (November) | Military transport ship shipwrecked off Newfoundland. |
| 207 | Blantyre mining disaster | 1877 (22 October) | Gas explosion. |
| 205 | SS Hungarian | 1860 (20 February) | An Allan Line Royal Mail Steamer out of Liverpool and Queenstown (Cobh) wrecked off Cape Sable Island (Nova Scotia).[36] |
| 201 | HMY Iolaire | 1919 (1 January) | Admiralty yacht returning soldiers to the Isle of Lewis after World War I. Sank off Holm near Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides.[37] |
100–199 fatalities
| Deaths Italics indicate an estimated figure | Event | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 193 | MS Herald of Free Enterprise | 1987 (6 March) | Ferry capsized off Zeebrugge in under one minute after its RORO bow doors were left open. Unlawful killing verdict. |
| 192 | Transport ship Dispatch and Brig-of-War HMS Primrose ( | 1809 (22 January) | Both ships sank after hitting The Manacles.[38] |
| 191 | SS City of Boston (Inman Line) | 1870 (after 28 January) | Ship out of New York City and Halifax, Nova Scotia disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean. Possibly struck an iceberg. |
| 189 | Lundhill Colliery explosion | 1857 (19 February) | Colliery disaster, Wombwell, Yorkshire. |
| 189 | Wood Pit Colliery explosion | 1878 (7 June) | Colliery disaster, Haydock, Lancashire. The total fatalities, which included one man and all of his five sons, may have been 204 or more.[39] |
| 189 | HMS Orpheus | 1863 (7 February) | Sank off Auckland due to outdated nautical charts and shortcuts. |
| 189 | Eyemouth Disaster | 1881 (14 October) | Local fishing fleet sank during a European Windstorm that struck the southeast coast of Scotland. |
| 186 | Theatre Royal, Exeter | 1887 (5 September) | Fire caused by gas lights. |
| 183 | Victoria Hall disaster | 1883 (16 June) | Stampede at Sunderland after a children's Variety show to get prizes and gifts resulted in compressive asphyxia and trampling. |
| 179 | SS Cambria | 1870 (19 October) | Shipwrecked at Inishtrahull. |
| 178 | Ferndale Colliery disaster | 1867 (8 November) | Mining disaster in the Rhondda Valley, Glamorganshire. |
| 178 | Ocean Monarch | 1848 (24 August) | Shipwreck and fire off Great Orme, Llandudno caused by steerage passengers' smoking materials. |
| 178 | Clifton Hall Colliery explosion | 1885 (18 June) | Explosion of firedamp gas in a colliery at Salford. |
| 176 | Llannerch, Cwmnantddu | 1890 (6 February) | Colliery gas explosion near Pontypool, Monmouthshire after the mine refused safety lamps by its MD two months earlier. |
| 173 | Bethnal Green tube station panic | 1943 (3 March) | Crowd stampede caused by British anti-aircraft battery salvo. |
| 172 | HMS Serpent | 1890 (9 November) | Royal Navy torpedo cruiser launched in 1887 shipwrecked off Camariñas, Galicia. |
| 168 | Burns Pit Disaster | 1909 (16 February) | Mining disaster at Stanley, County Durham. |
| 167 | Piper Alpha | 1988 (6 July) | Oil platform gas leak, explosion and fire 30m above cold seas in the North Sea. |
| 166 | Bombing of underground shelter at Edge Hill, Liverpool | 1940 (29 November) | Direct hit on the shelter at Durning Road during the Liverpool Blitz of World War 2. |
| 164 | Seaham Colliery accident | 1880 (8 September) | Mining accident at Seaham, County Durham. |
| 159 | Ferndale Colliery explosions | 1867 (8 November) | Mining explosions in the Rhondda Valley, Glamorganshire, caused by gas and miners tampering with safety lamps. |
| 157 | Deutschland | 1875 (6 December) | Shipwrecked during a blizzard on Kentish Knock sandbank, Thames Estuary. Tugboat rescue delayed until the next day, most died of hypothermia. |
| 155 | Minnie Pit disaster | 1918 (12 January) | Mining disaster at Podmore Hall, Halmer End, Staffordshire. |
| 150 | Clifford's Tower fire massacre | 1190 (16 March) | Massacre in York of medieval Jews by a mob. |
| 146 | Risca Blackvein Disaster | 1860 (1 December) | Coal mining disaster at Risca, Monmouthshire caused by a gas explosion. |
| 146 | Dan-Air Flight 1008 | 1980 (25 April) | While in a holding pattern the plane flew into Mount Esperanza, Tenerife, after turning the wrong way. |
| 146 | Aberfan disaster | 1966 (21 October) | Coal-waste spoil tip collapsed onto a junior school, Glamorganshire. |
| 143 | Swaithe Main Colliery disaster | 1875 (6 December) | Mining disaster at Worsbrough, Yorkshire. |
| 141 | SS Berlin | 1907 (21 February) | Great Eastern Railway steamship out of Harwich wrecked off Hook of Holland. |
| 140 | RMS Amazon | 1852 (4 January) | Steam engine of a wooden mail paddle steamer caught fire, 60 miles west of Isles of Scilly. |
| 140 | HMS Condor | 1901 (3 December) | Ship lost with all hands in a gale off Vancouver Island. |
| 140 | 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami | 2004 (26 December) | UK victims only; see Countries affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. |
| 139 | George III | 1835 (12 April) | Convict ship wrecked in D'Entrecasteaux Channel, Tasmania. |
| 139 | Combs Pit disaster | 1893 (4 July) | Mining disaster at Thornhill, Yorkshire. |
| 137 | National Shell Filling Factory explosion | 1918 (1 July) | Munitions explosion at Chilwell in Nottinghamshire. Eight tons of TNT exploded. |
| 136 | Wellington Colliery disaster | 1910 (11 May) | Coal mining disaster at Whitehaven, Cumberland. |
| 135 | Alexander | 1815 (27 March) | Ship out of Bombay wrecked near Portland within sight of shore. The ship was caught in a gale and ran aground at night. |
| 133 | Amphitrite | 1833 (31 August) | Convict ship from Woolwich to Australia wrecked off Boulogne. |
| 133 | MV Princess Victoria | 1953 (31 January) | Early roll-on/roll-off ferry disaster in the North Channel during a storm. |
| 131 | Lincoln typhoid fever epidemic | 1904 (November) – 1905 (April) | |
| 130 | Rothsay Castle | 1831 (18 August) | Paddle steamer from Liverpool shipwrecked in the Menai Strait under the command of a drunken captain. |
| 129 | John Franklin's Northwest Passage expedition | 1845–1848 | HMS Erebus and HMS Terror caught in pack ice; the crews endured botulism, lead poisoning and cannibalism before starvation. |
| 128 | TSMS Lakonia | 1963 (22 December) | Caught fire and sank off Madeira. Resulted in 98 (mainly British) passenger deaths, plus 33 crew fatalities. |
| 128 | HMS Gladiator | 1908 (25 April) | Shipwrecked in a collision with an American steamship during a snowstorm, Isle of Wight. |
| 127 | Maxwelltown Cholera epidemic | 1832 (September–November) | |
| 125 | HMS Primrose | 1809 (22 January) | Shipwrecked on The Manacles, Cornwall. |
| 125 | SS Hilda | 1905 (18 November) | London and South Western Railway steamship wrecked in snow squalls off Saint-Malo. |
| 124 | BOAC Flight 911 | 1966 (5 March) | Aircraft broke up in flight near Mount Fuji, Japan. A significant percentage of the fatalities were American and Japanese citizens. |
| 124 | SS Daphne | 1883 (3 July) | Capsized during her ship naming and launching, River Clyde, Glasgow. |
| 123 | Ocean Queen | 1856 (February) | Clipper ship out of London disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean. |
| 121 | Dunbar | 1857 (20 August) | Clipper out of Plymouth wrecked at Sydney Cove, Australia. |
| 120 | New Risca pit explosion | 1880 (5 July) | Coal mining disaster, Risca, Monmouthshire. |
| 120 | Dover Straits earthquake | 1580 (6 April) | Earthquake causing freak waves, possible tsunami and flooding in France, Flanders and England. |
| 120+ | Bibighar Massacre | 1857 (15 July) | Massacre of European women and children at Cawnpore (Kanpur), India during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. |
| 119 | National Colliery explosion | 1905 (11 July) | Coal mine explosion at Wattstown, Rhondda Valley, Glamorganshire. |
| 118 | British European Airways Flight 548 | 1972 (18 June) | Crashed into a field at Staines. Possible heart attack in the pilot after takeoff. |
| 114 | Rhondda Colliery gas explosion | 1856 (13 July) | Coal mine explosion at Cymmer, Porth, Glamorganshire. |
| 112 | SS Stella | 1899 (30 March) | London and South Western Railway steamship wrecked on a granite reef in fog at full speed, sinking in 8 minutes, at the Casquets, Channel Islands. |
| 112 | Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash | 1952 (12 October) | Three trains collided in patchy fog in morning rush hour. |
| 112 | Dan-Air Flight 1903 | 1970 (3 July) | De Havilland Comet crashed into a mountain in Catalonia, Spain. |
| 111 | Caledonian Airways Flight 153 | 1962 (4 March) | Crashed after take-off from Douala, Cameroon. |
| 110 | Parc Slip Colliery gas explosion | 1892 (26 August) | Gas explosion due to a damaged Davy lamp, Tondu, Glamorganshire. |
| 109 | Faversham gunpowder mill explosion | 1916 (2 April) | |
| 108 | Invicta International Airlines Flight 435 | 1973 (10 April) | Crashed into a forested, snowy hillside near Hochwald, Switzerland. |
| 106 | SS Avalanche | 1877 (11 September) | Ship out of London for Wellington, New Zealand, collided with Forest Queen off Isle of Portland, English Channel. Both sank. |
| 106 | SS Mohegan | 1898 (14 October) | Shipwrecked off The Manacles, Cornwall. |
| 104 | William Pit disaster | 1947 (15 August) | Coal mining disaster at Whitehaven, Cumberland.[40] |
| 104 | HMS Brazen | 1800 (26 January) | Shipwrecked off Newhaven, Sussex. |
| 102 | Pelican | 1793 (20 March) | Sank in the River Mersey. |
| 102 | HMS Feversham | 1711 (7 October) | Shipwrecked off Scatterie Island, Louisbourg, Nova Scotia. |
| 101 | Naval Steam Colliery explosion | 1880 (10 December) | Colliery explosion, Tonypandy, Rhondda Valley. 4 bodies unidentified.[41] |
| 100+ | HMS Lizard | 1748 (27 February) | Wrecked on the Seven Stones reef.[42] |
| 100 | "Battle" of May Island | 1918 (31 January–1 February) | Two Royal Navy submarines sunk after collisions during naval exercise. |
| 100 | Moray Firth fishing disaster | 1848 (19 August) | Open hulled fishing fleet storm disaster. |
| 100 | HMS Confiance | 1822 (21 September) | 36-gun, 393 ton brig sloop was wrecked between Mizen Head and Three Castles Head, at the south-westernmost point of Ireland. |
Fewer than 100 fatalities
| Deaths Italics indicate an estimated figure | Event | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 99 | Meikle Ferry disaster | 1809 (16 August) | Dornoch Firth, Scotland. Over-laden ferryboat sank with the loss of 99 lives. |
| 99 | HMS Thetis submarine disaster | 1939 (1 June) | Flooded through torpedo tube during pre-war sea trials, Liverpool Bay, salvaged but sunk by depth charges with all hands in 1943 |
| 98 | Edmond (1833) | 1850 (19 November) | A chartered passenger sailing vessel sunk at Edmond Point in Kilkee, Co. Clare; of the 216 on board, 98 drown |
| 98 | Britannia Airways Flight 105 | 1966 (1 September) | Britannia Airways Bristol Britannia G-ANBB from London Luton Airport, aircrash at Ljubljana |
| 96 | Hillsborough Stadium Disaster | 1989 (15 April) | |
| 95 | Haswell Colliery explosion | 1844 (28 September) | |
| 94 | Carlingford Lough disaster | 1916 (3 November) | SS Connemara and a coalship SS Retriever collided and sank, Carlingford Lough, County Down |
| 93 | St Scholastica riot, Oxford | 1355 (10–12 February) | A Town and gown dispute over beer escalates over three days |
| 92 | Felling mine disaster, County Durham | 1812 (25 May) | Firedamp explosion ushers in safety lamps by George Stephenson and Humphry Davy |
| 91 | Carrick-on-Suir disaster | 1799 (9 February) | Barge capsize[43] |
| 90 | Lewisham rail crash | 1957 (December) | Railway signals missed in the rush hour fog |
| 88 | Armagh rail disaster | 1889 (12 June) | 10 runaway railway passenger cars on a Sunday School day trip |
| 88 | Cadeby Coal mine disaster | 1912 (9 July) | Cadeby, South Yorkshire |
| 88 | Air Ferry aircrash, | 1967 (3 June) | Douglas C-54 G-APYK, from Kent International Airport, Mont Canigou, France, |
| 87 | Morfa Mine, Port Talbot | 1890 (10 March) | Glamorganshire, Colliery gas explosion, |
| 86 | SS Egypt | 1922 (20 May) | Shipwreck, off Ushant, Brittany |
| 85 | Rohilla | 1914 (30 October) | Ran aground off Whitby, with a survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic two years earlier rescued again |
| 84 | British Eagle | 1964 (29 February) | International Airlines aircrash Bristol Britannia G-AOVO from London Heathrow Airport, Innsbruck, Austria, |
| 84 | Paisley canal disaster | 1810 (10 November) | canal pleasure boat capsize, Paisley, Scotland, |
| 83 | East Side pit, Senghenydd | 1901 (24 May) | Glamorganshire, Colliery gas explosion, precursor to the 1913 disaster |
| 81 | Mardy Colliery, Rhondda Valley | 1885 (23 December) | Glamorganshire, mining disaster, |
| 81 | Easington Colliery | 1951 (29 May) | County Durham, coal mine explosion, |
| 81 | Holmfirth Flood | 1852 (5 February) | Bilberry Reservoir collapsed, Holme Valley, West Yorkshire, |
| 80+ | PS Queen Victoria | 1853 (15 February) | Wrecked below a lighthouse in a night-time snowstorm, off Howth Head, Dublin |
| 80 | PS Pacific | 1856 (after 23 January) | lost at sea out of Liverpool, [sister ship of SS Arctic] |
| 80 | Llandow air disaster | 1950 (12 March) | Fairflight Avro Tudor G-AKBY, Sigginstone, Glamorganshire, with returning Welsh Rugby Union supporters on board (highest confirmed death toll of any civil aviation disaster up to that date) |
| 80 | Creswell Colliery | 1950 (26 September) | mining accident caused by smoke inhalation, Creswell, Derbyshire, |
| 79 | Great Yarmouth Suspension bridge | 1846 (2 May) | collapse above a river, killing children watching a clown. |
| 79 | British Admiral out of Liverpool wrecked off Tasmania | 1874 (23 May) | |
| 79 | HMS Glatton | 1918 (16 September) | Wrecked by accidental explosion, Dover harbour |
| 79 | Markham Colliery disaster | 1938 (10 May) | Underground explosion Derbyshire |
| 78 | Burwell, Cambridgeshire Barn fire | 1727 (8 September) | Occurred during a puppet show with the doors nailed shut. |
| 77 | The Cherubim and Ocean Home collided off Lizard Point | 1856 (5 September) | |
| 75 | Maypole Colliery disaster | 1908 (18 August) | Abram, Lancashire |
| 75 | Tay Bridge disaster | 1879 (28 December) | cast iron bridge collapse with a steam train on it during an evening storm, Dundee, |
| 75 | HMS Affray | 1951 (17 April) | Mysterious submarine disaster, English Channel, |
| 75 | STV Royston Grange | 1972 (11 May) | A Houlder Line cargo liner, destroyed by fire after a collision with Liberian-registered tanker Tien Chee in the Rio de la Plata, |
| 74 | SS Naronic | 1893 (19 February) | Lost at sea, possibly due to iceberg strike off Nova Scotia, out of Liverpool, with no Wireless Telegraph to make a distress call. |
| 74 | Trimdon Grange Colliery mining disaster | 1882 (16 February) | |
| 73 | Udston mining disaster | 1887 (28 May) | Hamilton, Scotland, firedamp explosion |
| 73 | Silvertown explosion | 1917 (19 January) | Explosion in a TNT factory in West Ham |
| 72 | Stockport Air Disaster | 1967 (4 June) | British Midland Airways Argonaut G-ALHG, an unrecognised flaw in the fuel system made the plane returning from Majorca uncontrollable. |
| 72 | Grenfell Tower fire | 2017 (14 June) | North Kensington, London.[44] |
| 71 | Glen Cinema Disaster | 1929 (31 December) | Paisley, Scotland, . Glen Cinema Website |
| 70 | Great Gale of 1871 | 1871 (10 February) | Bridlington 100 shipwrecks, incl. Royal National Lifeboat Harbinger, plus other losses at sea, estimated total of 70 marine fatalities. |
| 70 | RAF Fauld | 1944 (27 November) | munitions explosion during World War II, Staffordshire, |
| 69 | HMS M1 | 1925 (12 November) | Submarine wreck— collision with Swedish surface vessel—off Plymouth, |
| 67 | September 11, 2001 attacks | 2001 (11 September) | [UK victims only] |
| 66 | BEA Comet G-ARCO bombing | 1967 (12 October) | Off Rhodes, [all nationalities] |
| 66 | Ibrox disaster | 1971 (2 January) | compressive asphyxia spectator crush on stairway at Ibrox Park football stadium, Glasgow |
| 65 | Theatre Royal, Glasgow | 1849 (17 February) | panic, Dunlop Street, Glasgow, |
| 65 | Cherokee class brig-sloop HMS Jasper | 1817 (20 January) | Wrecked in hurricane-force winds on either Rame Head, Cornwall or Bear's Head, Mount Batten, Devon[45] |
| 64 | Middle Duffryn Mine | 1852 (10 May) | Aberdare, Glamorganshire, Colliery explosion |
| 64 | Masbrough boat disaster | 1841 (5 July) | Rotherham, |
| 64 | HMS Truculent | 1950 (12 January) | Submarine collision on the surface, Thames Estuary, survivors died of hypothermia on mid-winter mudbanks |
| 63 | Peckfield Colliery Disaster | 1896 (30 April) | Micklefield, Yorkshire |
| 63 | Victoria coal pit, Nitshill near Glasgow | 1851 (15 March) | Explosion [46] |
| 63 | Great Western Mine | 1893 (11 April) | Rhondda Valley Colliery mining disaster, South Wales, |
| 63 | British European Airways aircrash | 1971 (2 October) | A Vickers Vanguard G-APEC flight 706, Aarsele, Belgium, |
| 63 | Mauricewood Colliery disaster | 1886 (17 December) | underground fire, Penicuik |
| 62 | Dinas Rhondda | 1879(13 January ) | Rhondda Valley, Glamorganshire, Colliery gas explosion. |
| 62 | PS Comet II | 1825 (21 October) | Sank in collision off Gourock, Scotland |
| 61 | SS Thames | 1841 (4 January) | Steamship shipwrecked in a night-time storm, Isles of Scilly |
| 61 | Freckleton Air Disaster | 1944 (23 August) | A USAAF Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber crashed into a village school in a storm, Freckleton, Lancashire, (3 aircrew, 58 ground fatalities) |
| 60 | Garland of Topsham | 1649 (30 January) | A vessel carrying Charles I wrecked on Godrevy Island, .[47] |
| 60+ | Harwich ferry disaster | 1807 (18 April) | A 'grossly overladen' coastal vessel capsizes while transporting soldiers and their families, |
| 60 | Dalhousie, "Blackwall Frigate" | 1853(October ) | Sinks off Beachy Head |
| 60 | HMS M2 British M class submarine | 1932 (26 January) | Floods through her Parnall Peto seaplane hangar doors, Lyme Bay |
| 58 | Wharncliffe Woodmoor Colliery | 1936 (6 August) | A pit disaster, underground explosion caused by an electrical fault |
| 57 | Tylorstown | 1896 (27 January) | Rhondda Valley Colliery mining disaster, South Wales |
| 57 | Sneyd Colliery Disaster | 1942 (1 January) | Burslem, Staffordshire |
| 57 | HMS K5 | 1921 (24 January) | A submarine sank in deep water, 120 miles south-west of the Isles of Scilly during sea trials |
| 56 | Bradford City stadium fire | 1985 (11 May) | football stadium fire |
| 56 | 7 July 2005 London bombings | 2005 (7 July) | by suicide bombers |
| 55 | Manchester air disaster | 1985 (22 August) | Flight 28M, a Boeing 737-236 engine fire before takeoff on a holiday flight to Corfu |
| 53 | Ferndale Colliery | 1869 (10 June) | Rhondda Valley, Glamorganshire, Colliery explosion, |
| 53 | Great fire of Newcastle and Gateshead | 1854 (6 October) | A Victorian era firestorm . |
| 52 | Lletty Shenklin Mine | 1849 (14 August) | Aberdare Colliery mining disaster, South Wales |
| 52 | Yellow fever outbreak, HMS Firebrand | 1861 (July) | West Indies, |
| 52 | Loch Ard | 1878 (1 June) | A clipper out of Gravesend, Kent, wrecked off Loch Ard Gorge, just off the Shipwreck Coast of Victoria, Australia in thick fog |
| 52 | HMS Wasp | 1884 (22 September) | Wrecked on Tory Island, County Donegal |
| 52 | Marine Colliery | 1927 (1 March) | Gwm near Ebbw Vale, Monmouthshire, coal mine disaster |
| 51 | Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum fire, London | 1903 (27 January) | In an early psychiatric hospital holding up to 3,500 patients |
| 51 | Marchioness disaster, River Thames | 1989 (20 August) | A pleasure boat rammed by a dredger under a bridge. |
| 51 | St Hilda Colliery, South Shields, coal pit explosion | 1839 (28 June) | http://www.dmm.org.uk/names/n1839-01.htm |
| 50 | Ariana Afghan Airlines aircrash | 1969 (5 January) | Crashed into a house, Boeing 727 YA-FAR, Gatwick |
| 50 | Summerland fire disaster | 1973 (2 August) | Douglas, Isle of Man, a fire in a leisure centre |
| 50 | Whiddy Island disaster | 1979 (8 January) | explosion of oil tanker Betelguese in Bantry Bay, Ireland |
| 49? | SS Nile | 1854 (30 November) | All the crew and passengers died when she hit The Stones reef off Godrevy Head, Cornwall. The loss of life led to the building of the lighthouse.[48] |
| 49 | Booth's clothing factory fire, Huddersfield | 1941 (31 October) | Fire at a major clothing factory in Huddersfield, West Riding of Yorkshire.[49] |
| 49 | HMS Punjabi collision with the battleship HMS King George V | 1942 (1 May) | sinking 469 miles North West of Shetland . |
| 49 | Hither Green rail crash | 1967 (5 November ) | In London, a broken rail caused derailment of an express train |
| 48 | Stardust fire | 1981 (14 February) | A nightclub fire in Artane, Dublin, 841 people had attended a disco there, of whom 48 died and 214 were injured as a result of the fire. |
| 48 | A British Eagle International Airlines Vickers Viscount | 1968 (9 August) | en route from London to Innsbruck, Austria, breaks up in mid-air over Bavaria |
| 47 | Emma | 1828 (28 February) | Capsizes after launching, Mersey and Irwell Navigation, Manchester |
| 47 | Gethin Mine | 1862 (19 February) | Merthyr Tydfil, Colliery mining disaster, South Wales |
| 47 | R101 airship crash | 1930 (5 October) | Beauvais, France |
| 47 | SS Samtampa | 1947( 23 April) | wrecked off Sker Point in the Bristol Channel (death toll includes 8 crew of Mumbles lifeboat) |
| 47 | Auchengeich coal mining disaster | 1959 (18 September) | Auchinloch, Lanarkshire, Scotland |
| 47 | Kegworth Air Disaster | 1989 (8 January) | British Midland Flight 92, Leicestershire, the pilot shuts down the wrong engine and just misses the M1 Motorway |
| 46 | Wreck of Confederate States of America blockade runner PS Lelia | 1865 (14 January) | (39 fatalities) and lifeboat crew (7 fatalities) in Liverpool Bay |
| 45 | Bentley Coal mine disaster | 1931 (20 November) | Bentley, South Yorkshire |
| 45 | Six Bells Colliery Disaster | 1960 (28 June) | Aberbeeg, Monmouthshire |
| 45 | Aquila Airways Short Solent flying boat crash | 1957 (15 November) | Isle of Wight |
| 45 | Sumburgh disaster | 1986 (6 November) | A Brent oilfield CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed at sea |
| 45 | PS Nimrod | 1860 (28 February) | An Irish paddle steamer that sank off St David's Head. |
| 44 | R38 (ZR-2) airship crash | 1921 (24 August) | River Humber, near Hull |
| 44 | MV Derbyshire | 1980 (9 September) | Bibby Line bulk carrier sank during Typhoon Orchid, south of Japan (by tonnage the largest UK-flagged ship loss) |
| 43 | Bourne End rail crash | 1945 (30 September) | Near Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, driver had worked for 26 consecutive days. |
| 43 | Moorgate tube crash | 1975 (28 February) | London Underground, in the morning rush hour |
| 41 | Little Baldon Hastings accident | 1965 (6 July) | Occurred at Little Baldon, Oxfordshire, aircraft crash during parachute training flight from RAF Abingdon, caused by metal fatigue |
| 40 | Regent's Park ice-skating disaster. | 1867 (15 January) | Ice covering the boating lake collapsed and 200 people plunged into the lake [50] |
| 40 | Low Moor Explosion | 1916 (21 August) | Explosion at a picric acid plant producing explosives for the war effort in the First World War.[51] |
See also
- European windstorm
- List of accidents and disasters by death toll (worldwide)
- List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft
- List of disasters in Antarctica by death toll
- List of disasters in Australia by death toll
- List of disasters in Canada by death toll
- List of disasters in Croatia by death toll
- List of disasters in New Zealand by death toll
- List of disasters in Poland by death toll
- List of disasters in the United States by death toll
- List of fires
- List of lifeboat disasters in Britain and Ireland
- List of natural disasters in the British Isles
- List of rail accidents in the United Kingdom
- List of rail accidents (worldwide)
- List of riots
- List of terrorist incidents
- List of train accidents by death toll
- List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll (worldwide)
- Lists of shipwrecks
- United Kingdom casualties of war
References
- ↑ Jim Donnelly (2011). "The Irish Famine". BBC.
- ↑ Sir William Wilde, "Table of Cosmical Phenomena," pp. 124-32; Dickson, "The other great famine," in Cathal Póirtéir, (ed.) The Great Irish Famine (1955), Mercier Press, pp. 53-55; and David Dickson, "The gap in famines: a useful myth?", in E. Margaret Crawford (ed.), Famine: the Irish experience, Edinburgh: John Donald, 1989, pp. 97-98
- ↑ "Our cold snap was nothing compared to the Great Irish Frost of 1740". independent.ie. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
- ↑ "The Great Frost and Forgotten Famine". irishtimes.com. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
- ↑ "British Influenza Epidemic of 1918–19" in Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence: From Ancient Times to the Present (3rd ed. 2008: ed. George Childs Kohn), Infobase, p. 46.
- ↑ Niall P.A.S. Johnson, Scottish flu – The Scottish Experience of 'Spanish Flu', Scottish Historical Review, Jan 2008, vol. 83, No. 2, pp. 216–226.
- ↑ Michael B. A. Oldstone, Viruses, Plagues, and History, Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 174.
- ↑ http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/contagion/plague.html
- ↑ Bill Bryson; A Short History...;p 372; ISBN 0-385-40818-8
- ↑ Estimate of mortality in England.
- ↑ "In July 1212, 3,000 were killed in the crush, burned or drowned when London Bridge caught fire at both ends". (p.184) Norris McWhirter and Ross McWhirter (1971). Guinness Book of Records. Guinness Superlatives Limited. ISBN 0-900424-05-2.
- ↑ http://www.taintedblood.info/background.php Archived 3 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine. accessed 01/09/2015
- ↑ https://www.taintedblood.info/tb/online-memorial/
- ↑ Difference between the number of deaths in that period and the average number in other years.
- 1 2 New style dating.
- ↑
- 1 2 Marshall, Logan, Sinking of the Titanic and Great Disasters of the Sea, 1912.
- ↑ Formerly HMS Royal Katherine.
- ↑ Andy Taylor. "The Wreck of the Sea Horse". Discover Tramore. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
- ↑ Grocott, Terence (1999). Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary & Napoleonic Eras. Journal of Navigation: Cambridge University Press 52 p.149–162.
- ↑ Treglown, Tony (2011). Porthleven in years gone by Local Shipwrecks. Ashton: Tony Treglown. ISBN 978-0-9539019-7-5.
- ↑ Eekelers, Dirk; Lettens, Jan. "HMS Coronation (north part) [+1691]". wrecksite. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
- ↑ 562 passengers and crewmembers of Utopia and two rescuers from HMS Immortalité. "The Dead of the Utopia", The New York Times, 20 March 1891.
- ↑ British victims only.
- ↑ Grocott, p41.
- ↑ "Oaks Disaster Victims". Dearne Valley Landscape Partnership. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
- ↑ Allen, Tony. "Queen [+1814]". wrecksite. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
- ↑ 317 named fatalities (Memorials & Monuments in St Ann's Church – HMS Eurydice Archived 27 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine.).
- ↑ "Albion Colliery". BBC Wales. 2008. Retrieved 2010-10-15.
- ↑ "Albion Colliery Cilfynydd". Welsh Coal Mines. Retrieved 2010-10-15.
- ↑ All victims, regardless of nationality.
- ↑ Islay Info
- ↑ Mostly non-British nationals.
- ↑ http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~nzbound/london.htm
- ↑ Woodward, Antony and Penn, Robert (2007). The Wrong Kind of Snow. ISBN 978-0-340-93787-7
- ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 13 July 2007. Retrieved 4 March 2009.
- ↑ "Sinking of HMY Iolaire - list of all on board at time of grounding". Across Two Seas. 17 December 2008. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
- ↑ "The Manacles". Archived from the original on 11 January 2004. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
- ↑ Ian Winstanley, Those Who Died Archived 19 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ – Photograph of William Pit
- ↑ "Naval Colliery disasters". Welsh Coal Mines. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
- ↑ Larn, Richard (1992). The Shipwrecks of the Isles of Scilly. Nairn: Thomas & Lochar. ISBN 0 946537 84 4.
- ↑ Coady, Michael (1999). "The cries at the bridge". Full Tide: a miscellany. Nenagh: Relay Books. pp. 54–60. ISBN 9780946327270.
- ↑ "Grenfell Tower fire: Who were the victims?". BBC News. 30 May 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
- ↑ Lettens, Jan. "HMS Jasper (+1817)". wrecksite. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
- ↑ Nitshill 15 March 1851 scottishmining.co.uk, accessed 5 April 2009
- ↑ Noall, Cyril (1968). Cornish Lights and Ship-Wrecks. Truro: D Bradford Barton.
- ↑ Larn, Richard; Larn, Bridget (1997). Shipwreck Index of the British Isles. London: Lloyd's Register of Shipping.
- ↑ "Permanent memorial to Booth's factory fire in Huddersfield unveiled". Huddersfield Examiner. 5 November 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
- ↑ "The Catastrophe in the Regent's Park", The Times, 22 January 1867, p.12
- ↑ "At last it can be told: Fireball that ripped apart Bradford factory 100 years ago". The Yorkshire Post. 11 August 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
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