List of disasters in Great Britain and Ireland by death toll

Updated on Oct 09, 2024

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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.

100–199 fatalities

193 – MS Herald of Free Enterprise disaster, Zeebrugge, (6 March 1987) unlawful killing verdict after RORO bow doors are left open causing a capsize in under one minute

192 – transport ship Dispatch and Brig-of-War HMS Primrose ( Royal Navy) both sank after hitting The Manacles (22 January 1809).

191 – SS City of Boston (Inman Line) disappeared Atlantic Ocean out of New York City and Halifax, Nova Scotia to Liverpool, possibly struck an iceberg (after 28 January 1870)

189 – Lundhill Colliery explosion, Wombwell, Yorkshire (19 February 1857)

189 – Wood Pit Colliery underground explosion, Haydock, Lancashire (7 June 1878) (total fatalities, which included one man and all of his five sons, may have been 204 or more)

189 – HMS Orpheus, RN corvette, sank due to outdated nautical charts and shortcuts off Auckland (7 February 1863)

189 – Eyemouth Disaster, a local fishing fleet sank during a European Windstorm that struck the southeast coast of Scotland, (14 October 1881) [1]

186 – Theatre Royal, Exeter, fire caused by gas lights, (5 September 1887)

183 – Victoria Hall disaster, Sunderland, (16 June 1883) stampede after a children's Variety show to get prizes and gifts results in compressive asphyxia and trampling

179 – SS Cambria shipwreck, Inishtrahull, (19 October 1870)

178 – Ferndale Colliery mining disaster, Rhondda Valley, Glamorganshire, (8 November 1867)

178 – Ocean Monarch fire and shipwreck, off Great Orme, Llandudno (24 August 1848) caused by steerage passengers' smoking materials

178 – Clifton Hall Colliery firedamp gas explosion, Salford on (18 June 1885)

176 – Llannerch, Cwmnantddu Colliery gas explosion in a mine refused safety lamps by its MD two months earlier, near Pontypool, Monmouthshire, (6 February 1890)

173 – Bethnal Green tube station panic, crowd stampede caused by British anti-aircraft battery salvo, (3 March 1943)

172 – HMS Serpent Royal Navy torpedo cruiser launched in 1887 shipwrecked off Camariñas, Galicia, (9 November 1890)

168 – Burns Pit Disaster, Stanley, County Durham, (16 February 1909)

167 – Piper Alpha oil platform gas leak, explosion and fire 30m above cold seas North Sea, (6 July 1988)

166 – Direct hit on the large underground shelter at Durning Road, Edge Hill, Liverpool during the Liverpool Blitz of World War 2, (29 November 1940)

164 – Seaham Colliery mining accident, Seaham, Durham (8 September 1880)

159 – Ferndale Colliery, Rhondda Valley, Glamorganshire, explosions caused by gas and miners tampering with safety lamps (8 November 1867)

157 – Deutschland shipwrecked during a blizzard on Kentish Knock sandbank, Thames Estuary, (6 December 1875), tugboat rescue delayed until the next day, most died of hypothermia

155 – Minnie Pit mining disaster, Podmore Hall, Halmer End, Staffordshire (12 January 1918)

150 – Clifford's Tower fire massacre of medieval Jews by a mob, York, (16 March 1190) (estimated fatalities)

146 – Risca Blackvein Disaster Coal mining disaster, Risca, Monmouthshire, (1 December 1860) caused by a gas explosion

146 – Dan-Air Flight 1008 a Boeing 727 G-BDAN, from Manchester Airport to Tenerife North Airport, Canary Islands. Whilst in a holding pattern the plane flew into a mountain after turning the wrong way (25 April 1980)

144 – Aberfan coal-waste spoil tip collapsed onto a Junior school, Glamorganshire (21 October 1966)

143 – Swaithe Main Colliery disaster, Worsbrough, Yorkshire (6 December 1875)

141 – SS Berlin shipwreck, Hook of Holland (Great Eastern Railway steamship out of Harwich) (21 February 1907)

140 – RMS Amazon steam engine fire on a wooden mail paddle steamer, 60 miles west of Isles of Scilly, (4 January 1852)

140 – HMS Condor, lost with all hands in a gale off Vancouver Island (3 December 1901)

140 – 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami (26 December 2004) [UK victims only] see Countries affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake

139 – George III, convict ship shipwrecked in D'Entrecasteaux Channel, Tasmania (12 April 1835)

139 – Combs Pit disaster, Thornhill, Yorkshire (4 July 1893)

137 – National Shell Filling Factory, Chilwell, munitions explosion, Chilwell, Nottinghamshire, (1 July 1918) Eight tons of TNT exploded

136 – Wellington Colliery coal mining disaster, Whitehaven, Cumberland (11 May 1910)

135 – Alexander shipwrecked near Portland within sight of shore from Bombay, the ship was caught in a gale and ran aground at night (27 March 1815)

133 – Amphitrite, convict ship from Woolwich to Australia shipwrecked Boulogne (31 August 1833)

133 – MV Princess Victoria early roll-on/roll-off ferry disaster, North Channel during a storm (31 January 1953)

131 – typhoid fever epidemic, Lincoln, (November 1904 to April 1905)

130 – Rothsay Castle paddle steamer from Liverpool shipwrecked in the Menai Strait under the command of a drunken captain (18 August 1831)

129 – John Franklin's Northwest Passage expedition, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror caught in pack ice; the crews endured botulism, lead poisoning and cannibalism before starvation, (1845–1848)

128 – Fire and subsequent evacuation of the Greek Line cruise ship TSMS Lakonia during a Christmas cruise from Southampton to the Canary Islands results in 98 (mainly British) passenger deaths, plus 33 crew fatalities (22 December 1963)

128 – HMS Gladiator shipwreck in a snowstorm collision with an American steamship, Isle of Wight (25 April 1908)

127 – Maxwelltown Cholera Epidemic, Maxwelltown, Kirkudbrightshire, Scotland (September to November 1832)

125 – HMS Primrose shipwrecked on The Manacles, Cornwall (22 January 1809)

125 – SS Hilda shipwreck in snow squalls off Saint-Malo, London and South Western Railway steamship (18 November 1905)

124 – BOAC Flight 911, a British Overseas Airways Corporation Boeing 707 flying from Tokyo to Hong Kong (having flown from San Francisco the previous day) crashes onto Mount Fuji, Japan (5 March 1966) [a significant percentage of the fatalities were American and Japanese citizens]

124 – SS Daphne capsized during her ship naming and launching, River Clyde, Glasgow (3 July 1883)

123 – Ocean Queen clipper, disappeared Atlantic Ocean out of London, (February 1856)

121 – Dunbar, clipper out of Plymouth, wrecked Sydney Cove, Australia (20 August 1857)

120 – New Risca pit explosion, Coal mining disaster, Risca, Monmouthshire (5 July 1880)

120 – Dover Straits earthquake of 1580, an earthquake causing freak waves, possible tsunami and flooding in France, Flanders and England (6 April 1580) [estimate]

120–200 – Bibighar Massacre of European women and children at Cawnpore (Kanpur), India during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 (15 July 1857) [estimate]

119 – National Colliery coal mine explosion, Wattstown, Rhondda Valley, Glamorganshire (11 July 1905)

118 – Staines air disaster, BEA Flight 548, possible heart attack in the pilot after takeoff (18 June 1972)

114 – Cymmer, Porth, Rhondda Colliery gas explosion, Rhondda Valley, South Wales (13 July 1856)

112 – SS Stella shipwreck on a granite reef in fog at full speed, sinking in 8 minutes London and South Western Railway steamship, the Casquets, Channel Islands, (30 March 1899)

112 – Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash, three trains collided in patchy fog in morning rush hour (12 October 1952)

112 – Dan-Air aircrash of a De Havilland Comet G-APDN from Manchester Airport to Barcelona crashing into a mountain in Catalonia, Spain (3 July 1970)

111 – Caledonian Airways Douglas DC-7 en route from Douala, Cameroon, to London (via Lisbon) crashes after take-off from Douala (4 March 1962)

110 – Parc Slip Colliery gas explosion due to a damaged Davy lamp, Tondu, Glamorganshire (26 August 1892)

109 – Gunpowder mill explosion, Faversham, Kent (2 April 1916)

108 – Invicta International Airlines aircrash of Vickers Vanguard flight 435 G-AXOP, from BRS to Basle Switzerland, crashed into a forested, snowy hillside (10 April 1973)

106 – SS Avalanche of the Shaw Savill Line collided with Forest Queen, both sank off Isle of Portland, English Channel, out of London for Wellington, New Zealand (11 September 1877)

106 – SS Mohegan shipwreck, The Manacles, Cornwall (14 October 1898)

104 – Coal mining disaster, William Pit, Whitehaven, Cumberland (15 August 1947)

104 – HMS Brazen wrecked off Newhaven, Sussex (26 January 1800)

102 – Sinking of the Pelican in the River Mersey (20 March 1793)

102 – HMS Feversham shipwreck, Scatterie Island, Louisbourg, Nova Scotia (7 October 1711)

101 – Naval Steam Colliery, Tonypandy, Rhondda Valley colliery explosion, South Wales (10 December 1880) (4 bodies unidentified)

100+ – HMS Lizard wrecked on the Seven Stones reef, (27 February 1748).

100 – "Battle" of May Island, Royal Navy disaster (31 January–1 February 1918)

100 – Moray Firth fishing disaster, open hulled fishing fleet storm disaster, Scotland (19 August 1848)

100 – HMS Confiance, a 36-gun, 393 ton brig sloop was wrecked between Mizen Head and Three Castles Head, at the south-westernmost point of Ireland (21 September 1822)

Fewer than 100 fatalities

99 – Meikle Ferry disaster, Dornoch Firth, Scotland; over-laden ferryboat sank with the loss of 99 lives (16 August 1809).

99 – HMS Thetis submarine disaster; flooded through torpedo tube during pre-war sea trials, Liverpool Bay, (1 June 1939), salvaged but sunk by depth charges with all hands in 1943

98 – Edmond (1833), A chartered passenger sailing vessel sunk at Edmond Point in Kilkee, Co. Clare, (19 November 1850). Of the 216 on board, 98 drowned in the disaster.

98 – Britannia Airways Bristol Britannia G-ANBB from London Luton Airport, aircrash at Ljubljana, (1 September 1966)

96 – Hillsborough Stadium Disaster, Sheffield, (15 April 1989)

95 – Haswell Colliery explosion, County Durham, (28 September 1844)

94 – Carlingford Lough disaster, SS Connemara and a coalship SS Retriever collided and sank, Carlingford Lough, County Down, (3 November 1916)

93 – St Scholastica riot, Oxford, (10-12 February 1355), a Town and gown dispute over beer escalates over three days

92 – Felling mine disaster, County Durham, firedamp explosion ushered in safety lamps by George Stephenson and Humphry Davy (25 May 1812)

90 – Lewisham rail crash, (December 1957) railway signals missed in the rush hour fog

88 – Armagh rail disaster, 10 runaway railway passenger cars on a Sunday School day trip (12 June 1889)

88 – Cadeby Coal mine disaster, Cadeby Main, Cadeby, South Yorkshire (9 July 1912)

88 – Air Ferry aircrash, Douglas C-54 G-APYK, from Kent International Airport, Mont Canigou, France, (3 June 1967)

87 – Morfa Mine, Port Talbot, Glamorganshire, Colliery gas explosion, (10 March 1890)

86 – SS Egypt shipwreck, off Ushant, Brittany (20 May 1922)

85 – Rohilla, ran aground off Whitby, with a survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic two years earlier rescued again (30 October 1914)

84 – British Eagle International Airlines aircrash Bristol Britannia G-AOVO from London Heathrow Airport, Innsbruck, Austria, (29 February 1964)

84 – Paisley canal disaster, canal pleasure boat capsized, Paisley, Scotland, (10 November 1810)

83 – East Side pit, Senghenydd, Glamorganshire, Colliery gas explosion, (24 May 1901), precursor to the 1913 disaster

81 – Mardy Colliery, Rhondda Valley, Glamorganshire, mining disaster, (23 December 1885)

81 – Easington Colliery, County Durham, coal mine explosion, (29 May 1951)

81 – Holmfirth Flood – Bilberry Reservoir collapsed, Holme Valley, West Yorkshire, (5 February 1852)

80 – PS Pacific, lost at sea out of Liverpool, (after 23 January 1856) [sister ship of SS Arctic]

80+ – PS Queen Victoria wrecked below a lighthouse in a night-time snowstorm, off Howth Head, Dublin (15 February 1853)

80 – Llandow air disaster, Fairflight Avro Tudor G-AKBY, Sigginstone, Glamorganshire, (12 March 1950) with returning Welsh Rugby Union supporters on board (highest confirmed death toll of any civil aviation disaster up to that date)

80 – Creswell Colliery mining accident caused by smoke inhalation, Creswell, Derbyshire, (26 September 1950)

79 – Great Yarmouth Suspension bridge collapse above a river, killing children watching a clown, (2 May 1846)

79 – British Admiral wrecked Tasmania out of Liverpool, (23 May 1874)

79 – HMS Glatton, wrecked by accidental explosion, Dover harbour (16 September 1918)

79 – Markham Colliery disaster, underground explosion Derbyshire (10 May 1938)

78 – Barn fire during a puppet show with the doors nailed shut, Burwell, Cambridgeshire, (8 September 1727)

77 – the Cherubim and Ocean Home collided off Lizard Point (5 September 1856)

75 – Maypole Colliery disaster, Abram, Lancashire, (18 August 1908)

75 – Tay Bridge disaster, cast iron bridge collapse with a steam train on it during an evening storm, Dundee, (28 December 1879)

75 – HMS Affray mysterious submarine disaster, English Channel, (17 April 1951)

75 – STV Royston Grange, a Houlder Line cargo liner, destroyed by fire after a collision with Liberian-registered tanker Tien Chee in the Rio de la Plata, (11 May 1972)

74 – SS Naronic, lost at sea, possibly due to iceberg strike off Nova Scotia, out of Liverpool, with no Wireless Telegraph to make a distress call (19 February 1893)

74 – Trimdon Grange Colliery mining disaster (16 February 1882)

73 – Udston mining disaster, Hamilton, Scotland, (28 May 1887) firedamp explosion

73 – Silvertown explosion, (19 January 1917) explosion in a TNT factory in West Ham [2]

72 – Stockport Air Disaster, British Midland Airways Argonaut G-ALHG, (4 June 1967) an unrecognised flaw in the fuel system made the plane returning from Majorca uncontrollable

71 – Glen Cinema Disaster, Paisley, Scotland, (31 December 1929). Glen Cinema Website

70 – Great Gale of 1871, Bridlington 100 shipwrecks (10 February 1871), incl. Royal National Lifeboat Harbinger, plus other losses at sea, estimated total of 70 marine fatalities.

70 – RAF Fauld munitions explosion during World War II, Staffordshire, (27 November 1944) [3]

69 – HMS M1 submarine wreck— collision with Swedish surface vessel—off Plymouth, (12 November 1925)

67 – September 11, 2001 attacks, [UK victims only]

66 – British European Airways Comet G-ARCO bomb disaster, off Rhodes, (12 October 1967) [all nationalities] [4]

66 – Ibrox disaster – compressive asphyxia spectator crush on stairway at Ibrox Park football stadium, Glasgow (2 January 1971)

65 – Theatre Royal, Glasgow panic, Dunlop Street, Glasgow, (17 February 1849)

65 – Cherokee class brig-sloop HMS Jasper was wrecked in hurricane-force winds on either Rame Head, Cornwall or Bear's Head, Mount Batten, Devon (20 January 1817).

64 – Middle Duffryn Mine, Aberdare, Glamorganshire, Colliery explosion (10 May 1852)

64 – Masbrough boat disaster, Rotherham, (5 July 1841) [5]

64 – HMS Truculent submarine collision on the surface, Thames Estuary, (12 January 1950) survivors died of hypothermia on mid-winter mudbanks

63 – Peckfield Colliery Disaster, Micklefield, Yorkshire (30 April 1896)

63 – Victoria coal pit, Nitshill, near Glasgow, explosion (15 March 1851)

63 – Great Western Mine, Rhondda Valley Colliery mining disaster, South Wales, (11 April 1893)

63 – British European Airways aircrash, Vickers Vanguard G-APEC flight 706, Aarsele, Belgium, (2 October 1971)

63 – Mauricewood Colliery disaster, underground fire, Penicuik (17 December 1886)

62 – Dinas Rhondda, Rhondda Valley, Glamorganshire, Colliery gas explosion. (13 January 1879)

62 – PS Comet II, sank in collision off Gourock, Scotland, (21 October 1825)

61 – SS Thames, steamship shipwrecked in a night-time storm, Isles of Scilly, (4 January 1841)

61 – Freckleton Air Disaster, a USAAF Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber crashed into a village school in a storm, Freckleton, Lancashire, (23 August 1944) (3 aircrew, 58 ground fatalities)

60 – Garland of Topsham carrying Charles I wrecked on Godrevy Island, (30 January 1649).

60+ – Harwich ferry disaster, a 'grossly overladen' coastal vessel capsized whilst transporting soldiers and their families, (18 April 1807)

60 – Dalhousie, "Blackwall Frigate" sank off Beachy Head, (October 1853)

60 – HMS M2 British M class submarine flooded through her Parnall Peto seaplane hangar doors, Lyme Bay, (26 January 1932)

58 – Wharncliffe Woodmoor Colliery pit disaster, underground explosion caused by an electrical fault (6 August 1936)

57 – Tylorstown, Rhondda Valley Colliery mining disaster, South Wales, (27 January 1896)

57 – Sneyd Colliery Disaster, Burslem, Staffordshire (1 January 1942)

57 – HMS K5 submarine sank in deep water, 120 miles south-west of the Isles of Scilly during sea trials (24 January 1921)

56 – Bradford City stadium fire, football stadium fire (11 May 1985)

56 – 7 July 2005 London bombings by suicide bombers

55 – Manchester air disaster Flight 28M, a Boeing 737-236 engine fire before takeoff on a holiday flight to Corfu (22 August 1985)

53 – Ferndale Colliery, Rhondda Valley, Glamorganshire, Colliery explosion, (10 June 1869)

53 – Great fire of Newcastle and Gateshead, a Victorian era firestorm (6 October 1854)

52 – Lletty Shenklin Mine, Aberdare Colliery mining disaster, South Wales (14 August 1849)

52 – Yellow fever outbreak, HMS Firebrand, West Indies, (July 1861) [6]

52 – Loch Ard, clipper out of Gravesend, Kent, wrecked off Loch Ard Gorge, just off the Shipwreck Coast of Victoria, Australia in thick fog (1 June 1878)

52 – HMS Wasp wrecked Tory Island, County Donegal (22 September 1884)

52 – Marine Colliery, Gwm near Ebbw Vale, Monmouthshire, coal mine disaster (1 March 1927)

51 – Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum fire, London, (27 January 1903) in an early psychiatric hospital holding up to 3,500 patients

51 – Marchioness disaster, River Thames, a pleasure boat rammed by a dredger under a bridge (20 August 1989)

51 – St Hilda Colliery, South Shields, coal pit explosion, (28 June 1839) http://www.dmm.org.uk/names/n1839-01.htm

50 – Ariana Afghan Airlines aircrash into a house, Boeing 727 YA-FAR, Gatwick (5 January 1969)

50 – Summerland fire disaster, Douglas, Isle of Man, a fire in a leisure centre (2 August 1973)

49? – all the crew and passengers of the SS Nile died when she hit The Stones reef off Godrevy Head, Cornwall. The loss of life led to the building of the lighthouse. (30 November 1854)

49 – Booth's clothing factory fire, Huddersfield (31 October 1941)

49 – HMS Punjabi collision with the battleship HMS King George V, sinking 469 miles North West of Shetland (1 May 1942)

49 – Hither Green rail crash, London, a broken rail caused derailment of an express train (5 November 1967)

48 – Stardust fire. 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. (14 February 1981)

48 – A British Eagle International Airlines Vickers Viscount en route from London to Innsbruck, Austria, breaks up in mid-air over Bavaria (9 August 1968)

47 – The Emma, capsized after launching, Mersey and Irwell Navigation, Manchester (28 February 1828)

47 – Gethin Mine, Merthyr Tydfil, Colliery mining disaster, South Wales (19 February 1862)

47 – R101 airship crash, Beauvais, France (5 October 1930)

47 – SS Samtampa wrecked off Sker Point in the Bristol Channel (death toll includes 8 crew of Mumbles lifeboat) ( 23 April 1947)

47 – Auchengeich coal mining disaster, Auchinloch, Lanarkshire, Scotland (18 September 1959)

47 – Kegworth Air Disaster, British Midland Flight 92, Leicestershire, the pilot shut down the wrong engine and just missed the M1 Motorway (8 January 1989)

46 – Wreck of Confederate States of America blockade runner PS Lelia (39 fatalities) and lifeboat crew (7 fatalities) in Liverpool Bay (14 January 1865)

45 – Bentley Coal mine disaster, Bentley, South Yorkshire (20 November 1931)

45 – Six Bells Colliery Disaster, Aberbeeg, Monmouthshire (28 June 1960)

45 – Aquila Airways Short Solent flying boat crash, Isle of Wight (15 November 1957)

45 – Sumburgh disaster, a Brent oilfield CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed at sea (6 November 1986)

45 – PS Nimrod, Irish paddle steamer that sank of St David's Head. (28 February 1860)

44 – R38 (ZR-2) airship crash, River Humber, near Hull (24 August 1921)

44 – MV Derbyshire, Bibby Line bulk carrier sank during Typhoon Orchid, south of Japan (9 September 1980) (by tonnage the largest UK-flagged ship loss)

43 – Bourne End rail crash, near Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, driver had worked for 26 consecutive days (30 September 1945)

43 – Moorgate tube crash, London Underground, in the morning rush hour (28 February 1975)

41 – Little Baldon Hastings accident at Little Baldon, Oxfordshire, aircraft crash during parachute training flight from RAF Abingdon, caused by metal fatigue (6 July 1965)

40 – Regent's Park ice-skating disaster. Ice covering the boating lake collapsed and 200 people plunged into the lake (15 January 1867)

31 – King's Cross Fire, fire in London Underground station ticket hall (18 November 1987)

31 – Ladbroke Grove rail crash, two trains collided head on just outside Paddington Railway Station, London, England (5 October 1999)

References

List of disasters in Great Britain and Ireland by death toll Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA

Contents

100–199 fatalities

Fewer than 100 fatalities

References