List of disasters of the United Kingdom and preceding states

List of disasters of the United Kingdom and preceding states is a list of major disasters (excluding acts of war but including acts of terrorism) which relate to the United Kingdom since 1707, the states that preceded it (including territory that later became the Republic of Ireland), or involved UK citizens, in a definable incident or accident, e.g. a shipwreck, where the loss of life was 40 or more. The list is ranked by death toll.

1,000 or more fatalities

• 900,000 – Black Death pandemic, 1347–1350 [estimate]
• 750,000 to 1,000,000 – Great Irish Famine (1845–1849) [estimate]
• 225,000 – Spanish flu pandemic, September – November 1918 [estimate]
• 100,000 - Harrying of the North, Winter 1069-70; the slaughter and following famine of the native English in the north of England by the Normans under William the Conqueror.
• 100,000 – Great Irish Famine (1740–1741) [estimate]
• 65,000 – The Year Without a Summer, 1816 - Famine and typhoid fever in Ireland^[1] and food riots in England and France
• 60,000 – Great Plague of London, 1665 epidemic [estimate]
• 20,000 – Laki volcano fissure eruption, Iceland, sulphur haze and volcanic winter deaths, June 1783 to February 1784 [England mortality estimate]
• 12,000 – Great Smog of 1952, London [estimate]
• 8,000 – Great Storm of 1703, English Channel, (26 November 1703) [estimate]
• 5,000+ – Great Famine of 1315–1317 [conjectured British Isles deaths] medieval famine
• 4,000+ – Blockade of Porto Bello (1726-1727), caused by yellow fever
• 3,500+ – 1782 Atlantic hurricane seasons - Fleet of Admiral Graves scattered off Newfoundland. 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 from a convoy of 94 ships. (16–17 September 1782)
• 3,000 – Early fires of London, July 1212 [Source for fatalities is Guinness Book of Records, but historical evidence unclear]
• 2,139 – European heat wave of 2003, (4–13 August 2003) [estimate: the difference between the number of deaths in that period and the average number in other years]
• 2,000 – Bristol Channel floods, (storm surge/tsunami), (30 January 1607) (New style) [estimate]
• 2,000 – Sweating sickness (sudor anglicus), 1485 and later years [estimate]
• 2,000 – Darien scheme, an unsuccessful attempt to establish a Scottish colony in present-day Panama in the 1690s. [estimate]
• 1,900+ – Christmas Eve storm of 1811, North Sea – wrecks of HMS St George (739 fatalities, 11 or 12 survived), HMS Defence (5 survived out of c.600) and Thorsminde, Jutland; HMS Hero (all 600 lost), and Texel. (24 December 1811)
• 1,550+ – Scilly naval disaster of 1707 (HMS Association, HMS Eagle, HMS Romney and HMS Firebrand) of Admiral Cloudesley Shovell's squadron, Isles of Scilly (22 October 1707)
• 1,490 – RMS Titanic sinking, 15 April 1912 (1,517 fatalities per U.S. investigation; 1,490 per British investigation)
• 1,200 – HMS Sussex treasure fleet shipwrecks (13 ships), off Gibraltar, (1 March 1694) (New style)
• 1,012 – RMS Empress of Ireland sinking after collision 29 May 1914. Canadian owned but registered in London, and the ship's crew were almost entirely from Merseyside (840 passengers died).
• 1,000 – 1860–1869 Atlantic hurricane seasons, RMS Rhone, RMS Wye and up to 50 other vessels driven ashore and wrecked on 29 October 1867 at St. Thomas, Barbados.^[2]
• 1,000 – Great Hurricane of 1780, Caribbean Sea, Bermuda and North America - Royal Navy ships lost included HMS Cornwall, edit] 500-999 fatalities
  • 900+ – a storm wrecks HMS Coronation and HMS Harwich, Plymouth Sound (3 September 1691)
  • ~900 – HMS Victory wrecked on the Casquets in the Channel Islands (3 October 1744)
  • 890+ – The Walker Expedition to Quebec, seven transport ships and one storeship wrecked, in thick fog, on Saint Lawrence River (22 August 1711)
  • 843 – HMS Vanguard magazine explosion, Scapa Flow (9 July 1917)
  • 800 – HMS Royal George capsize, Spithead (29 August 1782)
  • 748+ – Royal Charter Storm – wreck of Royal Charter (c.459 fatalities), Lligwy Bay, Anglesey and others (26 October 1859)
  • 738 – HMS Bulwark, magazine explosion, Sheerness (26 November 1914)
  • 699 – HMS Ramillies (formerly HMS Royal Katherine) ran aground off Bolt Head, Devon (15 February 1760)
  • 690 – HMS Queen Charlotte fire, off Livorno (17 March 1800)
  • 646 – SS Mendi (Elder Dempster Line), troopship rammed by SS Darro, off Isle of Wight (21 February 1917)
  • ~640 – Princess Alice and Bywell Castle collision, River Thames, Woolwich, (3 September 1878) [Estimate]
  • 635 – SS Norge shipwreck, Rockall (28 June 1904)
  • 612 – Tramore Bay storm, shipwrecks of Seahorse (c350 fatalities), Lord Melville (12) and Boadicea (c250), County Cork (30 January 1816)^[3]
  • 564 – SS Utopia disaster, collision with HMS Anson, off Gibraltar (17 March 1891) (mostly Italian passengers)^[4]
  • 546 – RMS Atlantic sinking, Nova Scotia (1 April 1873)
  • 531 – North Sea flood of 1953 and storm, (31 January – 1 February 1953) (307 land fatalities, 224 sea fatalities including ferry MV Princess Victoria [UK victims only]
  • 520 – HMS Namur wrecked in a storm near Fort St David (14 April 1749)
  • 500+ – 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak, London, cholera epidemic, August - September 1854
  • 500 – HMS Minotaur wrecked on Haak Bank off Texel (22 December 1810) (later painted by JMW Turner)
  • 500 – "Black Monday" massacre of English settlers by Irish clans, near Ranelagh, Dublin on Easter Monday 1209

  300–499 fatalities

  • 491 – HMS York struck the Bell Rock in January 1804 and sank with the loss of her entire crew.
  • 481 – HMS Captain shipwreck, off Cape Finisterre, Spain, (6 September 1870)
  • 480 – SS City of Glasgow of the Inman Line disappeared after leaving Liverpool for Philadelphia some time after (1 March 1854)
  • 473 – Cospatrick a Blackwall Frigate of the Shaw Savill Line an emigrant ship fire, South Atlantic (out of Gravesend), (18 November 1874)
  • 470 – Courageux renamed HMS Courageux shipwreck, swept from Gibraltar in a storm, wrecked at Apes' Hill, Barbary Coast (now Monte Hacho, Ceuta, Africa), (18 December 1796)^[5]
  • 454 – Vryheid (ex-Melville Castle) shipwreck in a gale on the Kent coast between Hythe and Dymchurch out of Rotterdam for Batavia (23 November 1802) (only 18 of 472 survived).
  • 450 – HMS Birkenhead shipwreck, near Cape Town, (25 February 1852)
  • 439 – Universal Colliery, Senghenydd, Caerphilly, Glamorgan, Gas explosion (14 October 1913), Britain's worst mining accident
  • 431 – HMS Otranto shipwreck, Islay, taking 351 US troops and 80 crew (6 October 1918)
  • 421 – HMS Natal, magazine explosion, Cromarty, Scotland, (30 December 1915) (421 is the highest estimate, precise figure is disputed).
  • 421 – Dumfries Cholera Epidemic, Dumfries, Scotland (15 September to 27 November 1832)
  • 406 – Cataraqui, emigrant ship out of Liverpool, wrecked off King Island, Tasmania, (4 August 1845)
  • 400+ – Rochdale and Prince of Wales troops leaving Dublin for Napoleonic Wars, (19 November 1807)
  • 400+ – HMS Invincible sinks off Norfolk, (16 March 1801) missing the Battle of Copenhagen (1801)
  • 400 – HMS Winchester shipwreck, on a reef off Key Largo, Florida, (1 September 1695)
  • 400 – Pomona clipper shipwreck, Blackwater Band, Wexford, Ireland (30 April 1859)
  • 389 – SS Arctic collided with Cape Race, out of Liverpool, (20 September 1854) (sister ship of SS Pacific)
  • 388 – The Oaks explosion colliery disaster, Barnsley, Yorkshire (12 December 1866)
  • 384 – Annie Jane, emigrant ship out of Liverpool, wrecked Vatersay, (28 September 1853)
  • 380 – Mary Rose Sank in Portsmouth, (18 July 1545)
  • 379 – HMS Dasher (D37), accidental fuel explosion, Firth of Clyde, (27 March 1943)
  • 374 – Driver, clipper ship, disappeared Atlantic Ocean out of Liverpool, February 1856
  • 372 – Arniston, wrecked at Waenhuiskrans, South Africa, (30 May 1815)
  • 360+ –Chartered East Indiaman Elizabeth wrecked off Dunkirk, (18 December 1810).
  • 358 – HMS Victoria rammed by HMS Camperdown, Mediterranean Sea, (22 June 1893)
  • 352 – HMS Princess Irene minelayer explosion, River Medway, Sheerness, (27 May 1915)
  • 347 – HMS Athenienne, wrecked off Tunisia, (20 October 1806), 100 survivors crammed into the ships launch (boat)
  • 344 – Pretoria Pit Disaster, Westhoughton, Lancashire, (21 December 1910)
  • 340 – troopship Aeneas wrecked on the Îles aux Mortes on the Canadian coastline whilst carrying troops to Quebec, (23 October 1805).
  • 338 – HMS Curaçao a British light cruiser run down and split in two by RMS Queen Mary, (2 October 1942)
  • 335 – SS Schiller shipwreck of a German ocean liner, Isles of Scilly, (7 May 1875)
  • 317 – HMS Eurydice shipwreck, Isle of Wight, (22 March 1878) (commemorated by Gerard Manley Hopkins in "The Loss of the Eurydice") (317 named fatalities^[6])
  • 300 – Wreck of the White Ship, off Barfleur, Normandy (25 November 1120) taking the only legitimate son of King Henry I of England and other nobles [estimate]
  • 300 – Sibylle, emigrant ship wrecked St. Paul Island, Nova Scotia, out of Cromarty, (11 September 1834)
  • 300+ – HMS Amphion powder magazine explosion, Plymouth, (22 September 1796)
  • 300 – HMS London, accidental explosion, Thames Estuary, 1665

  200-299 fatalities

  • 299 – Kapunda, Emigrant ship out of London, collided with barque Ada Melmore off Brazil, (20 January 1887)
  • 297 – RMS Tayleur shipwreck due to iron hull affecting the compass on Lambay Island, Dublin Bay, (21 January 1854) on her maiden voyage. ("the first Titanic")
  • 293 – Northfleet shipwreck, rammed by a Spanish steamboat at night while anchored off Dungeness, (22 January 1873) sinking within 30 minutes
  • 290 – HMS Sceptre, Royal Navy Third-rate wrecked during a storm in Table Bay, near Cape of Good Hope, (5 December 1799)
  • 290 – Albion Colliery, Cilfynydd, Glamorgan, South Wales, Firedamp explosion (23 June 1894)^[7][8]
  • 285 – Gordon Riots, London, (2–13 June 1780) British Protestant rioters shot by British troops
  • 281 – HMS Atalanta, Royal Navy frigate disappeared at sea out of Bermuda sailing home for Falmouth, Cornwall, after (31 January 1880) (sister ship of HMS Eurydice)
  • 276 – VOC Hollandia shipwreck, Annet, (13 June 1743)
  • 270 – Great Sheffield Flood, collapse of Dale Dike Reservoir, Sheffield during first filling, 1864
  • 270 – Pan Am Flight 103, Lockerbie, 1988 terrorist bomb in the forward hold at 31,000 ft [total of all victims]
  • 268 – Abercarn Coal mining disaster, Abercarn, Monmouthshire (11 September 1878)
  • 266 – Gresford Disaster, Colliery mining accident, Wrexham, North Wales (22 September 1934)
  • 260 – Earl of Abergavenny shipwreck, off Portland Bill, (5 February 1805) captained by William Wordsworth's brother
  • 253 – HMS Saldanha Royal Navy frigate shipwrecked with all hands in a gale, Lough Swilly, Donegal, Ireland, (4 December 1811)
  • 250 – RMS Royal Adelaide, out of Cork, shipwrecked on a sandbank with all hands off Margate, 1849.
  • 250+ – Night of the Big Wind, natural disaster, Ireland, (6–7 January 1839) [estimate]
  • 247 - Doddington carrying gold bullion shipwrecked in Algoa Bay, South Africa, 1755. 23 crew castaway survived on birds eggs before making their way to India on a home-made sloop.
  • 246 - HMS Avenger wrecked off Galite Islands, Tunisia, (20 December 1847)
  • 240 – HMS Lutine shipwreck carrying gold bullion, Vlieland, (9 October 1799)
  • 238 – HMS Tribune, Royal Navy Fifth-rate wrecked without a Maritime pilot before a storm close to shore, Halifax, Nova Scotia, (16 November 1797)
  • 237 – SS Anglo Saxon shipwreck in dense fog hit rocks and broke up, Cape Race, Newfoundland (out of Liverpool and Derry), (27 April 1863)
  • 226 – Quintinshill rail crash triple collision due to a negligent signalman, Dumfries and Galloway, (22 May 1915)
  • 224 – Neva, convict ship out of Cork, wrecked on reefs off King Island, Tasmania, (13 May 1835), some convicts raided the rum cargo making themselves incapable of swimming ashore
  • 220 – SS London, sank in a gale, Bay of Biscay, (11 January 1866)^[9]
  • 220 – Great Blizzard of 1891, (9–13 March 1891)^[10]
  • 215 – St. Paul Island (Nova Scotia), out of Portsmouth, (18 October 1814) [ref: Grocott]
  • 210 – British steamship Rinaldo collision with French steamship Byzantin in the Dardanelles, (18 December 1878)^[11]
  • 208 – Harpooner military transport ship, shipwrecked Newfoundland, November 1818
  • 207 – Blantyre mining disaster, Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, gas explosion, (22 October 1877)
  • 205 – HMS Iolaire an Admiralty yacht bringing returning World War I soldiers back to Scotland sinking on New Year's Day, Stornoway, Outer Hebrides, (1 January 1919)
  • 205 – SS Hungarian, Allan Line Royal Mail Steamers out of Liverpool and Queenstown, wrecked Cape Sable Island (Nova Scotia), (20 February 1860)^[12]
  • 204 – Hartley Colliery Disaster, steam engine metal fatigue, Northumberland, England (16 January 1862)

  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
  • 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 [1])
  • 189 – HMS Orpheus, RN corvette, sank due to outdated nautical charts and shortcuts off Auckland, 7 February 1863
  • 189 – Eyemouth fishing fleet storm disaster, Scotland, (14 October 1881) [2]
  • 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)
  • 177 – 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)
  • 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 – 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, Glamorgan 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, 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)
  • 145 – 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 – 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, Cumbria (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 – 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 Franklins 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 – 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 – 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 – 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 – 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 - Hartley Colliery Disaster, coal mining disaster caused by facture of a steam engine beam, New Hartley, Northumberland (16 January 1862)
  • 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 July 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)
  • 110 – Parc Slip Colliery gas explosion due to a damaged Davy lamp, Tondu, Glamorgan (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 – 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, Cumbria (15 August 1947)^[13]
  • 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)^[14]
  • 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 – 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 Blackdamp explosion, County Durham, (28 September 1844)
  • 94 – Carlingford Lough disaster, SS Connemara and a coalship Carlingford Lough, County Down, (3 November 1916)
  • 93 – St Scholastica riot, Oxford, 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, Glamorgan Colliery gas explosion, (10 March 1890)
  • 86 – 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, Glamorgan, Colliery gas explosion, (24 May 1901), precursor to the 1913 disaster
  • 81 – Mardy Colliery, Rhondda Valley, mining disaster, South Wales, (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, Glamorgan, (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)
  • 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)
  • 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 [3]
  • 72 – Stockport Air Disaster, British Midland Airways Argonaut G-ALHG, (4 June 1967) an unrecognized 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) [4]
  • 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] [5]
  • 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 – Peckfield Colliery explosion, Micklefield, Yorkshire (30 April 1896)
  • 64 – Middle Duffryn Mine, Aberdare, Glamorgan, South Wales Colliery explosion (10 May 1852)
  • 64 – Masbrough boat disaster, Rotherham, (5 July 1841) [6]
  • 64 – HMS Truculent submarine collision on the surface, Thames Estuary, (12 January 1950) survivors died of hypothermia on mid-winter mudbanks
  • 63 – Victoria coal pit, Nitshill, near Glasgow, explosion (15 March 1851)^[15]
  • 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)
  • 62 – Dinas Rhondda, Rhondda Valley, Glamorgan, 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 B-24 Liberator heavy bomber crashed into a village school in a storm, Freckleton, Lancashire, (23 August 1944) (3 aircrew, 58 ground fatalities)
  • 60 – Great Western Mine, Pontypridd, Glamorgan Colliery explosion, (11 April 1893)
  • 60+ – Harwich ferry disaster, a 'grossly overladen' coastal vessel capsized whilst transporting soldiers and their families, (18 April 1807)
  • 60 – Blackwall Frigate" sank off Beachy Head in 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 Coal mine explosion, Sneyd Colliery, 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, Ferndale, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Rhondda Valley, Glamorgan, Colliery explosion, 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 [7]
  • 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, Cwm, Blaenau Gwent 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 – Summerland fire disaster, Douglas, Isle of Man, a fire in a leisure centre (2 August 1973)
  • 51 – Marchioness disaster, River Thames, a pleasure boat rammed by a dredger under a bridge (20 August 1989)
  • 50 – Ariana Afghan Airlines aircrash into a house, Boeing 727 YA-FAR, Gatwick (5 January 1969)
  • 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)
  • 49 – Booth's clothing factory fire, Huddersfield (31 October 1941)
  • 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)
  • 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)^[16]

  See also

  • European windstorm
  • List of wars and disasters by death toll (worldwide)
  • List of accidents and disasters by death toll (worldwide)
  • List of natural disasters in the United Kingdom
  • List of British rail accidents (Chronologically sorted)
  • List of United Kingdom rail accidents by death toll
  • List of rail accidents (worldwide)
  • List of train accidents by death toll
  • List of historic fires
  • List of riots
  • List of terrorist incidents
  • List of accidents and incidents on commercial airliners
  • List of shipwrecks
  • List of disasters in Australia by death toll
  • List of Canadian disasters by death toll
  • List of New Zealand disasters by death toll
  • United Kingdom casualties of war

  References

  1. ^ Bill Bryson; A Short History...;p 372; ISBN 0385 408188
  2. ^ Marshall, Logan, Sinking of the Titanic and Great Disasters of the Sea 1912.
  3. ^ Grocott, Terence (1999). Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary & Napoleonic Eras. Journal of Navigation: Cambridge University Press 52 p.149-162. 
  4. ^ 562 passengers and crewmembers of Utopia and two rescuers from HMS Immortalité. The Dead of the Utopia. The New York Times, March 20, 1891
  5. ^ Grocott, p41.
  6. ^ Memorials & Monuments in St Ann's Church - HMS Eurydice -
  7. ^ "Albion Colliery". BBC Wales. 2008. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/coalhouse/sites/mines/pages/albion_colliery.shtml. Retrieved 2010-10-15. 
  8. ^ "Albion Colliery Cilfynydd". Welsh Coal Mines. http://www.welshcoalmines.co.uk/GlamEast/Albion.htm. Retrieved 2010-10-15. 
  9. ^ Rootsweb: "S.S. London - founded in the English Channel"
  10. ^ Woodward, Antony and Penn, Robert (2007). The Wrong Kind of Snow. ISBN 9780340937877
  11. ^ Marshall, Logan, Sinking of the Titanic and Great Disasters of the Sea 1912.
  12. ^ On the Rocks: Shipwrecks of Nova Scotia - Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, Halifax, Nova Scotia
  13. ^ - Photograph of William Pit
  14. ^ "Naval Colliery disasters". Welsh Coal Mines. http://www.welshcoalmines.co.uk/deathrolls/Naval.htm. Retrieved 2010-10-14. 
  15. ^ Nitshill 15th March 1851 scottishmining.co.uk, accessed 5 April 2009
  16. ^ "The Catastrophe in the Regent's Park", The Times, 22 January 1867, p.12

  External links

  • Aviation Safety Network database
  • 20th century coal mining disasters
  • Historical weather events
  • Ships List wrecks site
  • Durham Mining Museum site