You say that at the time of the crush you were not aware of the formation of the door. The other children who had been in this row had been identified and removed. One boy said, For Gods sake get me out : Im fast., When did you bolt that door ? One woman, I remember, came out carrying a child which she had gone in to seek while behind her came a sympathetic man bearing another. In this case, The Fays were entertainers from Tynemouth Aquarium. This suggests that there may well be more victims than are listed above. . By. And let them have air., Ah! Many were unaccompanied; for working class families, entertainments like this were an affordable way of keeping the kids happy for a couple of hours, and most parents saw no need to sit through it themselves. Not whether it was a swing door and could be opened on either side ? My great, great aunt Dorothy Buglass, aged 3, died in this disaster. The manager rushed his way upstairs to another route and came down stairways crammed with children. I am sure you are familiar with his legend which states that he was born in a manger surrounded by shepherds. Screams and shrieks echoed down the staircases but still the children continued to descend. The Sunderland Site Victoria Hall The June 1883 disaster & the halls earlier and later history. If this years Black Friday is like any other, too many people will crowd into stores and trample over each other to get a deal on some Christmas presents. That Fay and Coates had the legal duty or responsibility of taking proper precautions for the preservation of the lives of the children whilst within and on leaving the Victoria Hall; That it was a neglect of duty in not providing enough staff to keep order that led to the loss of life; that the staff provided wouldnt have been sufficient even if the fatal door hadnt been there; That the caretaker had neglected his duty by not informing Fay and his assistants of the door, and by failing to bolt it safely in the outward position when he passed it during the performance; That the directors were not justified in erecting the door without instructing the caretaker to point it out to those booking the hall; That parents and relatives of the children were not justified in letting their charges go alone, without checking that there were adults to take charge; That the various school masters through whom Fay had advertised the tickets were not justified in allowing this without arranging for supervision and control of the children at the performance. Source: wearsideonline / Public Domain, devastatingdisasters.com. The youngest victims of the Victoria Hall Stampede, Dorothy B. Buglass and Margaret Thompson, were only 3 years old, while the oldest, Annie Redmond, was 14. The push bar was invented some years after the tragedy, and Briggs applied for a patent for his invention on the 7th of November 1891. (Note, they were not relations of mine it seems that Fay was merely a stage name for them.). Whats your favorite ancient site or museum virtual tour? . It was, Give me a hand ! And give me a hand ! Oh ! They were going behind it, and I could not get them away. He then threw some presents towards the street and told the children to leave via the Toward Road door. And that is how the death of 183 children led to the kind of safety regulations that we follow today. Good gawd, I cannot imagine the pain of the parents of these poor children. They started pulling the children one by one through the door. [Online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/4gVnbOcJTOG0qJLYxnA9rw, sunderland.yolasite.com. A sudden presentiment that a mortal struggle was going on at a certain situation leading from the gallery, caused me to run up the flight of stairs, at the top of which is a landing. Then before he knew it, down came the human mass on the top of him. The Victoria Hall Stampede was a tragedy that occurred in Sunderland, in the northeast of England, in 1883. [Online] Available at: https://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/smashed-case-which-houses-tribute-to-183-dead-children-in-sunderland-to-be-repaired-360370, Sunderland Echo. We have already seen that 31 of these children were buried at Mere Knolls Cemetery and 1 at the graveyard of Southwick parish church. Victims of the Victoria Hall Calamity . One of the positive developments following the Victoria Hall Stampede was the invention of the push bar (known also as the crash bar or panic bar) emergency door. Sunderland Taproom The Victoria Hall Disaster. [2][9], Annual memorial services were set up in 2010 by the Sunderland Old Township Heritage Society. One woman, I remember, came out carrying a child which she had gone in to seek while behind her came a sympathetic man bearing another. Then came another rush. However, in 1906, it was reopened with a new extension a second, smaller hall, named Alexandra Hall after the new Queen, was built on the north end. I could not move them any way. The identity of the person responsible for bolting the door remains a mystery. I admit I was outside the door a long time, and I remember putting my hand down a lot of times to take the children away and pull them through. As it was a plain brick wall, it was not a particularly beautiful thing to look at and was even regarded as an eyesore. Initially, the memorial stood under a canopy in Mowbray Park, opposite the scene of the disaster. CREATIVE. Furthermore, around 100 children suffered seriously injuries. When I came down there would be about 40 children, and the door was loose. Truly a tragedy without equal. It's still weird to me that The Victoria Hall Disaster isn't really taught as part of local history in Sunderland, we'd learn about the potteries, glassworks, shipbuilding etc, but this massive disaster wasn't even mentioned. At the time when there was not such a rush I could have got it out easily if I had known. Supporting the Great Disasters podcast on Patreon can give you access to exclusive content, and helps the show keep going. It was built in 1872, on the corner of Toward Road and Laura Street, and funded by Edward Backhouse, a Quaker minister and prominent local philanthropist. He burst into loud sobs My God! The childrens evidence was, however, contradictory; some said they saw a fair man at the door, others a dark curly haired man, some saw two men, some said it was bolted in the ajar position before the end of the performance, others that it was pulled to as they came down. So, a few minuets before the finish of the show, he decided to go down the stairs and leave. Any amount of witnesses say they saw you ?, He replied, I did not bolt it. Dean Arnold, of the Magic Circle, who has researched their history, suggests that this could just be because it was easier and cheaper for them to get lodgings as a couple. The yells of delight soon turned to screams of terror as more and more children found themselves trapped. To begin with, the Victoria Hall Disaster is a terribly tragedy in which 183 children lost their lives. I have not the least idea. Suppose we take it that you did not put the bolt in, how do you think it got in ? The Victoria Hall disaster occurred on 16 June 1883 at the Victoria Hall in Sunderland, England, when the distribution of free toys caused a [ [crowd crush] resulting in 183 children (aged between 3 and 14 years old) to be crushed to death due to compressive asphyxia . I had no difficulty in getting out of the door., During the first inquest, the foreman of the jury is reported to have contested the childrens evidence, saying, The children have undergone a previous examination, and the jury are of opinion that they have all got off what they want to say. He related that he had at first been told that one boy was in a fit, or dying. Soon after WW2 the marble memorial to the dead children was moved to Bishopwearmouth Cemetery. How do you explain these children telling us you were outside the door and that you put the bolt in ? [citation needed], At the end of the show, an announcement was made that children with certain numbered tickets would be presented with a prize upon exit. Therefore, many of them began to make their way down to the ground floor of the concert hall. A second inquest followed, because some of the victims fell under a different jurisdiction; they returned a similar verdict on the 10th of July. Some people say that the best sound in the world is that of childrens laughter.By the same token, only the most cold-hearted could ever be unmoved by the sound of children screaming and crying for their lives. Indeed, they were desperate not to miss out on the promised freebies. Oddly I hadn't noticed the year this happen till reading your article which was 1883. Indeed, news of the tragedy spread around the country and was reported by the national newspapers. The Sunderland Project : Remembrances of the Victoria Hall Disaster 1883 . We seek to retell the story of our beginnings. Nevertheless, considering that its benefactor was a Quaker minister, one can reasonably speculate that these events adhered to the strict temperance and religious codes of the Quakers. Wide-eyed and expectant, also cheering and hissing at the right times, the children quickly settled into the show. Mere Knolls Cemetry, Monkwearmouth [MK], identified as Numbers 1 - 32 Sunderland and Bishopwearmouth [SD, BW], identified as Numbers 33 -182. At three oclock in the afternoon, Victoria Hall was packed with some 2,000 children who were eager to watch the performance provided by the Fays. Indeed, their outrage and the resulting inquiry led to new safety legislation. Suddenly I felt that I was treading upon someone lying on the stairs and I cried in horror to those behind Keep back, keep back! My grandmother missed this grave disaster by not being able to attend that day. Of course, this was the handing out of presents which the organisers promised. Fay, on the stage, was utterly unaware of the disaster. 54 54 12.4 N, 1 22 45.4 W View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap 54.903444; -1.379278 Summary[edit] DescriptionVictoria Hall Memorial.png The memorial to the Victims of the Victoria Hall Disaster, Sunderland, UK, 1883 Date 2007-07-17 Taken in 2007 Source Own work Author Barliner Licensing[edit] Statutory Address: Mowbray Park, Chester Road, Sunderland, SR2 8HR. In fact, in 1883 thousands of children ran over one another for toys, killing 183 kids. Bishopwearmouth Cemetery is a cemetery in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England. That the manager of the entertainment be censured for not providing sufficient caretakers and assistants to preserve order in the hall on that afternoon, and we believe a partnership existed between Mr Coates and Mr Fay. In essence, this was the result of crushing or the trampling that occurred. At the same time, entertainers began distributing gifts from the stage to the children in the stalls. Two staircases gave access to the upper floors a main staircase to the east, and one to the west which was referred to as a relief staircase and generally not used. After the initial mourning period, the mood of the nation changed to one of anger. They had been given tickets to see a show by travelling entertainers, The Fays, from Tynemouth Aquarium. Some adults ran up another staircase into the gallery to try and get the children still on the stairs to come back up. [Online] Available at: https://vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=75132, www.durhampast.net. The unfortunate incident happened in a concert hall at the end of a childrens entertainment show. There was one other life affected by the tragedy; Robert Alexander Briggs was fifteen at the time of the Victoria Hall Disaster. She had to wait until the others from upstairs had come down. A Section Of The Great Wall Of China Collapses, Forgotten Disaster: The Great London Beer Flood That Killed Eight People, Here is What it Would Have Been Like to be Caught in the Great Fire of London. Smashed case which houses tribute to 183 dead children in Sunderland to be repaired . Advertising poster for the . Enlarge this image. It was half-way open. Do take me out first ! or Oh ! On reaching the outside she fainted but woke with the help of a bucket of cold water. If I had not held it back by the box it would soon have been shut altogether. It was very difficult to recover many of the lifeless children. Of course, news of the disaster spread far and wide. Although his primary interest is in the ancient civilizations of the Near East, he is also interested in other geographical regions, as well as other time periods. Read More. . 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. We recommend that school children ought not to be encouraged to attend entertainments, treats, or excursions, except under proper supervision or control. Then by kind aid and medical skill, he come through it all. So she squeezed into the corner as bodies piled up around her. In brief, she quotes, Suffer little children to come unto me, for of such is the Kingdom of God. Some families lost all of their children, while the entire Bible class of a local Sunday School lost all of its 30 students during the tragedy. [Online] Available at: http://sunderland.yolasite.com/vichallstory.php, vads. He told the inquest later: The first mention I had of the accident was Hesseltine. Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open. Nevertheless, this account provides a vivid description of what happened that day, from the eyes of a child attending the performance. Memorial service takes place for victims of Sunderland's Victoria Hall disaster . Obviously, hundreds of other frenzied kids began to follow the leaders down the flights of stairs. CREATIVE. I got my hands round the door, and my sister was at my back. In front comparative silence reigned but the writhing of the expiring little ones were fearful to behold. One survivor of the Victoria Hall Stampede was William Codling Jr., from whom we have an first-hand account of the incident.
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