List_of_disasters_of_the_United_Kingdom_and_preceding_states
The following list of disasters in Great Britain and Ireland is a list of major disasters (excluding acts of war[lower-alpha 1]) which relate to the United Kingdom, Ireland or the Isle of Man, or to the states that preceded them, or that involved their citizens, in a definable incident or accident such as a shipwreck, where the loss of life was forty or more.
More information Deaths inItalics indicate an estimated figure, Event ...
| Deaths in Italics indicate an estimated figure | Event | Year | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3,500,000 | Black Death pandemic | 1347–1350 | See discussion of death toll estimates at the death toll section | |
| 1,000,000[1] to 1,500,000 | Great Irish Famine | 1845–1849 | See discussion of death toll estimates at the death toll section | |
| 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 | 1918 influenza 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] | |
| 232,112[8] (estimate for UK only) | COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom and COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland | 2020–present | The COVID-19 pandemic caused a worldwide death toll of 6.9 million people. | |
| 200,000+[9] | 1557 influenza pandemic | 1557–1561 | From 1557 to 1559 the population contracted by 2%. | |
| 150,000+ | Seven ill years | 1695–99 | The last major famine to occur in Scotland. Marked by large-scale migration, especially to Ireland | |
| 125,000[10] | 1889–1890 flu pandemic | 1889–1893 | Influenza pandemic originating from St Petersburg, Russia. | |
| 100,000+ | Sweating sickness (sudor anglicus) | 1485 ff. | Mysterious disease which killed tens of thousands of people in each of its five outbreaks before disappearing.[11] | |
| 80,000[12][13] | Hong Kong flu pandemic | 1968–1970 | Influenza pandemic. Figure for UK deaths only. | |
| 78,319+ | Third cholera pandemic | 1848–1854 | First cases in Edinburgh in October 1848. Major outbreaks across Britain, including the famous 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak, where John Snow was able to identify contaminated water as being the source of the disease.[14] Estimate is for deaths in Great Britain only. | |
| 75,000+[15] | Great Plague of London | 1665–1666 | The last major epidemic of the bubonic plague to occur in England. | |
| 65,000 | Year Without a Summer | 1816 | Famine and typhoid fever in Ireland[16] and food riots in England and France, caused by the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora affecting the weather. | |
| 60,000[17] | 1847–48 influenza pandemic | 1847–1848 | Worldwide influenza outbreak. | |
| 52,627[18][lower-alpha 2] | 1870–1875 Europe smallpox epidemic | 1870–1875 | Mortality figure for England and Scotland only. The epidemic started during the Franco-Prussian War, and spread throughout Europe. | |
| 41,644+[19] | 1837–1840 smallpox epidemic | 1837–1840 | Especially severe smallpox epidemic. | |
| 40,000 | 1603 London plague epidemic | 1603 | Bubonic plague epidemic in London.[20][21][22] | |
| 40,000[23] | 1775–1776 England Influenza outbreak | 1775–1776 | Unusually deadly influenza epidemic. | |
| 35,417 | 1625 London plague epidemic | 1625 | Bubonic plague epidemic in London.[24] | |
| 33,000[12] | Asian flu pandemic | 1957–1958 | Influenza pandemic which originated in Guizhou, China. | |
| 32,854 | Second cholera pandemic | 1831–1833 | The disease arrived in Britain from Asia in October 1831. Major outbreaks in various cities. Cases tailed off after 1833.[14] | |
| 23,000[25][lower-alpha 3] | "Laki haze" | 1783–1784 (Jun–Feb) | Eruption of a volcano in Iceland sent a huge toxic gas cloud across Britain, killing thousands.[25] | |
| 20,100+ | 1563 London plague | 1563–1564 | Bubonic plague epidemic in London.[26] | |
| 20,000 | 1235 famine | 1235 | London badly affected; many resort to eating tree bark for survival.[27] | |
| 19,900+ | 1592–93 London plague | 1592–1593 | Bubonic plague epidemic in London.[28] | |
| 17,000+[29] | 1257 Samalas eruption | 1258 | Crop failures and famines caused by the 1257 Samalas eruption in Indonesia affecting the weather; around 15,000 die in London. | |
| 15,785 to 16,447 | HIV/AIDS pandemic | 1979–present | Approximately 12,105 had died in the UK by 1996.[30] Between 1997 and 2012, 2,450 died of AIDS-related illness in England and Wales.[31] Between 2013 and 2018, approximately 832–1,494 died because of HIV/AIDS in the UK.[32][33][34][35][36][37][lower-alpha 4] About 398 died in Ireland by 2005.[38] | |
| 15,548+ | Fourth cholera pandemic | 1865–1873 | Major outbreaks in 1865 and 1866. Smaller outbreaks in Scotland in 1873.[14] | |
| 12,000 | Storegga Slide | 6200 BC | Massive submarine landslides off the coast of Norway cause a huge tsunami to hit the eastern coast of Britain, killing 12,000 prehistoric Britons. This was one quarter of the entire population at the time.[39] | |
| 8,000 | Great Storm of 1703 | 1703 (26 November) | Atlantic hurricane across southern England and the English Channel, deaths chiefly at sea, including 1083 in naval ships wrecked on Goodwin Sands[40] | |
| 7,600 | Winter of 1894–95 | 1894–1895 (December–February) | An 8-week period of severe cold weather with a weekly death rate of around 950.[41] | |
| 6,500+[42][43] | 1729 Influenza epidemic | 1729 (September–December) | Influenza outbreak with very high mortality rates. | |
| 5,000+[44] | 1836–37 influenza pandemic | 1836–1837 | Influenza outbreak with high mortality rates. | |
| 5,000+ | Great Famine (14th century) | 1315–1317 | ||
| 4,000 to 12,000 | Great Smog of London | 1952 (December) | ||
| 4,000 | 1911 United Kingdom heat wave | 1911 (July–September) | Newspapers ran "deaths from heat" columns.[45] | |
| 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. | |
| 3,200+[46][47] | The encephalitis lethargica pandemic of 1915–1926 | 1917–1924 | Some victims were left in a statue-like condition, and many of those who survived never returned to their pre-existing "aliveness"; it is thought that the Spanish flu pandemic, which coincided with the encephalitis pandemic, contributed to the seriousness of the disease[48] | |
| 3,000+ | Tainted blood scandal | 1970s–1980s (deaths up to decades later)[49] | Importing and use of blood products known to be contaminated with HIV, Hepatitis B, C & E. People continue to die up to the present time.[50] | |
| 3,000 | 1212 Great Fire of London | 1212 (10 July) | Source for fatalities is the Guinness Book of Records[51] but historical evidence unclear | |
| 3,000 | 1976 British Isles heat wave | 1976 (23 June – 27 August) | At the time the hottest summer in central England in 250 years[52] | |
| 2,985 | 2022 European heatwave | 2022 saw five distinct extreme heat periods between 16 June and 25 August | The summer of 2022 saw the highest ever recorded temperature in England at 40.3C | |
| 2,323[53] | 2006 European heat wave | 2006 (26 June – 30 July) | ||
| 2,234 [54] | 2003 European heat wave | 2003 (4–13 August) | ||
| 2,200 | 1880 London coal smog | 1880 | [55] | |
| 2,000+ | 1540 European drought, 1540–1541 great heat and drought, 1540 also known as the 'Big Sun Year' | 1540–1541 | Heat and drought caused freshwater from the Thames to shrink to such an unprecedented extent that seawater flowed on the tide past London Bridge, polluting the water supply. The resulting dysentery and cholera killed 'thousands'.[56] | |
| 2,000 | Bristol Channel floods | 1607 (30 January)[57] | ||
| 1,900+ | Christmas Eve storm | 1811 (24 December) | Wrecks HMS St George, Defence and Fancy off Thorsminde, Jutland; and HMS Hero and the transport Archimedes off Texel, Netherlands | |
| 1,550+ | Scilly naval disaster | 1707 (22 October) | HMS Association, HMS Eagle, Romney and Firebrand | |
| 1,500+ | Peasants' Revolt | 1381 (30 May–November) | Peasants protest against poll taxes, serfdom and the socio-economic tensions generated by the Black Death pandemic. Some march on London demanding reform, and after initial successes are brutally suppressed.[58][59] | |
| 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)[57] | Wrecks HMS Sussex and accompanying ships | |
| 1,198 | RMS Lusitania | 1915 (7 May) | Struck by torpedo on starboard side. Sank in the Celtic Sea within 18 minutes | |
| 1,012 | RMS Empress of Ireland | 1914 (29 May) | Canadian Pacific ship sank in Gulf of St. Lawrence, registered in UK with crew almost entirely from Merseyside | |
| 1,000+[60] | Storm off Winterton Ness | 1692 | 200 colliers wrecked off the Norfolk coast | |
| 1,000[61] | 1956 London smog | 1956 (December) | ||
| 1,000 | 1867 San Narciso hurricane | 1867 (29 October) | Up to 50 UK vessels driven ashore on Saint Thomas, Danish West Indies, including RMS Rhone and RMS Wye (180 deaths between these)[62] | |
| 1,000 | Great Hurricane of 1780 in the Caribbean | 1780 (10 October) | Royal Navy ships lost included HMS Stirling Castle, HMS Laurel, HMS Andromeda, HMS Thunderer and HMS Phoenix |
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More information Deaths inItalics indicate an estimated figure, Event ...
| Deaths in Italics indicate an estimated figure | Event | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 908 | 2016 heat wave | 2016 (September) | Included the hottest September day in the UK since 1911[53] |
| 900+ | Plymouth Sound storm | 1691 (3 September) | Wrecks HMS Coronation[63] and HMS Harwich[64] killing 600 + 300 respectively |
| 900 | HMS Victory (1737) | 1744 (3 October) | Wrecked on the Casquets in the Channel Islands |
| 892 | 2019 European heatwaves | 2019 (July–August) | Temperatures were as high as 38.7C in Cambridge, the highest temperature ever recorded in the UK at the time[65] |
| 890+ | Quebec Expedition disaster | 1711 (22 August) | Seven transport ships and one storeship wrecked in thick fog on the Saint Lawrence River, Canada |
| 863[53] | 2018 British Isles heat wave | 2018 (22 June – 7 August) | |
| 843 | HMS Vanguard explosion | 1917 (9 July) | Magazine explosion in Scapa Flow |
| 800 | HMS Royal George capsizes | 1782 (29 August) | At Spithead |
| 780 | 1873 London smog | 1873 (December) | The first in a series of major smog build-ups in London[66][67] |
| 779[68] | 1892 London smog | 1892 (December) | Excess deaths from air pollution |
| 778[53] | 2017 heat wave | 2017 (June) | |
| 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 off Sheerness |
| 700 to 800[69] | 1948 London smog | 1948 (26 November – 1 December) | Excess deaths from air pollution |
| 699 | HMS Ramillies[70] | 1760 (15 February) | Ran aground off Bolt Head, Devon |
| 690 | HMS Queen Charlotte fire | 1800 (17 March) | Exploded in the Tuscan Archipelago |
| 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 (Estimates vary, but most historians put the death toll as between 600 and 700) |
| 635 | SS Norge shipwreck | 1904 (28 June) | Danish ship ran aground off Rockall |
| 619 | 1995 Great Britain and Ireland heat wave | 1995 (28 June – 22 August) | The hottest August on record in England and Wales since 1659[71] |
| 612 | Tramore storm | 1816 (30 January) | Wrecks the ships Sea Horse,[72] Boadicea and Lord Melville[73] |
| 600+ | an unidentified troop ship | 1796 (23 January) | Shipwreck possibly one of Admiral Christian's West Indies convoy wrecked on Loe Bar, Cornwall[74] |
| 564 | SS Utopia disaster | 1891 (17 March) | British ship carrying (mostly) Italian migrants in collision with HMS Anson off Gibraltar[75] |
| 546 | SS Atlantic (1870) | 1873 (1 April) | White Star liner struck rocks off Nova Scotia |
| 540 to 760[76] | 2013 Great Britain and Ireland heat wave | 2013 (July) | Estimate for UK deaths only |
| 531+ | 1623–24 famine | 1623–1624 | East Lancashire badly affected;[77] said to be the last peace-time famine in England. |
| 531[78] | 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, India |
| 500 | HMS Minotaur | 1810 (22 December) | Wrecked on Haak Bank near Texel, Netherlands |
| 500 | "Black Monday" | 1209 (Easter Monday) | Massacre of English settlers by Irish clans, near Ranelagh, Dublin |
| 491 | HMS York | 1804 (Jan) | Struck the Inchcape rock and sank with the loss of her entire crew |
| 481 | HMS Captain | 1870 (7 September) | Sank off Cape Finisterre, Spain, due to design flaws |
| 480 | SS City of Glasgow | 1854 (March) | Disappeared after leaving Liverpool for Philadelphia |
| 473 | Cospatrick | 1874 (18 November) | Caught fire in the South Atlantic |
| 464 | HMS Courageux | 1796 (18 December) | Shipwrecked at Apes' Hill, Barbary Coast (now Monte Hacho, Ceuta, Africa)[79] |
| 457[80] | 2009 swine flu pandemic | 2009–2010 | Global influenza pandemic, the second involving the influenza A virus subtype H1N1 after the Spanish flu |
| 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 |
| 450 | Royal Charter (ship) | 1859 (26 October) | Wrecked off Dulas Bay, Anglesey |
| 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 |
| 424 | Pomona | 1859 (30 April) | American ship carrying, mainly Irish, emigrants from Liverpool to New York, wrecked on a sandbank at Ballyconigar, off Wexford, Ireland |
| 421 | HMS Natal | 1915 (30 December) | Magazine explosion. Precise number of deaths disputed; 421 is highest estimate |
| 400+ | Sinking of Rochdale and Prince of Wales | 1807 (20 November) | Ships carrying 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 | Cataraqui | 1845 (4 August) | Shipwrecked off King Island (Tasmania) |
| 384 | Annie Jane | 1853 (28 September) | Emigrant ship out of Liverpool, wrecked on Vatersay in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland |
| 361 | The Oaks explosion | 1866 (12 December) | Colliery disaster, Barnsley, Yorkshire (383 claimed but not verified)[81] |
| 380 | Mary Rose | 1545 (18 July) | Warship sank in action off Portsmouth |
| 379 | HMS Dasher (D37) | 1943 (27 March) | Aircraft carrier: accidental fuel explosion in Firth of Clyde |
| 374 | Driver | 1856 (February) | American clipper ship carrying migrants to the US out of Liverpool, disappeared while crossing the Atlantic Ocean |
| 372 | Arniston | 1815 (30 May) | Wrecked at Waenhuiskrans, South Africa |
| 369[82] | Queen | 1814 (14 Jan) | Wrecked in Carrick Roads, Cornwall |
| 360+ | Elizabeth | 1810 (27 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 |
| 349 | HMS Sceptre | 1799 (5 November) | Wrecked during a storm in Table Bay, near the Cape of Good Hope[83] |
| 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 cut in two by RMS Queen Mary north of Ireland |
| 335 | SS Schiller | 1875 (7 May) | German liner wrecked 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[84] | HMS Eurydice | 1878 (22 March) | Sank off the Isle of Wight; commemorated by Gerard Manley Hopkins in the poem "The Loss of the Eurydice" |
| 316+ | Sybelle | 1834 (11 September) | Emigrant ship out of Cromarty wrecked off St. Paul Island (Nova Scotia)[85] |
| 303[86] | Kapunda | 1887 (20 January) | Emigrant ship out of London, collided with the barque Ada Melmore off Brazil |
| 300 to 400[61] | 1962 London smog | 1962 (December) | |
| 300 | White Ship | 1120 (25 November) | Shipwrecked off Barfleur, Normandy, taking the only legitimate son of King Henry I of England |
| 300+ | HMS Amphion | 1796 (22 September) | Magazine explosion while at Plymouth, Devon |
| 300 | HMS London | 1665 (7 March) | Accidental explosion while in the Thames Estuary |
| 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 | Albion Colliery explosion | 1894 (23 June) | Firedamp explosion at Cilfynydd in South Wales[87][88] |
| 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 (11 March) | Caused by collapse of Dale Dike Reservoir during its first filling |
| 270[89] | Pan Am Flight 103 | 1988 (21 December) | Blown apart at 31,000 ft over Lockerbie, Scotland, by terrorist bomb in hold |
| 268 | Abercarn colliery disaster | 1878 (11 September) | Mining disaster at Abercarn, Monmouthshire[citation needed] |
| 266 | Gresford Disaster | 1934 (22 September) | Mining accident near Wrexham, North Wales |
| 260 | Earl of Abergavenny | 1805 (5 February) | East Indiaman 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) | A severe windstorm sweeps across Ireland causing flooding and other damage |
| 250+ | RMS Royal Adelaide | 1850 (30 March) | Irish paddle steamer shipwrecked on Tongue Sands off Margate, Kent[90] |
| 247 | East Indiaman Doddington | 1755 (17 July) | Shipwrecked in Algoa Bay, South Africa |
| 246 | HMS Avenger | 1847 (20 December) | Wrecked off the Galite Islands, Tunisia |
| 241 | Exmouth | 1847 (28 April) | Shipwrecked off Islay[91] |
| 240 | HMS Lutine | 1799 (9 October) | Shipwrecked off Vlieland |
| 238[92] | MV Dara | 1961 (8 April) | British-India Steam Navigation Company passenger liner evacuated in the Persian Gulf off Dubai following explosion and fire |
| 237 | SS Anglo Saxon | 1863 (27 April) | Canadian ship wrecked in dense fog off Cape Race, Newfoundland, Canada on passage from Liverpool |
| 228 | HMS Tribune | 1797 (16 November) | Wrecked during a storm off Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada |
| 226 | Quintinshill rail crash | 1915 (22 May) | Three-train collision in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, Britain's worst railway accident[93] |
| 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[94] |
| 220 | Great Blizzard of 1891 | 1891 (9–13 March) | Strong winds and snow across southern England lead to deaths on land and at sea[95] |
| 220 | Hartley Colliery disaster | 1862 (16 January) | Caused by steam engine metal fatigue, in Northumberland |
| 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 | SS Rinaldo | 1878 (18 December) | Collision with French steamship Byzantin (which sustains most casualties) in the Dardanelles[62] |
| 208 | Harpooner | 1816 (10 November) | Military transport ship shipwrecked off Newfoundland |
| 207 | Blantyre mining disaster | 1877 (22 October) | Gas explosion in a Scottish colliery |
| 205 | SS Hungarian | 1860 (20 February) | A Canadian Allan Line Royal Mail Steamer out of Liverpool and Queenstown (Cobh) wrecked off Cape Sable Island (Nova Scotia)[96] |
| 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[97] |
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More information Deaths inItalics indicate an estimated figure, Event ...
| Deaths in 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.[98] |
| 191 | SS City of Boston (Inman Line) | 1870 (after 28 January) | Ship out of New York City and Halifax, Nova Scotia, bound for Liverpool 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.[99] |
| 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 | Exeter Theatre Royal fire | 1887 (5 September) | Fire at the Theatre Royal, Exeter caused by gas lights. |
| 186 | PS Pacific | 1856 (after 23 January) | American ship lost at sea out of Liverpool [sister ship of SS Arctic] |
| 183 | Victoria Hall disaster | 1883 (16 June) | Crowd crush 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 | United Kingdom BSE outbreak | 1996–2001 | Variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease outbreak in the UK. Known colloquially as "mad cow disease", victims contracted the disease through eating infected beef.[100][101] |
| 178 | First Ferndale Colliery disaster | 1867 (8 November) | Mining disaster in the Rhondda Valley, Glamorganshire, caused by gas accumulation and miners tampering with safety lamps |
| 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 | Turkish Airlines Flight 981 | 1974 (3 March) | Crashed in the Ermenonville Forest, France due to cargo door design flaw.[102] The flight was headed to London Heathrow and most of the passengers were British |
| 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 crush 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 |
| 164 | Seaham Colliery accident | 1880 (8 September) | Mining accident at Seaham, County Durham |
| 163[103] | The John Bodkin Adams murders | 1946–1956 | Though controversially acquitted in court of the murder of a patient in 1957, Doctor John Bodkin Adams is widely suspected to have murdered around 163 of his patients over 10 years[104] |
| 160 | 1991 London smog | 1991 (12–15 December) | [105] |
| 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 of Jews in York 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) | Air traffic control instructed the plane to fly an unpublished holding pattern, which led the plane into the dangerously high terrain of Mount Esperanza, Tenerife |
| 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 | 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 Pit disaster | 1910 (11 May) | Coal mining disaster at Whitehaven, Cumberland |
| 135 | Fifth cholera pandemic | 1893 | The last outbreak of cholera in Britain took place in 1893[14] |
| 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. |
| 125 | HMS Primrose | 1809 (22 January) | Shipwrecked on The Manacles, Cornwall. |
| 125 | SS Hilda | 1905 (18 November) | London & 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+ | 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 suffered by the pilot after takeoff. |
| 114 | Cymmer Colliery explosion | 1856 (15 July) | Coal mine explosion at Cymmer, Porth, Glamorganshire. |
| 112 | Parc Slip Colliery gas explosion | 1892 (26 August) | Gas explosion due to a damaged Davy lamp, Tondu, Glamorganshire |
| 112 | SS Stella | 1899 (30 March) | London & 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 (8 October) | Three trains collided in patchy fog in morning rush hour. Death toll second only to Quintinshill rail crash.[106] |
| 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 [107] | RMS Amazon (1851) | 1852 (4 January) | Steam engine of a wooden mail paddle steamer caught fire in the Bay of Biscay |
| 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 Mohegan | 1898 (14 October) | Shipwrecked off The Manacles, Cornwall |
| 104 | William Pit disaster | 1947 (15 August) | Coal mining disaster at Whitehaven, Cumberland[108] |
| 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 Scatarie Island, Louisbourg, Nova Scotia. |
| 102 | Wallsend Colliery explosion | 1835 (18 June) | Colliery explosion, Wallsend, Northumberland.[109] |
| 101 | Naval Steam Colliery explosion | 1880 (10 December) | Colliery explosion, Tonypandy, Rhondda Valley. 4 bodies unidentified.[110] |
| 100+ | HMS Lizard | 1748 (27 February) | Wrecked on the Seven Stones reef.[111] |
| 100 to 240[112][113][114] | Windscale fire | 1957 (10 October) (deaths up to decades later) | One of the world's worst nuclear accidents.[112] Radioactive material released, causing many local cancer deaths in the long term.[115] Number of deaths disputed.[115] |
| 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 |
| 100[116] | Avalanche | 1877 (11 September) | Ship out of London for Wellington, New Zealand, collided with American Forest Queen off Isle of Portland, English Channel, both sinking, with a further 20+ casualties from the Forest Queen |
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More information Deaths Italics indicate anestimated figure, Event ...
| Deaths Italics indicate an estimated figure | Event | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 99 | Meikle Ferry disaster | 1809 (16 August) | Over-laden ferryboat sank in Dornoch Firth, Scotland |
| 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 | 1850 (19 November) | A chartered passenger sailing vessel sunk at Edmond Point in Kilkee, County Clare with 216 on board |
| 98 | Britannia Airways Flight 105 | 1966 (1 September) | Britannia Airways Bristol Britannia G-ANBB from Luton Airport, aircrash at Ljubljana |
| 97 | Hillsborough Stadium Disaster | 1989 (15 April) | 97 people died after being crushed against perimeter fencing after thousands of people tried to enter the stadium through a narrow tunnel |
| 95 | Haswell Colliery explosion | 1844 (28 September) | County Durham |
| 95 | "Fatal Vespers" | 1623 (26 October) | Floor collapse at house in Blackfriars, London, being used as a chapel |
| 94 | Carlingford Lough disaster | 1916 (3 November) | SS Connemara and a coalship SS Retriever collided and sank, Carlingford Lough, County Down |
| 93 | St Scholastica Day 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 under bridge, in Ireland[117] |
| 91 | Cadeby Main pit disaster | 1912 (9 July) | Two underground coal mine explosions at Cadeby, South Yorkshire |
| 90 | Lewisham rail crash | 1957 (4 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 | 1967 Air Ferry DC-4 accident, | 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 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 | 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 | Ocean Home | 1856 (5 September) | American ship sinks after collision with Cherubim off Lizard Point, Cornwall |
| 77 | Diglake Colliery Disaster | 1895 (14 January) | Inrush of water into Diglake Colliery, North Staffordshire |
| 76 | Third plague pandemic | 1896–1926 | Series of outbreaks across Britain and Ireland as part of a pandemic, with Glasgow and Suffolk being particularly badly affected (the last death of plague in Britain occurred in 1926)[118][119] |
| 76 | Maypole Colliery disaster | 1908 (18 August) | Underground explosion at Abram, Lancashire |
| 75 | Tay Bridge disaster | 1879 (28 December) | Cast iron bridge collapse with a train crossing during an evening storm, Dundee |
| 75 | HMS Affray | 1951 (17 April) | Mysterious submarine disaster in 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 |
| 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) | Residential tower block in North Kensington, London[120] |
| 71 | Glen Cinema Disaster | 1929 (31 December) | Paisley, Scotland[121] |
| 70+ | 1900 English beer poisoning | 1900 | 6,000 people poisoned by consuming arsenic-tainted beer, with Manchester being the worst affected area[122] |
| 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[123] |
| 69 | HMS M1 | 1925 (12 November) | Submarine wreck in collision with Swedish surface vessel off Plymouth |
| 69[124] | Trimdon Grange colliery disaster | 1882 (16 February) | Underground explosion in County Durham |
| 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, Dunlop Street, Glasgow | 1849 (17 February) | Panic ensuing from a false fire alarm |
| 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[125] |
| 64 | Middle Duffryn Mine | 1852 (14 May) | Colliery explosion near Aberdare, Glamorganshire[126] |
| 64 | Masbrough boat disaster | 1841 (5 July) | John and William overturns on launch near Rotherham[127] |
| 64 | HMS Truculent | 1950 (12 January) | Submarine collision on the surface, Thames Estuary, survivors died of hypothermia on mid-winter mudbanks |
| 63 | British Airways Flight 576 | 1976 (10 September) | Mid-air collision with Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 550 above Zagreb, caused by ATC error[128] |
| 63 | Peckfield Colliery Disaster | 1896 (30 April) | Micklefield, Yorkshire |
| 63 | Victoria coal pit, Nitshill near Glasgow | 1851 (15 March) | Explosion[129] |
| 63 | Great Western Mine | 1893 (11 April) | Rhondda Valley Colliery mining disaster, South Wales |
| 63 | BEA Flight 706 aircrash | 1971 (2 October) | A Vickers Vanguard G-APEC flight 706, Aarsele, Belgium |
| 63 | Mauricewood Colliery disaster | 1889 (5 September) | Underground fire, Penicuik, Scotland[130] |
| 63 | Dinas Rhondda | 1879 (13 January ) | Colliery gas explosion at Llantrisant, Rhondda Valley, Glamorganshire[131] |
| 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+ | Harwich ferry disaster | 1807 (18 April) | A 'grossly overladen' coastal vessel capsizes while transporting soldiers and their families |
| 60 | Dalhousie | 1853(October ) | "Blackwall frigate" sank 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) | Underground explosion caused by an electrical fault |
| 58 | Garland of Topsham | 1649 (30 January) | A vessel carrying Charles I's possessions wrecked on Godrevy Island, Cornwall[132] |
| 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) | Bradford City A.F.C.'s Valley Parade stadium caught fire after a discarded cigarette set fire to rubbish underneath the wooden stands |
| 56 | 7 July 2005 London bombings | 2005 (7 July) | By suicide bombers on public transport |
| 55 | Manchester air disaster | 1985 (22 August) | Flight 28M, a Boeing 737-236 engine fire before takeoff on a holiday flight to Corfu |
| 53 | Second Ferndale Colliery disaster | 1869 (10 June) | Explosion in Rhondda Valley, Glamorganshire |
| 53 | Great fire of Newcastle and Gateshead | 1854 (6 October) | Firestorm and explosion |
| 52 | Lletty Shenkin Colliery, Cwmbach | 1849 (10 August) | Underground explosion, Aberdare, South Wales[133] |
| 52 | Yellow fever outbreak, HMS Firebrand | 1861 (July) | West Indies[134] |
| 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) | [135] |
| 50+ | Winter of 1962–63 | 1962–63 | One of the coldest winters on record in the United Kingdom. The river Thames froze solid[136] |
| 50 | Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 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; leading to building of the lighthouse[137] |
| 49 | Booth's clothing factory fire, Huddersfield | 1941 (31 October) | Fire at a major clothing factory in Huddersfield, West Riding of Yorkshire[138] |
| 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[139] | Burns' Day Storm | 1990 (25 January) | Violent storm that started on Burns' day and affected north-western Europe, hurricane-force winds in some areas |
| 47 | Emma | 1828 (29 February) | Capsizes after launching, Mersey and Irwell Navigation, Manchester[140] |
| 47 | Gethin Pit disaster | 1862 (19 February) | First of two underground colliery explosions at Abercanaid, near Merthyr Tydfil. 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 shut down the wrong engine (just missed the M1 Motorway) |
| 47 | 1973 Nantes mid-air collision | 1973 (5 March) | [British victims only] Two aircraft heading to London Heathrow collided due to ATC error.[141] |
| 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 steamer sank off St David's Head |
| 45 | Cleggan Bay Disaster | 1927 (27 October) | A strong gale killed 45 fishermen off the coast of County Galway |
| 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 | Croydon typhoid outbreak of 1937 | 1937 (October–December) | Outbreak originating from a polluted chalk water well; 341 cases[142] |
| 43 | Bourne End rail crash | 1945 (30 September) | Derailment taking crossover at speed near Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire; driver had worked for 26 consecutive days |
| 43 | Moorgate tube crash | 1975 (28 February) | London Underground train runs at speed into dead-end tunnel in the morning rush hour |
| 41 | Little Baldon air crash | 1965 (6 July) | Handley Page Hastings aircraft crashed at Little Baldon, Oxfordshire, during parachute training flight from RAF Abingdon, caused by metal fatigue |
| 40 | Garden Pit Disaster | 1844 (14 February) | 40 men and boys are crushed or drowned when water from the River Cleddau broke through the roof of their coalmine at Landshipping, Pembrokeshire, Wales[143] |
| 40 | Regent's Park ice-skating disaster | 1867 (15 January) | Ice covering the boating lake collapsed and 200 people plunged in[144] |
| 40 | Low Moor Explosion | 1916 (21 August) | Explosion at a picric acid plant producing explosives for the war effort in the First World War[145] |
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- 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
- Munich air Disaster
- Military and civilian casualties from conflicts in which the United Kingdom was involved are listed at United Kingdom casualties of war.
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