Children
Sort by:
Best
Open comment sort options
Best
Top
New
Controversial
Old
Q&A
View this article on desktop Wikipedia
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
My great-grandma's older brother died in the Victoria Hall Disaster. His name was John Fenwick, and he was five years old.
My great- grandma was three years old at the time and had only vague memories of the event. I grew up hearing the story that her brother had died in an accident in a theater, but she didn't know any of the details.
Several years ago, I decided to see if I could uncover what had happened to little John. I'm an amateur genealogist and the one person in my family who is the keeper of our history.
I put in the search terms "theater accident," "Sunderland, England," and "John Fenwick," and a wealth of information instantly popped up.
I found a transcript of the official list of the children who died, and there he was, his name, age, and address. I also found the news reports about the event, the original playbill for the performers, the horrific drawings of the tragedy that were published in the newspapers, photos of the memorial in Mowbray Park, photos of the children's tombstones, and even a long and very Victorian poem that had been written to honor the victims.
I wish my mom and grandma were still here so I could have told them about this discovery. So many times, old family stories have turned out to be false, but this one was very much true.
The tragedy was a catalyst for laws being passed that doors in public buildings must open outward.
That’s so interesting, and awful. Thank you for sharing
Curious, I know historically balcony seating was often where the less affluent /minorities/etc were sat, was this the case here? That the "poors" were basically barred from accessing the full show/prizes/etc and that's what lead to this?
According to the playbill for the event, the admission prices were one penny for children, 2d (two pennies) for reserved seats, 3d (three pennies) for a parent or caregiver, and a child.
I don't know who would have purchased the reserved seats, but I imagine that the majority of the children paid a penny for admission. It may have just been bad luck to end up seated in the balcony.
That part of Sunderland was not a wealthy area by any means, so the vast majority of people living there would have been "poors."
My great-grandma's family had two working parents, but I know they struggled. Her father worked as a glass bottle maker, and her mother was a dressmaker who was also caring for five kids. They were better off than many of their neighbors, but their life was not easy.
183 lives lost. That is pretty sobering.
Especially blows my mind that even though it was so long ago, generationally speaking, it’s a “short” amount of time. If even half of those 183 went on to have families, their great grandchildren would be alive. Crazy to think how events like this shaped the course of time just through the butterfly effect.
This comment may be of interest to you.
u/Single-Racoon2, thank you for sharing your fascinating story.
There was similar crush in a cinema in Paisley in the 1920s The doors opening inwards meant people couldn’t get them open due to the bodies of panicking children pushed up against them. Horrendous tragedy.
There's a few of them. Became the reason behind never scream fore in a theater
These days, faster theatergoers are always allowed to play through.
Jesus Christ this is awful. Crowd crushes are always awful, but the fact it was so many and so young, all just excited for the prospect of toys and then killed… the performers and organizers must’ve felt so terrible. I can’t imagine the parents grief either, the amount of blame they must’ve held for themselves for bringing their kids to this event. God this is awful.
Fascinating Horror on Youtube did a video about this incident that was really respectful and informative.
Beat me to it! Love that channel
Yes! This was the video that got me into their channel
Similar to the Italian Hall Disaster in Michigan, US. The difference being the Italian Hall Disaster may have been intentional.
“Meanwhile, other adults pulled the children one by one through the narrow gap, before one man wrenched the door off its hinges.”
Damn. Hero.
What kind of awful people would vandalize a memorial for children that died so tragically?
This is tragic, but personally I don’t find it creepy.
Human Crushes are SUPER CREEPY
The footage from the one that happened in South Korea a couple years ago was horrifying. It was one of the creepiest things I’ve ever seen. You could see the people dying and those who already died in the crowd. They were all just stuck there. It was a nightmare.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seoul_Halloween_crowd_crush
To me a human crush is terrifying, not creepy.
I avoid crowds, and crowds where freebies are given away even more. Sometimes in a large enough group people just go crazy. You don't know when the critical mass is reached and can't predict it. That's what makes it creepy, in my opinion. Not the loss of life, which is tragic, but the way a simple gathering may influence normal reasonable people and turn them into stampeding animals.
I don’t find it creepy. I find it terrifying.