On June 16, 1883, excitement and laughter filled Victoria Hall in Sunderland, England. Hundreds of children had been looking forward to this day, and now they gathered in the event center to enjoy the travelling entertainers, Mr and Mrs Fay.

Toward the end of the show, it was announced that children with certain numbered tickets would be presented with toys and various other prizes.

Order was intended, and certain measures were taken to ensure a smooth flow of children down the stairs and through the exit doors. To prevent confusion, the doors were propped open inward to allow room for one child at a time.

However, the rush of approximately 1,100 excited children created a deadly momentum toward the stairwell, resulting in a pile-up of children at the bottom. Children between the ages of 3 and 14 were crushed and killed with the compressive asphyxia caused by the weight of the hundreds of children racing and pushing behind them.

William Codling, recollects the event as one of the survivors of the event.  “All around us were white bewildered faces, wails of distress, and piteous questionings where none could answer . . . ‘Keep back, keep back! There's someone down.’ It was no use, I passed slowly over and onwards with the mass and before long I passed over others without emotion.”

The children’s bodies were piled six feet high at the bottom of the stairs and against the door. Adults on the other side could only reach through the narrow opening and pull the bodies out one at a time. The steady surge continued to build while caretakers desperately attempted to unlock the bolted door. By the time the doors were finally removed, 183 children had died.

The Victoria Hall disaster came to be known as the worst in British history. Such an outcome could never have been anticipated. It resulted in such an outrage that changes were required in the building codes of all public venues. Outward opening emergency exits were implemented by law, leading to the necessity of ‘push bar’ doors.

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