Over 200 Fatalities
| Deaths
Italics indicate an estimated figure |
Event | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,750,000 to 2,500,000 | Great Irish Famine | 1845–1849 | |
| 900,000 | Black Death pandemic | 1347–1350 | |
| 225,000 | Spanish flu pandemic | 1918 (Sep–Nov) | |
| 100,000 | Harrying of the North | 1069–70 (winter) | The slaughter of the native English in the north of England by the Normans under William the Conqueror, followed by famine. |
| 100,000 | Great Irish Famine (18th century) | 1740–1741 | |
| 65,000 | Year Without a Summer | 1816 | Famine and typhoid fever in Ireland and food riots in England and France. |
| 60,000 | Great Plague of London | 1665 | |
| 20,000 | Laki volcano fissure eruption | 1783–1784 (Jun–Feb) | |
| 8,000 | Great Storm of 1703 | 1703 (26 November) | |
| 5,000+ | Great Famine (14th century) | 1315–1317 | |
| 4,000 to 12,000 | "The Great Smog", London | 1952 | |
| 4,000+ | Blockade of Porto Bello | 1726–1727 | Deaths resulting from yellow fever. |
| 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. |
| 3,000 | Early fires of London | 1212 (July) | Source for fatalities is the Guinness Book of Records, but historical evidence unclear. |
| 2,139 | 2003 European heat wave | 2003 (4–13 August) | |
| 2,000 | Bristol Channel floods | 1607 (30 January) | |
| 2,000 | Sweating sickness (sudor anglicus) | 1485 ff. | |
| 2,000 | Darien scheme | 1690s | An unsuccessful attempt to establish a Scottish colony in present-day Panama. |
| 1,900+ | Christmas Eve storm | 1811 (24 December) | Wrecks HMS St George, HMS Defence and HMS Fancy off Thorsminde, Jutland; and HMS Hero and HMS Archimedes off Texel, Netherlands. |
| 1,550+ | Scilly naval disaster | 1707 (22 October) | HMS Association, HMS Eagle, HMS Romney and HMS Firebrand. |
| 1,490 | RMS Titanic | 1912 (15 April) | US Senate inquiry gave 1,517 fatalities. |
| 1,200 | Strait of Gibraltar storm | 1694 (1 March) | Wrecks HMS Sussex and accompanying ships. |
| 1,012 | RMS Empress of Ireland | 1914 (29 May) | Ship registered in London, crew almost entirely from Merseyside. |
| 1,000 | 1867 Barbados hurricane | 1867 | RMS Rhone, RMS Wye and up to 50 other vessels driven ashore. |
| 1,000 | Great Hurricane of 1780 | 1780 (10 October) | Royal Navy ships lost included HMS Cornwall, HMS Experiment and HMS Ontario |
| 900+ | Plymouth Sound storm | 1691 (3 September) | Wrecks HMS Coronation and HMS Harwich. |
| 900 | HMS Victory | 1744 (3 October) | Wrecked on the Casquets in the Channel Islands. |
| 890+ | Walker Expedition disaster | 1711 (22 August) | Seven transport ships and one storeship wrecked in thick fog on the Saint Lawrence River, Canada. |
| 843 | HMS Vanguard explosion | 1917 (9 July) | Magazine explosion. |
| 800 | HMS Royal George capsizes | 1782 (29 August) | |
| 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. |
| 699 | HMS Ramillies | 1760 (15 February) | Runs aground off Bolt Head, Devon. |
| 690 | HMS Queen Charlotte fire | 1800 (17 March) | |
| 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. |
| 635 | SS Norge shipwreck | 1904 (28 June) | |
| 612 | Tramore Bay storm | 1816 (30 January) | Wrecks the Seahorse, Lord Melville and Boadicea. |
| 600+ | an unidentified troop ship | 1796 (23 January) | shipwreck possibly one of Admiral Christian's West Indies convoy wrecked on Loe Bar, Cornwall. |
| 600+ | HMS Hampshire (1903) | 1916 (5 June) | sunk by mine off Orkney |
| 600 | HMS Coronation (1685) | 1691 (3 September) | 2nd rate ship foundered off Rame Head, Cornwall. |
| 564 | SS Utopia disaster | 1891 (17 March) | Collision with HMS Anson off Gibraltar. |
| 546 | RMS Atlantic | 1873 (1 April) | |
| 531 | 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. |
| 500+ | 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak | 1854 (Aug–Sep) | Cholera epidemic in London. |
| 500 | HMS Minotaur | 1810 (22 December) | Wrecked on Haak Bank near Texel, Netherlands. |
| 500 | "Black Monday" | 1209 | Massacre of English settlers by Irish clans, near Ranelagh, Dublin, on Easter Monday. |
| 491 | HMS York | 1804 (Jan) | Struck the Bell Rock and sank with the loss of her entire crew. |
| 481 | HMS Captain | 1870 (6 September) | Shipwrecked off Cape Finisterre, Spain. |
| 480 | SS City of Glasgow | 1854 (March) | Disappeared after leaving Liverpool for Philadelphia. |
| 473 | Cospatrick | 1874 (18 November) | Caught fire in the South Atlantic. |
| 470 | HMS Courageux | 1796 (18 December) | Shipwrecked at Apes' Hill, Barbary Coast (now Monte Hacho, Ceuta, Africa) |
| 454 | Vryheid | 1802 (23 November) | Formerly the 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. |
| 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. |
| 421 | HMS Natal | 1915 (30 December) | Magazine explosion. Precise number of deaths disputed; 421 is highest estimate. |
| 421 | Dumfries cholera epidemic | 1832 (15 Sep – 27 Nov) | |
| 406 | Cataraqui | 1845 (4 August) | Shipwrecked off King Island, Tasmania. |
| 400+ | Rochdale and Prince of Wales | 1807 (19 November) | Carried 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 | Pomona | 1859 (30 April) | Shipwrecked off Wexford, Ireland. |
| 388 | The Oaks explosion | 1866 (12 December) | Colliery disaster, Barnsley, Yorkshire. |
| 384 | Annie Jane | 1853 (28 September) | Emigrant ship out of Liverpool, wrecked Vatersay. |
| 380 | Mary Rose | 1545 (18 July) | Sank off Portsmouth. |
| 379 | HMS Dasher (D37) | 1943 (27 March) | Accidental fuel explosion, Firth of Clyde. |
| 374 | Driver | 1856 (February) | Clipper ship out of Liverpool, disappeared while crossing the Atlantic Ocean. |
| 372 | Arniston | 1815 (30 May) | Wrecked at Waenhuiskrans, South Africa. |
| 369 | Queen | 1814 (14 Jan) | Wrecked in Carrick Roads, Cornwall. |
| 360+ | Elizabeth | 1810 (18 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. |
| 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 split in two by RMS Queen Mary. |
| 335 | SS Schiller | 1875 (7 May) | Shipwrecked off the Isles of Scilly. |
| 317 | HMS Eurydice | 1878 (22 March) | Shipwrecked off the Isle of Wight. Commemorated by Gerard Manley Hopkins in the poem "The Loss of the Eurydice". |
| 300 | White Ship | 1120 (25 November) | Shipwrecked off Barfleur, Normandy, taking the only legitimate son of King Henry I of England. |
| 300 | Sibylle | 1834 (11 September) | Emigrant ship out of Cromarty wrecked off St. Paul Island, Nova Scotia. |
| 300+ | HMS Amphion | 1796 (22 September) | Magazine explosion while at Plymouth, Devon. |
| 300 | HMS London | 1665 | Accidental explosion while in the Thames Estuary. |
| 299 | Kapunda | 1887 (20 January) | Emigrant ship out of London, collided with the barque Ada Melmore off Brazil. |
| 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 | HMS Sceptre | 1799 (5 December) | Wrecked during a storm in Table Bay, near the Cape of Good Hope. |
| 290 | Albion Colliery explosion | 1894 (23 June) | Firedamp explosion. |
| 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 | Caused by collapse of Dale Dike Reservoir during its first filling. |
| 270 | Pan Am Flight 103 | 1988 (21 December) | Blown apart at 31,000 ft over Lockerbie, Scotland, by terrorist bomb in forward hold. |
| 268 | Abercarn mining disaster | 1878 (11 September) | Mining disaster at Abercarn, Monmouthshire. |
| 266 | Gresford Disaster | 1934 (22 September) | Mining accident near Wrexham, North Wales. |
| 260 | Earl of Abergavenny | 1805 (5 February) | 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) | |
| 250 | RMS Royal Adelaide | 1849 | Shipwrecked on a sandbank off Margate, Kent. |
| 247 | Doddington | 1755 | Shipwrecked in Algoa Bay, South Africa. |
| 246 | HMS Avenger | 1847 (20 December) | Wrecked off the Galite Islands, Tunisia. |
| 240 | HMS Lutine | 1799 (9 October) | Shipwrecked off Vlieland. |
| 238 | MV Dara | 1961 (8 April) | British-India Steam Navigation Company passenger liner evacuated in the Persian Gulf off Dubai following explosion and fire. |
| 238 | HMS Tribune | 1797 (16 November) | Wrecked during a storm off Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. |
| 237 | SS Anglo Saxon | 1863 (27 April) | Wrecked in dense fog off Cape Race, Newfoundland, Canada. |
| 226 | Quintinshill rail crash | 1915 (22 May) | Three-train collision in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. |
| 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. |
| 220 | Great Blizzard of 1891 | 1891 (9–13 March) | |
| 220 | Hartley Colliery Disaster | 1862 (16 January) | Caused by steam engine metal fatigue. |
| 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 | Rinaldo | 1878 (18 December) | Collision with French steamship Byzantin in the Dardanelles. |
| 208 | Harpooner | 1818 (November) | Military transport ship shipwrecked off Newfoundland. |
| 207 | Blantyre mining disaster | 1877 (22 October) | Gas explosion. |
| 205 | HMS Iolaire | 1919 (1 January) | Admiralty yacht returning soldiers to Scotland after World War I. Sank off Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides. |
| 205 | SS Hungarian | 1860 (20 February) | An Allan Line Royal Mail Steamer out of Liverpool and Queenstown (Cobh) wrecked off Cape Sable Island (Nova Scotia). |
Read more about this topic: List Of Disasters In Great Britain And Ireland
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