Death & Disasters
Discover objects, stories and blogs that tell us about death and disaster through London’s history.
Blogs-And-Stories
Flooded London
Before the Thames Barrier, flooding in London was regularly destructive and often deadly
The 7/7 London bombings, 2005
On 7 July 2005, 52 people were killed by terrorists targeting London’s transport network
The medieval graveyard on Newgate Street
How 1970s archaeologists recorded the remains of 234 people buried nearly 1,000 years ago
A timeline of IRA attacks in London
From the 1970s to the 1990s, Londoners faced the repeated threat of Irish republican bombings
The Marchioness Disaster
On a summer night in 1989, a riverboat birthday party ended in tragedy, leaving 51 people dead
The execution of Lady Jane Grey, 1554
How the ‘nine-day queen’ met a bitter and bloody end
The Great Pestilence in London
Plague killed over half of the city’s population between 1348 and 1352
London’s catastrophic fires
Whether caused by rebellion or war, neglect or accident, fires have scorched a dark mark on our city
The Gordon Riots: A revolution in the making
In 1780, soldiers killed hundreds of anti-Catholic, anti-authority rioters
Golders Green Crematorium: A London first
This Barnet building helped win widespread acceptance for cremations in Britain
The Ronan Point disaster: Tower blocks’ demise
This 1968 accident rattled confidence in the buildings of the future
