The Victoria Hall stampede , in which 183 children died, occurred in Sunderland , England, on 16 June 1883 at the Victoria Hall, which was a large concert hall on Toward Road facing onto Mowbray Park .

On 16 June 1883, a children's variety show was presented by travelling entertainers Mr and Mrs Fay.[1][2]

At the end of the show, an announcement was made that children with certain numbered tickets would be presented with a prize upon exit. At the same time entertainers began distributing gifts from the stage to the children in the stalls. Worried about missing out on the treats, many of the estimated 1,100 children in the gallery stampeded toward the staircase leading downstairs.[3] At the bottom of the staircase, the door opened inward and had been bolted so as to leave a gap only wide enough for one child to pass at a time. It is believed this was to ensure orderly checking of tickets.[4] With few accompanying adults to maintain order, the children surged down the stairs toward the door. Those at the front became trapped and were crushed to death by the weight of the crowd behind them.[2]

When the adults in the auditorium realised what was happening they rushed to the door, but they could not open the door fully as the bolt was on the children's side. Caretaker Frederick Graham ran up another staircase and diverted approximately 600 children to safety.[1] Meanwhile, the other adults pulled the children one by one through the narrow gap, before one man pulled the door from its hinges.[1]

In his 1894 account, survivor William Codling, Jr., described the crush and the realisation that people were dying: