Eight trampled to death in crush at Newcastle theatre

A mass panic in a packed theatre in Newcastle-uponTyne after the discovery of a small fire has led to the deaths of eight people.

A box in the Theatre Royal was set alight shortly after the start of the second act of a performance of the play, Tom and Jerry. Although the fire was almost immediately extinguished, shouts of ‘fire’ led to a stampede of upwards of 900 theatre-goers in the gallery.

Eight people died, literally trodden to death” according to observers, as panic gripped the audience.

Attempts to calm down the audience were unsuccessful.

“All in vain, said one reporter, “A deaf ear was turned to the judicious advice.” o Who are ‘The Interest’ - p. 9

Tributes have been paid to the theatre’s manager, Mr de Camp, for his efforts to end the panic, without which the death toll would have been higher.

The campaign will face stiff opposition from what is known as the West India Interest.

Soldiers are being blamed for an incident at Tralee in Co. Kerry in which a young shoemaker was stabbed in the face with a bayonet. Dragoons are said to have run through the centre of the town, assaulting onlookers, first with bayonets, then with carabine airguns. Magistrates were unable to stop the soldiers’ rampage.

Bath is to have a Literary and Scientific Institution, following the establishment of similar bodies promoting science and the arts in Newcastle and Leeds. Finance is now being raised, with the hope that a building will be ready in 1824 or 1825, on the site of the Lower Assembly Rooms which burned down in 1820,