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Description: | An expressive sculpture of a woman with a dead child in her lap, based on a classical statue of Niobe: she throws her head and arm back in despair. The pedestal has a stepped base and a wreath carved onto its front dado face. Additional Information: This sculpture of a mother frantic with grief, lifting up her voice in bitter lamentation' commemorates Sunderland's most deeply felt disaster of the nineteenth century.(1) 191 children between the ages of 3 and 12 were crushed to death trying to leave the Victoria Hall after an afternoon's entertainment that went horribly wrong. A Victorian town with any pretensions needed something for the gregarious entertainment of the age,' so the Victoria Hall was built to mimic the Crystal Palace and Albert Hall in size and architectural style.(2) Seating 3,000 people, it was built in 1872(3) and stood on the corner of Toward Road and Laura Street on the east side of Mowbray Park.(4) The Fays from Tynemouth Aquarium' advertised a children's entertainment for the afternoon of 16th June 1883, at which jokes, tricks and songs were promised along with the chance to win prizes to take home. School teachers were given free tickets encouraging them to bring their charges. 2000 children were crammed into the pit and gallery of the Victoria Hall (100 more than capacity), with the dress circle closed. The crowd of children were extremely boisterous, having to be admonished by Mr Fay in the interval. At the close of the entertainment it was announced that those children who held tickets marked with certain lottery numbers would receive prizes in the shape of books, toys etc. as they were going out.' Considering the poverty of most of them, it is not surprising that this filled the juvenile audience with a spirit of eager expectancy and excited hope. In this mood the vast number of boys and girls who had occupied the gallery made for the door'.(5) Unfortunately the door at the bottom of the stairs was wedged open only a foot wide facing inwards, allowing only one person past at a time. The narrow opening became choked at once with troops of excited children whose one thought was to get forward to reach the goal where pleasure awaited them.' The boisterous children piled upon each other and were crushed or suffocated to death, turning the Hall into one vast mourning chamber. Mothers fainted away and strong men in their agony wept over the stark, stiff remains of their little ones.' 191 children lost their lives behind the stuck-fast door and news of the disaster made national headlines.(6) The following week all businesses were closed and blinds were drawn in private homes as the children were buried in a series of services. Queen Victoria sent a wreath, after having been in daily correspondence with the Mayor about the horrible events. Inquests into the deaths were opened and adjourned to the following month, split between the two wards of Bishopwearmouth in the south and Monkwearmouth north of the Tyne. The Bishopwearmouth inquest returned a verdict of death without blame attached to a specific person, though the Hall's manager was censured. The Monkwearmouth inquest called for sufficient means of exit, all doors both internal and external, to open outwards' at places of entertainment. This requirement was passed in law not long afterwards. | Subjects: | Sculpture | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Sculptor: Brooker, W.G. | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=7513... | Go to resource |
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