BY the end of the 19th Century, there were few working class homes in the North East that did not have at least one “disaster glass” on their mantelpiece or windowsill.
“Disaster glasses” were a peculiarly North East phenomenon, combining two of the region’s biggest industries: glassmaking and coalmining.
“When there was a disaster in a coalmine, people who had the ability to engrave would get themselves a quantity of small pub-style glasses and engrave them with words about the disaster and then sell them to raise funds for the families involved,” says Mel Holmes, of Bishop Auckland, who, among his many collections, has a cabinet of disaster glasses.
The glasses range from one commemorating the 168 lives lost in the West Stanley pit disaster of 1909 to another noting the death in 1895 of 15-year-old William Youll in Philadelphia Colliery, near Sunderland. There are several in memory of fishermen who lost their lives in the North Sea and, of course, there is one glass dedicated to the “200 children who lost their lives” 140 years ago in the Victoria Hall disaster at Sunderland.
As Memories told last week, on June 16, 1883, 183 children were crushed to death as they dashed down from the theatre balcony in their desperation to get their hands on gifts that were being distributed in the auditorium.
Panic at the Victoria Hall, Sunderland, as word of the disaster becomes known
Disaster glasses tend to be “pub rummer” glasses, about 10cms high on a stalk and are quite crudely engraved – other Victoria Hall disaster glasses tell how the children lost “there lives”. The glasses were engraved by a man with a small, copper wheel which was powered by a foot treadle. He may even have had a stall at somewhere like the Durham Miners’ Gala.
Disaster glasses were made from about 1860 until the First World War and, for all the lack the sophistication of, say, royal memorabilia, they bring you face-to-face with life, and death, in the working communities of Durham and Northumberland.
“Folks from other parts of the country don’t understand disaster glasses because they are only found here in the North East,” says Mel. “Now they are recognised and sought after by collectors.”We’d love to hear from you if you have a disaster glass. Please email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk
READ MORE: THE SAD STORIES THAT LINK DARLINGTON AND WEARDALE TO THE VICTORIA HALL DISASTER
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