List of massacres in Great Britain facts for kids

Inclusion criteria

This is a list of massacres that have occurred in the purely geographical definition of Great Britain, being in the countries of England, Scotland and Wales and excludes Northern Ireland and massacres in Ireland before independence.

List

Date	Name	Location	Deaths	Injuries	Notes
60 or 61 AD	Boudica's attacks on Roman cities	Camulodunum (modern-day Colchester), Londinium (modern-day London), Verulamium (modern-day St Albans)	70,000–80,000 (Mostly Britons)		Forces led by Boudica, Queen of the Iceni tribe, massacred both Romans and Britons in Camulodunum, Londinium and Verulamium. Her forces were later defeated by the Romans at the Battle of Watling Street.
633-634	Cadwallon ap Cadfan's occupation of Northumbria	Northumbria	Unknown		King Cadwallon ap Cadfan of Gwynedd, defeated and occupied the Kingdom of Northumbria after allying with King Penda of Mercia. Bede describes Cadwallon's actions during the occupation, stating "though he bore the name and professed himself a Christian, was so barbarous in his disposition and behaviour, that he neither spared the female sex, nor the innocent age of children, but with savage cruelty put them to tormenting deaths, ravaging all their country for a long time, and resolving to cut off all the race of the English within the borders of Britain". Cadwallon's occupation would end when he was killed at the Battle of Heavenfield.
13 November 1002	St. Brice's Day massacre	Territory of England under Anglo-Saxon control	Unknown		The St. Brice's Day massacre was the extermination of immigrant Danes, their families and descendants, including those of mixed Danish and Anglo-Saxon descent on orders of the Anglo-Saxon King Æthelred the Unready and took place in remaining territory in his control in what is now England, at a time England was subject to Danelaw. Gunhilde sister of Sweyn Forkbeard, the King of Denmark was a victim along with her husband Pallig Tokesen
1066	Harald Hardrada's attack on Scarborough	Scarborough	No survivors		Attack by Vikings led by Harald Hardrada and Tostig Godwinson. A prelude to the Battle of Stamford Bridge & ultimately the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Scarborough was subsequently absent from the Domesday Book.
1069–1070	Harrying of the North	The North of England between the Humber and the Tees	100,000		William the Conqueror's men burnt whole villages and slaughtered the inhabitants. Foodstores and livestock were destroyed so that anyone surviving the initial massacre would starve over the winter.
October 1136	Massacre of Norman, English, and Flemish Settlers	Cardigan and surrounding areas	10,000		Following the victory of Gwynedd and Deheubarth over the Norman forces at the Battle of Crug Mawr, the Welsh targeted the foreign settler population. Many fled to the fortified town of Cardigan for safety, which was subsequently taken and burned by the Welsh.
16 March 1190	Massacre of the Jews at York	York, England	0150 150		"A wave of anti-Semitic riots culminated in the massacre of an estimated 150 Jews – the entire Jewish community of York – who had taken refuge in the royal castle where Clifford's Tower now stands. The chronicler William of Newburgh described the rioters in York as acting 'without any scruple of Christian conscientiousness' in wiping out the Jewish community."
30 March 1296	Massacre of Berwick	Berwick-upon-Tweed, Scotland (at the time)	7,500–16,000	unknown	English troops massacred the civilian and military population after besieging the Scottish town.
10–12 February 1355	St Scholastica Day riot	Oxford, England	93	Unknown	A riot culminating from tensions between the city of Oxford and the academic community of the University.
21 October 1490	Massacre of Monzievaird	Monzievaird, Scotland	possibly 120		Clan warfare
1521	Amersham Martyrdoms	Amersham, Buckinghamshire	6		Massacre of Lollards for the heresy of reading the Bible in English
1549	Clyst Heath Massacre	Clyst Heath, Devon	900		Massacre of bound and gagged rebels from Cornwall and Devon taken prisoner during the Prayer Book Rebellion.
1577	Eigg massacre	Isle of Eigg, Scotland	395		Clan warfare According to the Clanranald legend, all but one of the Isle of Eigg's MacDonald clan were asphyxiated by their rival MacLeod clan in the massacre cave on the south coast of the island.
28 May 1644	Storming of Bolton	Bolton, England	1600 1,600		During the English Civil War, Royalist forces under Prince Rupert of the Rhine slaughtered a large population of the strongly Parliamentarian town of Bolton.
1646	Dunoon massacre	Dunoon, Scotland	200		Clan warfare
May 1647	Battle of Dunaverty	Kintyre, Scotland	300		More than 300 MacDougalls and MacDonald's followers, men, women and children, were slaughtered at Dunaverty after being promised quarter (mercy) by the Covenanters.
13 February 1692	Massacre of Glencoe	Glen Coe, Scotland	0078 78		Committed by the Clan Campbell under Captain Robert Campbell of Glenlyon, ostensibly due to irregularities concerning the swearing of an oath of allegiance to William II of Scotland.
9 March 1761	Hexham Riot	Hexham	45 - 51?	300 est.	Massacre of demonstrators at Hexham Market Place by North Yorkshire militia.
10 May 1768	Massacre of St George's Fields	London, England	0006 6–7		Committed by the Horse Grenadier Guards and the Third Regiment of Foot Guards during a riot against the imprisonment of John Wilkes in St. George's Fields.
29 October 1797	Massacre of Tranent	Tranent, East Lothian, Scotland	12		Townsfolk, including women and children, were killed by members of the Cinque Ports Dragoons, a fencible cavalry regiment, during a protest against the Act of Parliament to raise a Scots militia by a form of conscription.
16 August 1819	Peterloo Massacre	Manchester, Lancashire, England	015 15	0400 400–700	Committed by the 15th Hussars and the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry during a large outdoor political demonstration for male universal suffrage in St. Peter's Field. Led to the enacting of the Six Acts.
May - 7 June 1831	Merthyr Rising	Merthyr Tydfil, Wales	0024-26 24-26	070+ 70+	Described by historian John Davies as "the most ferocious and bloody event in the history of industrialised Britain", the rebellion in Merthyr Tydfil and surrounding areas broke out following protests against falling wages, the price of bread, and forced redundancy. During the bloodiest incident, Argyll and Sutherland Highlander troops sent to retake Merthyr fired on protesters during a fight against a large crowd.
4 November 1839	Newport Rising	Newport, Wales	0022 22	050+ 50+	Led by John Frost, between 1,000 and 5,000 Chartist sympathisers armed with home-made weapons marched on Newport, intent on liberating fellow Chartists who had reportedly been taken prisoner. About 22 demonstrators were killed when troops opened fire on them. The leaders of the rebellion were convicted of high treason, and sentenced to transportation for life.
12/13 August 1842	Preston Strike of 1842	Preston, Lancashire, England	0004 4	0003 3+	The Mayor Samuel Horrocks read the Riot Act. This gave local authorities the right to use force if necessary to disperse unlawful assemblies and stop riots. When violence escalated and the crowd did not disperse, the 72nd Highlanders fired into the crowd, shooting at least eight men.
13 December 1867	Clerkenwell explosion	London, England	12	120	The Irish Republican Brotherhood attempted to free a member named Ricard O'Sullivan Burke from Clerkenwell Prison by blowing up a wall with gunpowder. The explosion damaged several nearby buildings and killed twelve people. No prisoners escaped.
22 February 1972	Aldershot bombing	Aldershot, England	7	18	A car bomb outside the headquarters of the British Army's 16th Parachute Regiment by Official IRA member Noel Jenkinson.
4 February 1974	M62 coach bombing	West Yorkshire, England	12	38	A bombing on a coach carrying servicemen and their families by the Provisional Irish Republican Army.
5 October 1974	Guildford pub bombings	Guildford, England	5	65	Two bombs detonated in two Guildford pubs by the PIRA who targeted them because they were popular with British servicemen.
21 November 1974	Birmingham pub bombings	Birmingham, England	21	182	Two bombs detonated in two Birmingham pubs by the PIRA.
16 August 1980	Denmark Place fire	London, England	0037 37		An arson attack against a nightclub on Denmark Street by patron who was angry at being barred from the club for arguing with a barman.
19 August 1987	Hungerford massacre	Hungerford, England	0016 16	0015 15	Led to the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988.
21 December 1988	Lockerbie bombing	Lockerbie, Scotland	00270 270		A bombing on the Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie by Libyan terrorist Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the damaged plane fell onto the town of Lockerbie. All passengers and crew members on the flight were killed, and eleven people on the ground.
26 February 1994	Clerkenwell cinema fire	London, England	0011 11	0013 13	An arson attack against a cinema in Clerkenwell by patron who was angry at having to pay entry fee again after leaving.
13 March 1996	Dunblane massacre	Dunblane, Scotland	0017 17	0015 15	Deadliest mass shooting in UK history.
30 April 1999	Admiral Duncan nail bombing	London, England	3	79	A nail bombing at the Admiral Duncan gay bar that killed three people and injured 79. Part of a series of bombings by neo-Nazi David Copeland, although this was the only one to result in fatalities.
7 July 2005	7 July 2005 London bombings	London, England	0052 52	0700 700+	Al-Qaeda attack. Four coordinated terrorist bombings in central London between 08:50 and 09:47. It was the United Kingdom's worst terrorist incident since the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
2 June 2010	Cumbria shootings	Cumbria, England	0012 12	0011 11
1 January 2012	Horden shooting	Horden, England	4	1
22 March 2017	2017 Westminster attack	London, England	6	49	A vehicle and knife Islamist terrorist attack outside the Palace of Westminster.
22 May 2017	Manchester Arena bombing	Manchester, England	0022 23	1017	Islamist terrorist attack at Manchester Arena after an Ariana Grande concert. In May 2018, the number of injured was revised to 800.
3 June 2017	2017 London Bridge attack	London, England	0008 8	0048 48	Islamic State of Iraq and Syria attack/vehicle and knife attack.
29 November 2019	2019 London Bridge attack	London, England	0003 3	0003 3	Islamic State of Iraq and Syria knife attack. ISIS took responsibility for the attack. Usman Khan was named the attacker.
20 June 2020	2020 Reading stabbings	Reading, England	3	3	Islamic terror attack. Three people killed and three injured. Khairi Saadallah received a whole-life order for the attack.
12 August 2021	2021 Plymouth shooting	Plymouth, England	0006 6	0002 2	6 people killed including the gunman after a mass shooting in Keyham, Plymouth.

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