A 22-foot vat of fermenting porter burst.
Between 128,000 and 323,000 imperial gallons
of beer surged into the St Giles rookery.
Eight people killed.
Five of them were mourners at a wake for a two-year-old boy.
The wave destroyed the brewery's back wall and swept into
a slum neighbourhood known for its Irish immigrant population.
The wake was being held for a child named Patrick — the beer
arrived first, the mourners second, the child's body third.
“Casually, accidentally and by misfortune.”
— Coroner's inquest
— Coroner's inquest
The brewery was nearly bankrupted. HM Excise granted a rebate
on the lost beer — tax already paid on 4,000 barrels was returned.
Meux & Co survived. The Dominion Theatre now stands on the site.
After 1814, the brewing industry gradually stopped using
large wooden vats. The shift to iron and brick came in part
because a wall of beer had killed eight people in a slum.
Based on contemporary records, coroner's reports, and
Meux & Co brewery archives.