Spotlights Series: Princess Alice Disaster Tragedy on the Thames

The sinking of the Princess Alice in September 1878 remains the worst inland maritime disaster in British history, but today it has been largely forgotten. This book, part of the Museum's Spotlight series, begins with an ordinary object that tells an extraordinary story of one life narrowly spared. An unused ticket for a day trip to the Kent coast, preserved alongside a small carving from the wreck of the Princess Alice, is the starting point from which to explore the events of that fateful day, the ways in which Victorian society came to terms with the disaster and the social and environmental issues it exposed.