At around 4 p.m., a fire broke out during scenery work at the Theatre Royal in Edinburgh and soon the building was engulfed in flame. The fire spead to the adjoining Catholic Church and several men evacuating people from inside the structures were caught by collapsing walls. Efforts to rescue them cost more lives as the church next-door began to collapse. Of the six men killed, one was the "Dean of Guild" or chief buildings magistrate of Edinburgh, George Lorimer, who died attempting a rescue. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Chronicle, The Annual Register or a View of the History and Politics of the Year 1865 (London: F. & J. Rivington, 1866), 3.