 The flammability of the crinoline was widely reported. It is estimated that, during the late 1850s and late 1860s in England, about 3,000 women were killed in crinoline-related fires. One such incident, the death of a 14-year-old kitchenmaid called Margaret Davey was reported in The Times on 13 February 1863. Her dress, "distended by a crinoline," ignited as she stood on the fender of the fireplace to reach some spoons on the mantelpiece, and she died as a result of extensive burns. The Deputy-Coroner, commenting that he was "astonished to think that the mortality from such a fashion was not brought more conspicuously under the notice of the Registrar-General," passed a verdict of "Accidental death by fire, caused through crinoline." A similar case was reported later that year, when 16-year-old Emma Musson died after a piece of burning coke rolled from the kitchen fire to ignite her crinoline. A month later, on 8 December 1863, a serious fire at the Church of the Company of Jesus in Santiago, Chile, killed between two and three thousand people. The severity of the death toll is credited in part to the large amounts of flammable fabric that made up the women's crinoline dresses. Two notable victims of crinoline fires were William Wilde's illegitimate daughters, Emily and Mary, who died in November 1871 of burns sustained after their evening gowns caught fire. Slaveykov reported in 1864 that over the last 14 years, at least 39,927 women worldwide had died in crinoline-related fires, opining that it was more deadly than the practice of sati or the auto-da-fé. Although flame-retardant fabrics were available, these were thought unattractive and were unpopular.
