And you thought THIS eruption was nasty! When an Icelandic volcano erupted in 1783, many feared it was the end of the world..

Daily Mail
"AT 9am on Sunday, June 8, 1783, a long fissure opened up on Laki in southern Iceland and began spewing lava and volcanic ash from 130 small craters. It was not the type of dramatic explosion the word 'volcano' is typically associated with, but it was just as significant.Laki may not have been a cone propelling white hot magma thousands of metres into the sky, but its reach was astonishing. For while the lava flow caused comparatively little damage, the clouds of sulphur dioxide and fluorine it emitted were lethal.It erupted ten times between June and October and the noxious cloud was continually replenished throughout that time. The 120 million tonnes of toxic dust pumped into the atmosphere engulfed the whole of Europe and amounted to three times the average annual industrial pollution of the entire Continent in 2006.It was this that created the choking haze and nauseous, sulphurous stench. And in the lower atmosphere the sulphur dioxide dissolved in water vapour to produce sulphurous acid, which then fell as acid rain. .....Recent analysis of climate detail and burial records shows eastern and central England saw their death tolls rise most. And even when the fog finally began to dissipate, the gases in the atmosphere continued to divert the sun's rays, precipitating a period of global cooling and the abnormally cold winter of 1783/4 which saw temperatures hit their lowest level for centuries.Mercury levels were typically two degrees celsius below the norm and Selborne in Hampshire experienced 28 continuous days of frost."