What is the origin of the word 'janner' for a Plymothian (UK)?
Posted by Tony on November 25, 2000
In Reply to: What is the origin of Geordie? posted by Bruce Kahl on February 18, 2000
: : Why are people from Newcastle (In the North East of England) called Geordies?
: Pasted from the link below:
: The most attractive historical explanation for why Newcastle people are called `Geordies', takes us back to the eighteenth century and the time of the first Jacobite rising which took place in 1715. In the previous year George I, a German protestant, had been appointed as King of England, Scotland and Wales despite the strong claims of the Catholic James Stuart, who was known as `The Old Pretender'.
: The claims of Stuart were strongly supported by a large army of Scottish and Northumbrian people called the Jacobites who plotted a rising in Northumberland against the new king under the leadership of General Tom Forster of Bamburgh. Recruits joined Tom Forster, from all parts of Northumberland and every town in the county was visited by Forster's army. All the Northumbrian towns declared support for the Jacobites withthe one major and very important exception of Newcastle on the Tyne, which closed its gates to Forster's men.
: Newcastle's trade and livelihood depended so vitally on royal approval that its merchants and gentry could not risk becoming involved in a plot against the new king. There were some Jacobite sympathisers in the town, especially among the working classes, but officially the Newcastle folk had to declare for King `Geordie'. Newcastle's standing as a supporter of King Geordie angered the Jacobites who may well have given the Newcastle people their famous nickname Newcastle people were Geordie's they were the supporters of King George.