Berwick-upon-Tweed. 1551 - John Dudley becomes first Duke of Northumberland. 1569 - Earl of Northumberland rebels against Elizabeth I in the Rising of the North. 1572 - The liberty of Hexham was annexed to Northumberland. 1597 - Plague kills 340 in Newcastle. 1600 1603 - Union of crowns under James I 1606 - James I transports Border Reivers to Ireland in the Plantation of Ulster. 1640 - Scottish Covenanters defeat English force in the Battle of Newburn 1649 - 14 women are convicted and executed in Newcastle witch trials. 1700 1707 - Act of Union joins the Scottish government with that of England and Wales. 1715 - Birth of Capability Brown in Kirkharle. 1745 - Scant Northumberland support for Bonnie Prince Charlie in the second Jacobite rising. 1761 - Troops in Hexham shoot 40 miners protesting against conscription. 1781 - Birth of George Stephenson in Wylam 1782 - 5th Regiment of Foot named the 5th (The Northumberland) Regiment of Foot. 1800 1800 - Bewick publishes British Birds. 1819 - Newcastle Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry raised. 1829 Stephenson's Rocket wins the Rainhill Trials. Natural History Society of Northumbria founded. 1838 - Grace Darling rescues survivors from a shipwreck off the Farne Islands. 1844 - North British Railway operated from 1844 to 1922. 1853 - Cholera epidemic kills 1,500 in Newcastle. 1854 - North Eastern Railway incorporated. 1877 - Rutherford College of Technology founded. 1891 - Population: 506,442. 1900 1901 - Population: 603,498. 1903 - Smallpox epidemic hits Newcastle. 1936 - Two hundred men march from Jarrow to London to protest about unemployment in the region. 1940 - Spitfires from RAF Acklington intercept Luftwaffe bombers off the Farne Islands. 1963 - University of Newcastle upon Tyne is established as separate institution. 1966 - Epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease strikes Northumberland farms. 1974 - The county of Tyne and Wear is created. See also History of Northumberland References Sources Stenton, F. M. (1971). Anglo-Saxon England. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Waters, I. (1999). Northumberland: England's Border Country. Contemporary Review, 275(1605), 203–210. External links Timeline of Northeast England Northumbria and Northumberland Timeline Regional timelines