Tyneside - Geordies

Geordies

The people of the Tyneside area are called "Geordies" and are noted for their distinctive dialect and accent. Tynesiders may have been given this name, a local diminutive of the name "George", because their miners used George Stephenson's safety lamp (called a "Georgie lamp") to prevent firedamp explosions, rather than the Davy lamp used elsewhere. An alternative explanation is that during the Jacobite risings they declared their allegiance to the Hanoverian kings of Great Britain George I and George II; whereas the rest of the county of Northumberland, to the north, was loyal to James Francis Edward Stuart.