24 March

Elizabeth I dies and James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England.

Gunpowder Plot Executed

Thirty-six barrels of powder under the House of Lords, an anonymous letter, and a man called 'John Johnson' with a lantern: the plot behind Bonfire Night.

She is hanged at Durham County Gaol by William Calcraft.

Mary Ann Cotton Executed

A County Durham nurse buried husbands, children and a lover to 'gastric fever'. A seven-year-old stepson's death finally brought arsenic to light.