Derby - Which streets are named after people?

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The naming of streets and roads is something it is all too easy to take for granted. Much less easy is the task faced by property developers and local authorities in allocating appropriate names to the countless thoroughfares created over the years.

This is especially so in times of rapid expansion - consider, for example, the late nineteenth century, when outlying areas of Derby such as Litchurch and Normanton mushroomed at a phenomenal rate. Every new street which was pitched had to have a different name - no wonder developers often resorted to fairly obscure means of christening them. As a consequence, quite a few Derby thoroughfares are named after members of the builder's family!

The same difficulty arose in the 1950s when many Council Estates around Derby were developed, and again in the 1970s when the building of large private housing estates became particularly prevalent.

So that's why roads have been named after poets, artists, battles, lakes, villages, golf courses, castles, race tracks, trees, flowers, birds, - the scope is limitless, only bounded by the developer's imagination and a requirement to preserve a sense of dignity. Believe it or not it 'has' been known for local authorities to refuse to sanction a developer's suggested name on grounds of obscenity!

One category of street name holds a particular curiosity - they are the 'eponymous' ones, those named in honour of people.

An initial list of some of these appears below. To add to it just click on the 'edit' link at the top of this page.

ALBANY ROAD off Kingsway - after Queen Victoria's son HRH Prince Leopold, who was created Duke of Albany in 1881.

ASHCROFT CLOSE in Alvaston - after the English actress Dame Peggy Ashcroft (1907-1991).

BRIAN CLOUGH WAY - the A52 Derby to Nottingham road named after the inimitable manager of the Rams and Forest.

BALFOUR ROAD in Pear Tree - after Arthur Balfour (1848-1930), Conservative Prime Minister 1902 to 1905.

BARLOW STREET in Litchurch - after William Henry Barlow (1812-1902), civil engineer to the Midland Railways, famous for designing the vaulted roof of the iconic 'train shed' at St. Pancras Station.

BRIGDEN STREET in the Osmaston area - after Alderman George Brigden JP (1842-1928), Mayor of Derby from 1911 to 1912 and founder of the well-known gents' outfitters 'Brigdens'.

CAESAR STREET in Little Chester - after Roman dictator Julius Caesar (106-44 BC) to mark the proximity of the street to the site of the former Roman settlement Derventio.

CARNEGIE STREET in Pear Tree - after the Scots-American millionaire Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919), whose fortune provided two libraries in Derby close to the time the street was pitched in 1903.

CLARENCE ROAD in New Normanton - after Edward VII's eldest son, HRH Prince Albert, 1st Duke of Clarence & Avondale (1864-1892), who had died not long before the road was pitched.

FRENCH STREET in New Normanton - after General Sir John 'Johnny' French (1852-1925), a dashing Boer War commander knighted in 1900, three years before the road was pitched.

GARRICK STREET in the Crewton area - after the celebrated Lichfield-born actor David Garrick (1717-1779)

GLADSTONE STREET in New Normanton - after the Liberal Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898), who was Prime Minister four times between 1868 and 1894.

GOWER STREET in Derby - originally known as Blood Alley, it was renamed after William Leveson Gower, who served as an MP from 1847 to 1852. It is said that his name should be pronounced 'Looson Gore'!

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