BRIEF HISTORY DURING THE SNOW ERA (1813-58)

This square takes its name from Belgrave, a small village on the outskirts of Leicester where the owners of the land, the Grosvenor family had an estate.  In 1826, Earl Grosvenor obtained an Act of Parliament which enabled him to build on the land. The house at No. 36 was rented by Queen Victoria for her mother, the Duchess of Kent, while apartments were being prepared for her at the Kensington Palace.  Henry Labouchere (1831–1912), the prominent English journalist and politician, lived at No. 27 in 1854 while serving in the British diplomatic corps.  Later he sat in the House of Commons as a Liberal (1865, 1867-68) and as a Radical (1880-1906).

Source: Weinreb B, Hibbert C (eds). The London Encyclopaedia, 1993.