Place Name
Charles Compton, 1st Marquess of Northampton, owned much of the land around Clerkenwell, and when it was developed named many of the new streets after himself or family connections. In 1787 he married Maria Smith, daughter of Joshua Smith MP and director of the East India Company, of Erlestoke Park, in Wiltshire. The road was originally called Upper Smith Street after his bride but it was changed in 1935 to its present name, a corruption – or spelling error – of Ms Smith’s family home.
