Place Name
Previously Vernon Street and later Upper Vernon Street. Arthur Robert Prideaux (1857 – May 9, 1932) was a director of the New River Company, on which this street was built. John Booth’s estate plan of 1819 already allowed for a short street here which would eventually connect up with future streets on the New River estate. It was originally called Vernon Street but in 1933 the London County Council (LCC) changed it to Upper Vernon Street as it sought to reduce duplication in the capital’s street names, which was creating confusion for the city’s Post Office and deliverymen. But two years later the LCC decided to go one step further and rid many names of their prefixes. Prideaux, a solicitor, had been a long-standing director of the New River Company, joining in 1889, and was also chairman of the Assam Company. When he died he left a tenth of his £60,000 fortune to various charities.
