Place name
Laid out over the site of what was Honey Lane Market. The earliest reference to Russia Row is in The Times, August 8, 1804 in a dividends announcement. By 1810 it was established enough to feature in Lockie’s Topography of London. Sheila Fairfield in The Streets of London says this was “presumably as a ‘row’ of traders as in Leadenhall Market”. It is often suggested that the name came about in honour of the alliance between Britain and Russia against Napoleon. But since the War of the Third Coalition – in which Britain joined by Russia, Austria and Sweden fought the French – did not occur until 1805 it seems unlikely.
