Historian and academic suggests this street may be called after Henry George Bathurst, Lord Apsley (1790-1866). The 1863-1864 Belfast And Province Of Ulster Directory lists Bathurst Court.This is one of a number of streets off Dublin Road which commemorate pro-Union peers. The group includes Salisbury, Ashburne, Ventry, Pakenham and Hartington.
The name was approved on 01/11/1870 (Belfast Council Minutes, cited in IHTA xvii, 9). A report in the Belfast Telegraph on Monday 01 May 1871 refers to permission being given to Mr Robert McCaul for two houses and a shop at the corner of Apsley Street and Rainey Street which indicates the street is being developed around this time.