On the application of Messrs. Johnston & Carlisle, your committee have authorised a new street, from Crumlin Rond to Shankhill Road, to be named Cambrai Street". Minutes of the Improvement Committee, (Northern Whig - Thursday 02 January 1862).
An article headed 'American war will make the fortunes of the Belfast people' from the News Letter, August 16, 1864 indicates that Johnston and Carlisle had started a linen mill in 1850. It is clear that the "Cambrai streets" take their name from this linen connection. Cambrai is a city in Picardy, France, where Cambric, a particularly fine form of linen, was originally made.