Application of William Hunter of 3 Eglinton Place to name houses at new street each side of Court House Crumlin Road "Florence Place" approved. (21 August 1867).
William Hunter:
Contemporary directories and records identify William Hunter’s occupation as a builder. In the Belfast Street Directory of 1868, for example, he is listed as “Hunter, Wm., builder, 3 Eglinton Place; res. 4 Florence Place, Crumlin Road”, he clearly resided at 4 Florence Place once the new houses were built. This listing shows that Hunter both maintained a business premises (Eglinton Place) and lived in the newly constructed Florence Place, suggesting he was the developer of that short street.
By 1868, Florence Place (off Crumlin Road) consisted of a handful of houses – Hunter himself occupying number 4 – which he had built and then named. This development, adjacent to the prominent Courthouse and Jail, indicates Hunter’s role in shaping a small part of Belfast’s urban landscape during a period of rapid city growth.
Aside from Florence Place, William Hunter’s name does not appear as a developer of large public buildings or major works, but as a local builder he likely constructed or renovated various properties. His presence in street directories of the time and involvement in naming a street underscore a level of local influence.
Genealogical sources identify William Hunter’s family and help place him in context. He married Mary (or Margaret) Coyne in Belfast in 1854 and the couple had several children. One daughter, Margaret Baron Hunter, was born 20 April 1869 at the family home, 4 Florence Place (William’s occupation on the birth record is noted as “builder”.
The use of “Baron” as a middle name hints at a family surname or relative on one side. The gap between William and Mary’s marriage (1854) and this 1869 birth suggests they may have had older children as well (for example, one source suggests at least one daughter born in the 1850s). Detailed baptism or birth records for those earlier years are sparse since civil registration of births in Ireland began only in 1864.
William’s wife, Mary (Coyne) Hunter, and their children do not prominently appear in later public documents in Belfast, which hints that the family’s fortunes were fairly private.
In contemporary directories after the 1860s, the Hunter name at Florence Place disappears, suggesting the family moved or the property was sold. By 1880, 4 Florence Place was occupied by a different family (a clerk, R. Dick. This transition hints that William Hunter may have died or retired and left Belfast by the 1870s. No will for him has been readily found in online indices up to 1900 (many Belfast wills were probated through the Belfast court and are indexed in the Ireland Will Calendars).