Lindsay Street

Lindsay Street
Location: Ormeau / Donegall Pass area
Date named: c. 1862–1864
First directory appearance: by 1868
Origin of name: Likely named for the Lindsay family, 19th-century Belfast merchants and linen manufacturers

Lindsay Street was laid out during Belfast’s mid-19th-century expansion southwards from the city centre toward the Ormeau Road. A Northern Whig notice of 2 March 1864 lists it among streets scheduled for new public lamps, confirming that it was already formed and named by that date. The 1861 directory makes no mention of it, fixing its creation to the early 1860s.

By 1868, Lindsay Street appears in the Belfast street directories, running from Ormeau Road to Craigmore Street and containing more than a hundred terraced houses. The street’s name derives from the Lindsay family, active in Belfast commerce and industry—particularly James Lindsay & Co., established about 1860, and Robert Lindsay, partner in the linen firm Lindsay, Thompson & Co. Naming new streets after such developers or civic figures was common in the Victorian period.

Through the 20th century, major redevelopment reshaped the district. Extensive clearance in the 1960s–70s removed most of the original housing, leaving only a short remnant of Lindsay Street between Charlotte Street and Maryville Street. Though reduced in length, the street name endures as a reminder of Belfast’s Victorian growth and the Lindsay family’s contribution to the city’s commercial life.