"Resolved that on the application of the residents of the neighbourhood and the owners of property, the portion of Great Victoria Street from Albion Street to Wesley Place and the new buildings from Pakenham Place to Donegall Pass, and the houses known as Oxford Buildings be named Shaftesbury Square. that Dr S. B. Coates be informed thereof". (2nd December 1886).
Surmise: named after the Earl of Shaftesbury.