History
Portland Street was named after William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1783 and between 1807 and 1809. It is unclear why the street was bestowed in his honour although, as a former British colony, many of Hong Kong's streets and institutions were named in memory of prominent English historic and political figures. Surrounding streets with similarly naming scheme include Pitt Street, Bute Street, Arran Street, Hamilton Street, Dundas Street and Waterloo Road.
There is a street in London named Great Portland Street although it is unclear whether there is any relation or relevance to Portland Street in Hong Kong. There is also a street in Edinburgh named Portland Street which is not far from a Pitt Street and a Dundas Street – although again it is not clear if there is any relevance to the Hong Kong Portland Street.
Read more about this topic: Portland Street
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“There is a history in all men’s lives,
Figuring the natures of the times deceased,
The which observed, a man may prophesy,
With a near aim, of the main chance of things
As yet not come to life.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of freedom.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“We don’t know when our name came into being or how some distant ancestor acquired it. We don’t understand our name at all, we don’t know its history and yet we bear it with exalted fidelity, we merge with it, we like it, we are ridiculously proud of it as if we had thought it up ourselves in a moment of brilliant inspiration.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)