Calthorpe is named after Calthorpe Street, a residential road in King’s Cross, London. Calthorpe Street was built between 1821 and 1826. It was named after Lord Calthorpe, the owner of the estate which occupied the land between Gray's Inn Road on the west, the (now lost) Fleet River on the east and Battle Bridge Field on the north (King’s Cross lies on what was formerly a village known as Battle Bridge). In 1823 Lord Calthorpe leased much of this land to Thomas Cubitt, who continued to develop his building business in the area (the Cubitts brothers building yard was a only a stone’s throw away on land now occupied by Cubitt Street and Ampton Street).