Belgrave Square is one of the grandest and largest 19th century squares in London, England. It is the centrepiece of Belgravia, and was laid out by the property contractor Thomas Cubitt for the 2nd Earl Grosvenor, later the 1st Marquess of Westminster, in the 1820s. Most of the houses were occupied by 1840. The square takes its name from one of the Duke of Westminster's subsidiary titles, Viscount Belgrave. The village of Belgrave, Cheshire is two miles (3 km) from the Grosvenor family's main country seat of Eaton Hall.

The original scheme consisted of four terraces, each made up of eleven grand white stuccoed houses, apart from the south east terrace, which has twelve; detached mansions in three of the corners; and a private central garden. The numbering is clockwise from the north: NW terrace Nos. 1 to 11; west corner mansion No. 12; SW terrace 13-23; south corner mansion No. 24; SE terrace Nos. 25-36; east corner mansion No. 37; NE terrace Nos. 38-48. There is also slightly later detached house at the northern corner, No. 49, which was built in by Cubitt for Sidney Herbert in 1851. The terraces were designed by George Basevi and are possibly the grandest houses ever built in London on a speculative basis. The largest of the corner mansions, Seaford House in the east corner, was designed by Philip Hardwick, and the one in the west corner was designed by Robert Smirke. The square features statues of Christopher Columbus, Simón Bolívar, José de San Martín, Prince Henry the Navigator, and the 1st Marquess of Westminster, a bust of George Basevi, and a sculpture entitled Homage to Leonardo, the Vitruvian Man, by Italian sculptor Enzo Plazzotta.

Thomas Pitt (5 July 1653 – 28 April 1726), born at Blandford Forum, Dorset, to a rector and his wife, was a British merchant involved in trade with India.

He at first came into conflict with the British East India Company, however this was settled and the company appointed him governor of Fort St. George, Madras. He is known as "Diamond" Pitt for his purchase of and profit from an extraordinary diamond. He was the grandfather and great-grandfather of the Prime Ministers William Pitt the Elder and William Pitt the Younger.

These native governors (Subedars and Nawabs) have the knack of tramping upon us and extorting what they please of our estate from us...they will never forbid doing so till we have made them sensible of our power.

In 1674, Pitt went to India with the British East India Company, however he soon began trading for himself as an 'interloper' in defiance of the East India Company's legal monopoly on Indian trade. Upon his return to England he was fined £400 for his actions, although by that time Pitt was already very wealthy and could easily afford the fine. He then proceeded to buy the manor of Stratford and its surrounding borough Old Sarum. With that acquisition he gained a seat in the House of Commons, as that was a rotten borough. It was a purchase that would have a significant effect on British history, as the seat would pass to Pitt's rather influential descendants. Pitt returned to India, and eventually was hired by the British East India Company.

Anne Perry (born 28 October 1938) is an English author of historical detective fiction. Perry was convicted of the murder of her friend's mother in 1954.

Born Juliet Marion Hulme in Blackheath, London, the daughter of Dr. Henry Hulme, an English physicist, Perry was diagnosed with tuberculosis as a child and sent to the Caribbean and South Africa in hopes that a warmer climate would improve her health. She rejoined her family when her father took a position as Rector of the University of Canterbury, New Zealand when she was 13. She attended Christchurch Girls' High School, then located in what became the Cranmer Centre.

Together with her school friend Pauline Parker, Hulme murdered Parker's mother, Honora Rieper, in June 1954. Hulme's parents were in the process of separating, and she was supposed to go to South Africa to stay with a relative. The two teenage girls, who had created a rich fantasy life together populated with famous actors such as James Mason and Orson Welles, did not want to be separated. They had hoped to go to England with Hulme's father after the divorce.