The Townships of South Easthope and North Easthope were named in honour of Sir John Easthope (1784-1865), who served as a director of the Canada Company, the British land company that settled the Huron Tract beginning in 1828. Easthope Township was divided in 1843.

John Easthope was a British MP and magistrate for Middlesex and Surrey. He favoured reform by peaceful, constitutional means. He was convinced that voting by secret ballot was the only way to avoid corruption and intimidation.

Easthope also believed in self-reliance and supported workhouses. A man of wealth, he supported charities and served as chairman of a London Benevolent Association and vice president of the Orphan Working School.

In his professional life, Easthope started as a bank clerk and later became a stockbroker. He served as chairman of a London Raliway Company and the Mexican Mining Company. As a Journalist, Easthope once owned the newspaper where author Charles Dickens worked as a parliamentary reporter.

The company was organized in the township in 1871, as the Mutual Fire Insurance Company of the Township of South Easthope.