Victoria Park, East London

Victoria Park is a large open space that stretches out across part of the East End of London, England bordering parts of Bethnal Green, Hackney, and Bow, such as along Old Ford Road, London E3. The park is entirely within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

The People's Park

In the latter half of the 19th Century, Victoria Park became an essential amenity for the working classes of the East End. For some East End children in the 1880s, this may have been the only large stretch of uninterrupted greenery they ever encountered. Facilities like the Bathing Pond (picture right)?later superseded by the park lido?would have introduced many to swimming in an era when many public baths (like that at Shacklewell) were still simply communal washing facilities.

Related Topics:
East End - Shacklewell

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Victoria Park's reputation as the 'People's Park' grew as it became a centre for political meetings and rallies of all stripes, perhaps exceeding in importance the more well-known Hyde Park in this regard. The park occupies the interface between Tower Hamlets?sunk in poverty in the 19th century and with a strong tradition of socialist and revolutionary agitation?and Hackney, more genteel, but heir to a centuries-old legacy of religious dissent and non-conformism that led to its own fierce brand of reformism. So it should come as no surprise that the scene at the numerous Speaker's Corners was a lively one.

Related Topics:
Hyde Park - Tower Hamlets - Socialist - Hackney - Non-conformism - Reformism

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Although any one could set up their own soapbox, the biggest crowds were usually drawn to 'star' socialist speakers such as William Morris and Annie Besant.

Related Topics:
William Morris - Annie Besant

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This description by J H Rooney, correspondent for Harper's Magazine (February 1888) evokes a scene that seems to prefigure the Internet:

Related Topics:
Harper's Magazine - 1888

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:"On the big central lawn are scattered numerous groups, some of which are very closely packed. Almost all the religious sects of England and all the political and social parties are preaching their ideas and disputing

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:"On this lawn the listener, as his fancy prompts him, may assist on Malthusianism, atheism, agnosticism, secularism, Calvinism, socialism, anarchism, Salvationism, Darwinism, and even, in exceptional cases, Swedenborgianism and Mormonism. I once heard there a prophet, a man who professed to be inspired by the Holy Ghost; but this prophet ended by being locked up in an asylum, where he will have to convert the doctor before he can recover his liberty."

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Truly a marketplace of ideas, and an important one, in an era that had still not achieved universal literacy, particularly in the less wealthy parts of the East End.

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The tradition of public speaking in the park continued until well after the second world war, and was still later reflected in politically oriented rock concerts, such as those held by Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League in the 1980s. And it is still not uncommon for marches or demonstrations to begin or end in Victoria Park.

Related Topics:
Rock Against Racism - Anti-Nazi League

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