University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 1993 Public Parks in Urban Britain, 1870-1920: Creating a New Public Culture Nan Hesse Dreher University of Pennsylvania Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Dreher, Nan Hesse, "Public Parks in Urban Britain, 1870-1920: Creating a New Public Culture" (1993). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 2673. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2673 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2673 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Public Parks in Urban Britain, 1870-1920: Creating a New Public Culture Abstract Rapid urbanization in early Victorian Britain induced citizens to envision new kinds of public space in the city. Citing sanitary and moral motives, private associations developed popular support, pressed local governments and succeeded in creating numerous urban public parks by the late nineteenth century. New public parks in London, Birmingham and Bath stimulated a broad written discourse, nurtured civic pride and played an integral role in urban leisure. Yet government and open space society records, the press, guidebooks and novels show that these new public spaces also posed a fundamental dilemma. Should public parks foster the development of the ideal citizen, or should they accommodate all comers? Differences of class and gender stimulated conflicts angingr from the demarcation of public boundaries to exclude workers or verminous persons from parks, to disputes about respectability, temperance, religion, sports, sexual indecency and politics in park use. Subtle rituals of social display enabled parkgoers to define semi-private zones within the context of broad social interaction in public space. Other new developments in public life produced feelings of consensus among park users. Revitalized public ceremonies such as jubilees, coronations and park openings involved parkgoers as participants and built new traditions of community and citizenship. Comparisons of British and foreign parks bolstered national pride and made parks symbols of the nation, while botanical and zoological gardens advertised imperial variety and incorporated the British Empire into public culture. World War I forced public parks into a dual role, as exemplars of the war effort with soldiers, trenches and vegetable gardens, and as pastoral refuges from the war, focusing attention on parks' contribution to the nation. Throughout this period, parkgoers transformed not only parks but their own social and political relationships, constructing a broader definition of the urban public expressed through the language of citizenship. By 1920, public parks had transcended their initial conception as lungs for the urban body to act as icons of a more dynamic and democratic public culture in British cities. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group History First Advisor Lynn Hollen Lees Subject Categories History This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2673 PUBLIC PARKS IN URBAN BRITAIN, 1870-1920: CREATING A NEW PUBLIC CULTURE Nan Hesse Dreher A DISSERTATION in History Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 1993 P. Supervisor of Dissertation Graduate Group Chairperson COPYRIGHT NAN HESSE DREHER 1993 To George ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would especially like to thank Lynn Hollen Lees and Lynn Hunt at the University of Pennsylvania for their invaluable suggestions and encouragement. Thomas Childers at the University of Pennsylvania, Karl Ittmann at the Uni­ versity of Houston and Martin Wiener at Rice University commented on some preliminary material. I have also benefited from presentation of portions of this dissertation at the North American and Western Conferences on British Studies, Rice University, the Social Science History Association, the Southwest Social Science Association, and the University of Houston. Archivists at the following British collections assisted in my research: Bath Reference Library, Birmingham Central Library, British Library, Greater London Record Office, Guildhall (Bath), Guildhall (London), Institute for Historical Research (University of London), Marylebone Record Office, National Trust, Public Record Office, Swiss Cottage Library and University of Birmingham Library. Dissertation funding was provided by the University of Pennsylvania and the Council for European Studies at Columbia University. Finally, my family and friends have supported me throughout this project. ABSTRACT PUBLIC PARKS IN URBAN BRITAIN, 1870-1920: CREATING A NEW PUBLIC CULTURE NAN HESSE DREHER LYNN HOLLEN LEES Rapid urbanization in early Victorian Britain induced citizens to envision new kinds of public space in the city. Citing sanitary and moral motives, private associations developed popular support, pressed local governments and succeeded in creating numerous urban public parks by the late nineteenth century. New public parks in London, Bir­ mingham and Bath stimulated a broad written discourse, nurtured civic pride and played an integral role in urban leisure. Yet government and open space society records, the press, guidebooks and novels show that these new public spaces also posed a fundamental dilemma. Should public parks foster the development of the ideal citizen, or should they accommodate all comers? Differences of class and gender stimulated conflicts ranging from the demarcation of public boundaries to exclude workers or verminous persons from parks, to disputes about respectability, temperance, religion, sports, sexual indecency and politics in park use. Subtle rituals of social display enabled parkgoers to define semi-private zones within the context of broad social v interaction in public space. Other new developments in public life produced feelings of consensus among park users. Revitalized public ceremonies such as jubilees, coronations and park openings involved parkgoers as participants and built new traditions of community and citizenship. Com­ parisons of British and foreign parks bolstered national pride and made parks symbols of the nation, while botanical and zoological gardens advertised imperial variety and incorporated the British Empire into public culture. World War I forced public parks into a dual role, as exemplars of the war effort with soldiers, trenches and vegetable gardens, and as pastoral refuges from the war, focusing attention on parks' contribution to the nation. Throughout this period, parkgoers transformed not only parks but their own social and political relationships, constructing a broader definition of the urban public expressed through the language of citizenship. By 1920, public parks had trans­ cended their initial conception as lungs for the urban body to act as icons of a more dynamic and democratic public culture in British cities. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Chapter 2: The Open Space Movement and Park Creation 28 Chapter 3: Conflict in the Public and the Park 87 Chapter 4: Social Display in Public Parks 154 Chapter 5: Public Ceremonies, Public Space 206 Chapter 6: Nation and Empire 260 Chapter 7: World War I 311 Chapter 8: Conclusion 371 Appendix: Abbreviations 379 Bibliography of Works Cited 380 Index 397 vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Visions of fresh air and sunlight exerted a powerful influence on residents of the rapidly expanding and in­ dustrializing cities of early Victorian Britain, contrasting sharply with the smoke and noise of belching factories and the crowded, filthy slums around them. In an age of self- help and social activism, particularly among the middle classes, urban citizens acted vigorously to make this image of restorative nature a reality within their cities. As private individuals, as members of reform societies, and as officials in local and national government, Victorian Bri­ tons helped ensure that public parks became an integral part of city geography and city life by the end of the nineteenth century. Public parks offered potential solutions to numerous urban crises by the 1840s. Fresh air might prevent cholera epidemics and compensate for primitive sanitary systems. Open spaces could alleviate overcrowding of inadequate housing, and provide room for exercise to build stronger bodies. New leisure activities in parks might tempt workers away from pubs, while as citizens of all classes gathered to enjoy their new public spaces, the very publicity of their leisure could hold all to higher moral standards. Flowers, green grass and trees could provide aesthetic relief from 1 the drab filthiness of the city, and the introduction of new parks might even stimulate economic development around them. All these motives inspired members of what came to be called the "open space movement" in the second half of the nineteenth century. Park supporters lobbied wealthy individuals to donate land, organized neighborhood sub­ scription campaigns and pressed government bodies to purchase new parks. Their cause elicited broad support from the press and from members of the public. Public parks opened in nearly every British city by 1870, stimulating a wide written discourse and bolstering civic pride. At the same time, legislation like the Bank Holiday Act in 1871 created more leisure time in which urban residents could use parks. These