Victoria Park

| type = Act | parliament = Parliament of the United Kingdom | long_title = An Act to extend an Act passed in the Fourth and Fifth Years of Her present Majesty, for enabling Her Majesty's Commissioners of Woods to purchase certain Lands for Victoria Park. | year = 1842 | citation = 5 & 6 Vict. c. 20 | introduced_commons = | introduced_lords = | territorial_extent = | royal_assent = 13 May 1842 | commencement = | expiry_date = | repeal_date = | amends = | replaces = | amendments = | repealing_legislation = | related_legislation = | status = | legislation_history = | theyworkforyou = | millbankhansard = | original_text = | revised_text = | use_new_UK-LEG = | UK-LEG_title = | collapsed = yes…

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 Facilities like the Bathing Pond (picture right) —later superseded by the park lido—would have introduced many to swimming in an era when many public baths (like that at Shacklewell) were still simply communal washing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. Victoria Park's reputation as the 'People's Park' grew as it became a centre for political meetings and rallies, perhaps exceeding in importance than the more well-known Hyde Park in this regard. The park occupies…