Formation of the Park
Blicke's heirs sold the house and grounds to William Evans in 1838. Evans split the grounds to the south of the house by laying out Fentiman Road. The area to the south of Fentiman Road, including parts of Rita Road, was sold to Henry Beaufoy.
In 1886/7 a speculative local developer, John Cobeldick of St. Piran's Stockwell Green, bought the area to the north (occupied by Carroun House, its gardens, and The Lawn). He proposed turning the land into housing with roads crossing it. Luckily following pressure from various people and groups, Cobeldick was persuaded to sell eight and a half acres of the land to the Metropolitan Board of Works. The land was purchased under a special Act of Parliament (The Vauxhall Park Act 1888) with money coming from various sources including:
1. London County Council (which took over from the Metropolitan Board of Works)
2. Lambeth Vestry (a governing body of a parish made up from parishioners0
3. Charity Commissioners
4. Mark Beaufoy MP
5. Other local Subscriptions
Technically the ownership of the land was passed to the Lambeth Vestry for £43,500 in May 1889, but the real drive behind the formation of the park came from some influential people notably:
Henry Fawcett (1833-1884) lived at No 8 The Lawn. It was Fawcett's special wish to form a park on the site. Fawcett was a Member of Parliament, an educational reformer, and an economist. He became blind at the age of 25 when his father's shot gun accidentally discharged whilst they were partridge shooting. This mishap did not stop him becoming Postmaster General. During his time he inaugurated the parcel post, improved the system for postal orders, the Savings Bank and insurance. He also did much to encourage the Post Office to employ women.
It was Fawcett's special wish to form a park on the site of his home so after his death in 1884, his widow Millicent Fawcett co-operated with Octavia Hill and the Kyrle Society in the formation of the Park.
Millicent Garrett Fawcett (1847-1929) was the daughter of Newson Garrett, a ship owner and radical and the younger sister of the pioneering woman physician and educator Elizabeth Garrett Anderson. She married Henry when she was 20 but quickly became involved in the women's suffrage movement and gave her first speech on the subject in 1868. She was not a militant suffragette like Emmeline Pankhurst but became president of the National Union of Woman's Suffrage Societies in 1897. Millicent was a founder of Newnham College, Cambridge (established 1871). In 1901 she led an inquiry into the condition of women and children held in internment camps during the Boer War. She received the Grand Cross, Order of the British Empire in 1925 and wrote several books.
Octavia Hill (1838-1912) was a gifted art student from a poor but prominent radical family. She found her calling as a housing reformer when in 1865 the art critic John Ruskin purchased three houses to be rented to working-class tenants. Hill renovated and managed these houses and devoted the rest of her life to improving the morals and material conditions of the poor. She eventually managed about 1900 flats and houses, encouraging her tenants to work and save hard whenever they could. She was prepared to evict non-payers or those who lead 'clearly immoral lives'. A thoughtful and caring person, she took great care in placing tenants and did not place two bad people side by side or a terribly bad person next to a very respectable one. This judgmental approach may not be thought acceptable today but Hill directly improved the lot of thousands of people. Her influence was not just limited to housing, for example she was one of the leading lights in the open-space movement leading her on to be one of the founders of the National Trust. Perhaps more importantly for Vauxhall Park she was also the Treasurer of the Kyrle Society.
As far as I can tell the Kyrle Society 'for bringing beauty home to the people' no longer exists; but it was founded in 1878. It was named after John Kyrle (1637 - 1724) who lived very modestly on the income from his estate so he could devote his surplus money to charity. The Society's aims included the decorating the walls of hospitals, school-rooms, mission-rooms, cottages etc.; the cultivation of small open spaces, window-gardening, the love of flowers, etc.; and improving the artistic taste of the poorer classes. Apart from Hill the Society's members included, the Duke of Edinburgh (President), Princess Louise (Vice-President), Lt. General R.H. Keatinge, Lt. Gen. J.J. McLeod Innes and Thomas S. Tanner.
The Society paid £2000 for draining, fencing and laying out the park. They employed Fanny R Wilkinson, one of the few women landscape gardeners of her time, to design and supervise the work. Although the original proposals were for a formal garden with straight main paths crossing at a bandstand in the middle, Fanny's design was less formal. She implemented two main paths, meeting at a right angle at a statue of Henry Fawcett, together with a series of winding paths bordered by groups of trees, plants and shrubs. The cost of this work all but depleted the Kyrle Society's accounts, and an appeal for further funds, to carry out similar work elsewhere, had to be made after the opening of Vauxhall Park.
The Kyrle Society's architect and surveyor C. Harrison Townsend (Horniman Museum and the Whitechapel Art Gallery) designed the entrance gates and railings but sadly only some of the entrance piers survive. In addition to the statue the park also had a shelter in the south-eastern corner.
The park was one of the first to be opened by the newly formed London County Council. Albert Edward Prince of Wales, in the presence of the Duke of Edinburgh; Princess Louise (Marchioness of Lorne); The Princess of Wales and the Princesses Victoria and Maud and the Archbishop of Caterbury, formally opened at 5.30pm on 7th July 1890. The guard of honour was made up from the Fourth Volunteer Battalion West Surrey Regiment. The paths which were 'kept' by Lambeth friendly societies and the local working Men's Committee were thronged with spectators waving banners.
Mark Beaufoy (M.P. for Kennington & owner of the Vinegar Factory south of the Park) guaranteed to pay the maintenance of the park for the first three years and to pay interest on a loan used to purchase the land.
The Rise and Fall of the Park
Although the other buildings in the park were demolished Henry's house was left standing - probably to become a museum but it was eventually demolished in 1891. The contents from the house raised £75.10s (£75.50) which was accepted by Sir Henry Doulton for "a very fine Fountain made of Doulton Ware". The fountain was worth nearer £250 but Doulton 'just happened to have it on hand'.
More importantly Doulton donated a statue of Henry Fawcett and this was erected on the site of his house. It was modelled by the sculptor George Tinworth (1843 -1913) and made at Doulton's Lambeth factory. Tinworth was noted for his reliefs so it is not surprising that the statue stood on a pedestal with relief panels depicting Justice, Good and Bad News, Sympathy, Courage, Truth, India and the Post Office. It was unveiled on 7th June 1893 by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Unfortunately the statute was removed in the 1960s but its head is reportedly preserved in the Henry Fawcett Junior School. A drinking fountain with a model of Fawcett's head survives in the Victoria Embankment Gardens. The question remains what happened to the pedestal panels?
In 1894, Henry Lloyd of Caterham provided the park with its first children's playground. This consisting of horizontal and parallel bars, and hand rings for boys. The girls had inclined planes and a seesaw and both sexes had swings.
The 1914 Ordnance Survey map shows that the park contained:
1. The Fawcett Statue
2. Bandstand (replaying the 'playing' fountain)
3. Tennis Court (on the current Bowling Green)
4. Drinking Fountain
5. Gymnasium (probably the Lloyd Children's Playground)
6. Lavatory (probably female conveniences - original proposals made July 1900)
7. Urinal
Later the park could boast two tennis courts, an open-air theatre, two bowling greens covered in Cumberland turf, and refreshment facilities. The model village to north of the rose arbour was probably created in the 1930s. The models were made of concrete and are badly in need of repair. At least one of the miniature houses has disappeared with rumours that it has materialised in another Lambeth Park!
The metal park railings were taken down during the Second World War, supposedly to be melted down and turned into Spitfires (aircraft) or was it battleships? Apparently the council was paid £52 for the metal but in the end the railings were never used for this purpose. In 1949 the park hosted an open air theatre which was well attended.
Model Village, Vauxhall Park c.1950
The bandstand went in the 1960s and one of the two bowling greens has become a rose arbour. In 1967 there were plans for a putting green. The 'Victorian' fountain is a relatively modern feature as are the black 'Victorian' cast iron rectilinear arches near the toddler's area.
By 1965 the park had a dedicated children's toilet which was built by the Direct Labour Organisation at a cost of £6000. The artist Tony Holloway covered it using a mosaic of broken tiles in a bold design meant to appeal to children. The current toilet block was erected in the early sixties but closed in the 1990s as part of an economy drive.
Until 1967 (1971?) Vauxhall Park was the largest park owned by Lambeth Borough Council and traditionally a floral badge was planted every summer near the South Lambeth Road entrance.
