Why Sydney?
Originally the park was called Sydney Gardens Vauxhall, after the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens in London. It is thought that the Pulteney family renamed the gardens after Thomas Townshend, First Viscount Sydney (1733 - 1800) in an attempt to win political favour
He was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Sydney:
Originally the park was called Sydney Gardens Vauxhall, after the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens in London. It is thought that the Pulteney family renamed the gardens after Thomas Townshend, First Viscount Sydney (1733 - 1800) in an attempt to win political favour
He was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Sydney:
- The cities of Sydney in Nova Scotia, Canada and Sydney, New South Wales, Australia were named in his honour in 1785 and 1788 respectively
- There is no evidence that Viscount Sydney ever visited the gardens
- Admiral Arthur Philip was the first Governor of New South Wales and he set up the first penal colony in Australia in 1788
- He is buried in Bathampton and has a memorial plaque in Bath Abbey
