Sir Sydney Waterlow, 1st Baronet

Sir Sydney Hedley Waterlow, 1st Baronet, KCVO (1 November 1822 – 3 August 1906) was an English philanthropist and politician, principally remembered now for donating Waterlow Park to the public as "a garden for the gardenless".

He was born in Finsbury, and brought up in Mile End, and apprenticed as a stationer and printer, and worked in the family firm, a large printing company employing over two thousand people. From that he moved into finance, and was director of the Union Bank of London.

He was a commissioner at the Great Exhibition in 1851, and a juror at the Paris International Exhibition in 1867 for which he was knighted.

He started his political career as a councillor in 1857 (when he introduced telegraph links between police stations). In 1863 he became an alderman. This is when his philanthropic works began. He was chairman of the Improved Industrial Dwellings Company in 1863, and worked for many other charities.

He was Lord Mayor of London from 1872-1873, and was made a baronet on 4 August 1873.

In 1872 he gave Lauderdale House (now in Waterlow Park) to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and in 1889 he gave the surrounding park to the London County Council. His former house next to the park, Fairseat, is now Channing Junior School.

He was a Liberal Member of Parliament for Dumfriesshire from 1868 to 1869, for Maidstone from 1874-1880 and Gravesend from 1880-1885.

External links

* [http://www.waterlow.stamps.org.uk/sirsydney.htm 19th century biography]
* [http://www.london-city-history.org.uk/select-biography.asp?frm1Name=835&submit=Go%21&frmHidden=Action Biography]