In 1862 Victoria was described as:

The largest town north of San Francisco; population 4 000 to 5 000, or about four-fifths of the entire population of the colony. Four years ago it was a trading post of the Hudson Bay Company, and contained about 250 people. ¹²

Population growth and urbanisation were the impetus’ behind the Park Movement and Victoria was no exception to these forces. The increase in property values led people to live in crowded houses near to industrial centres the problem was compounded with poor sewage facilities.

Park land became a premium. In 1861 the British Colonist called for an extension of Beacon Hill Park:

We don’t like the idea of our citizens surrounding themselves eternally with the smell of the shop, or see them choking in the dusty and smokey atmosphere of the town, or sneezing away the noxious effluvia caused by the want of a municipal sanitary Board. We are in favour of everybody semi-occasionally taking a ride or a walk through Beacon Hill Park, either to inhale the sea breeze, admire the scenery, pluck the flowers and enjoy their aroma, listen to the warbling of the songsters of the forest, strengthen their muscle, fill their lungs with purer oxygen, walk or trot, gallop or run, or spread themselves out on the turf gipsy-like. ¹³

Read the whole article here:

Beacon Hill Park, however, far exceeded in size the regulations set by the British Enclosure Act. In 1845 the General Enclosure Act required that land was to be set aside for recreation according to size of population. Five acres for a population of 2- 5000 and 4 acres for a poulation under 2 000. ¹⁴ Needless to say the calls for a larger park went unanswered.

The Park Movement has been associated with the "Victorian ‘aptitude for passionate reform.’" ¹⁵ Parks were seen to be a tool to improve the moral condition of certain citizens. It was thought that parks could be a levelling ground where the working classes could learn from the upper classes. ¹⁶ This attitude can be seen in the British Colonist article where "everybody" who uses the Park works in a shop. Surely James Douglas, the Governor who occasioned a visit to Beacon Hill, did not work in a shop and was not subject to the sanitary problems that residents of crowded housing were subject to. The sports that people were permitted to play within the park were also a reflection of the Victorian morals. Cricket was a game with very middle class associations.

"Queen Victoria's Birthday Celebration in Beacon Hill Park, 1862" Courtesy of BC Archives A-02884