Victorian London - Entertainment and Recreation - Gardens and Spas - Botanic Society Gardens

BOTANIC GARDENS, INNER CIRCLE, REGENT'S PARK, about 18 acres in extent, are tastefully laid out and maintained at the expense of the Royal Botanical Society of London - a Society founded and incorporated in 1839, for the Promotion of Botany in all its branches. The Conservatory (designed by Decimus Burton) affords space for 2000 visitors. Three Exhibitions are held annually, in the months of May, June and July, when nearly 300 medals are distributed, varying in value from twenty pounds to fifteen shillings. Member's entrance fee, 5 guineas; annual subscription, 2 guineas.

Peter Cunningham, Hand-Book of London, 1850

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Botanic Society Gardens (Royal), Regent’s Park occupy about 18 acres in the Inner Circle. There is a large conservatory, well stocked with fine plants. During the season promenades are held, and there are also splendid exhibitions of fruits and flowers, which, though possibly not quite so much the fashion as those of the Horticultural Society at Kensington-gore are in point of picturesqueness of site and general effect decidedly superior, and at which prizes to a large amount are distributed. The gardens are supported by the subscriptions of fellows and members (see LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES), and in respect of natural beauty are unequalled by any in London. NEAREST Railway Station, Portland-road; Omnibus Routes, Marylebone-road and Albany.street; Cab Rank, Portland-road Station. 

Charles Dickens (Jr.), Dickens's Dictionary of London, 1879

BOTANIC [MUSEUM], ROYAL BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON, REGENT'S PARK ... Admission daily by orders from Fellows.
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BOTANIC GARDENS, REGENT'S PARK ... Admission by Member's order only.

Reynolds' Shilling Coloured Map of London, 1895