The 12th Duke of Devonshire planted a Chinese tulip tree in Princes Park in Toxteth and in Birkenhead Park to celebrate the parks' designer Joseph Paxton.
As guests of Friends of Princes Park, the Duke was accompanied by Steve Porter, head gardener at his Chatsworth Estate and the deputy Lord Mayor Mary Rasmussen. The Park celebrates 180 years after opening in 1842, five years earlier than Birkenhead park.
Richard Vaughan Yates, and his family, made their wealth from the Transatlantic Slave Trade commissioned Paxton to design the park. Land was purchased from the Earl of Sefton to create Princes Park and like many in the slave trade they showed off their wealth building parks churches and other buildings throughout Liverpool. The Yates family owned a large property in Dingle, Liverpool 8.
