Opened in 1929 and laid out by West Ham Council, Lister Gardens was named after Lord Joseph Lister, founder of modern antiseptic surgery, who was born in West Ham in 1827 in the former Upton House. The Quakers were established in Plaistow by 1671 and the Lister family was one of a number of famous Quaker families who attended the Meeting House in North Street, Barking which was built in 1704. A larger Meeting House was built in 1823, but by 1870 the meeting had moved to the Wanstead Meeting House and the Plaistow Meeting House closed in 1924. Lister Gardens is one of the smallest public garden in the borough.s
