Editing Romsey (section)

===18th to 20th centuries===
The town's woollen industry struggled through the 18th century, with competition from [[Northern England|the North]] effectively halving the wages of woollen workers in the southern and eastern parts of the country by the 1770s.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Albion's People: English Society 1714–1815|last=Rule|first=John|publisher=Routledge|year=2014|isbn=978-1317895947|location=London|pages=171–2}}</ref> As the townspeople looked for more stable work in burgeoning industries like [[brewing]], [[papermaking]] and [[Paper sack|sackmaking]], Romsey continued to grow as a modern market town. In 1794 a canal was dug from [[Redbridge, Southampton|Redbridge]] to [[Andover, Hampshire|Andover]], passing through Romsey and thus improving its access to nearby trade centres.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.localhistories.org/romsey.html|title=A History of Romsey|website=Localhistories.org|access-date=19 August 2019}}</ref> The town's population was 4,274 in the first [[census]] of 1801.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol4/pp315-361#h3-0073|title=Table of population, 1801–1951 {{!}} British History Online|website=British-history.ac.uk|access-date=19 August 2019}}</ref>

Lord Palmerston, the 19th-century British prime minister, lived at Broadlands in his autumn years. In the 1850s he delivered a number of political and religious lectures about the town, including one to the Labourers' Encouragement Society in 1859.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eFp4l0zpUqcC&q=romsey|title=Palmerston: A Biography|last=Brown|first=David|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0300168440}}</ref> Though he had hoped to be buried at Romsey Abbey, he was in 1865 given a [[state funeral]] and subsequently buried at [[Westminster Abbey]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1525930/Prime-ministers-who-were-given-a-state-funeral.html|title=Prime ministers who were given a state funeral|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=8 August 2006|access-date=19 August 2019|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}}</ref> His statue, sculpted by [[Matthew Noble]], has stood in Market Place since 1868.<ref>{{NHLE|num=1232293 |desc=Statue of Lord Palmerston, Market Place |access-date=19 September 2022}}</ref>   

Despite the [[History of rail transport in Great Britain 1830–1922|arrival of the railway in 1847]], the town's expansion slowed in the mid-19th century. Whilst its population had grown to 5,654 in 1851, it stagnated in subsequent decades and—by the time of the 1901 census—the population was just 5,597. The town also enjoyed a significant trade in corn: the [[Corn Exchange, Romsey|Corn Exchange]], which is a Grade II* listed building, was completed in 1864.<ref>{{NHLE|num=1231877|desc=Former Corn Exchange, Romsey, Hampshire|access-date=12 June 2023}}</ref>

In the 19th and 20th centuries, Romsey became known for making [[Berthon Boat]]s, a type of collapsible lifeboat invented by [[Edward Lyon Berthon]] in 1851. In 1873, having been the vicar of Romsey Abbey since 1860, Berthon erected a shed outside the nearby vicarage to meet the increasing demand for collapsible boats in the 1870s. In 1877 he appointed his son as manager and moved the enterprise to Lortemore Place. The boatyard continued to make boats until 1917, when it became Berthon Boat Co. and relocated to [[Lymington]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.berthon.co.uk/about-berthon/berthon-history/|title=A Berthon History and Timeline from 1272 to the Present Day.|website=Berthon|language=en|access-date=19 August 2019}}</ref> The abbey installed a window commemorating Berthon in 1902.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/art/stainedglass/jamespowell/23.html|title=Berthon Memorial Window, Romsey Abbey, Hampshire|website=Victorianweb.org|access-date=19 August 2019}}</ref>

With Romsey's expansion as a brewing town in the mid-19th century, it became known for its extraordinary number of pubs and, more generally, its fashionable drinking culture. By 1911 it boasted more than 80 public houses, twice the national average and effectively one pub for every 151.5 residents.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Secret Romsey|last=Dickerson|first=Ian|publisher=Amberley Publishing|year=2018|isbn=978-1445678955|pages=27}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/heritage/2010022.so-drunk-he-must-have-been-to-romsey/|title=So drunk he must have been to Romsey!|website=Daily Echo|date=February 2008 |language=en|access-date=5 September 2019}}</ref> Based on the old Hampshire saying ''so drunk he must have been to Romsey'', a book of the same name was published in 1974 as a comprehensive guide to the town's drinking establishments.<ref>{{Cite book|title=So Drunk He Must Have Been to Romsey: A History of Romsey's Pubs & Inns|last=Anonymous|publisher=The History Section of the Lower Test Valley Archaeological Study Group|year=1974|asin=B0016OI17I}}</ref> [[File:Statue of Lord Palmerston, Romsey - geograph.org.uk - 1720490.jpg|thumb|upright|Statue of [[Lord Palmerston]]]]
The Willis Fleming family of [[North Stoneham Park]] were major landowners at Romsey from the 17th until early 20th centuries, and were lords of the manors of Romsey Infra and Romsey Extra.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.willisfleming.org.uk/estates/hants_and_iow/Romsey_Estates|title=Romsey Estates|website=Willisfleming.org.uk}}</ref>

Broadlands later became the home of [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma]], known locally as 'Lord Louis'. In 1947 he was given his earldom and the lesser title of Baron Romsey, of Romsey in the County of Southampton.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Louis-Mountbatten-1st-Earl-Mountbatten|title=Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten {{!}} British statesman|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=20 August 2019}}</ref> Mountbatten was buried in Romsey Abbey after being killed in an [[Provisional Irish Republican Army|IRA]] bomb explosion in Ireland on 27 August 1979. After his death his titles passed to his elder daughter, [[Patricia Mountbatten, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma|Lady Brabourne]], who thus became Countess Mountbatten of Burma. Her eldest son was styled by the [[Courtesy titles in the United Kingdom|courtesy title]] 'Lord Romsey' until he inherited the title of Lord Brabourne in 2005, and then the [[Earl Mountbatten of Burma|earldom]] in 2017.<ref>BBC News (2005).[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4275336.stm Death on the Nile producer dies] Retrieved 1 November 2007</ref>

[[Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh]] was Mountbatten's nephew and, when he married [[Elizabeth II]] on 20 November 1947, the pair departed London by train and spent their honeymoon at Broadlands. They attended the service at Romsey Abbey the following Sunday.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eXERDgAAQBAJ|title=My Husband and I: The Inside Story of 70 Years of the Royal Marriage|last=Seward|first=Ingrid|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=2017|isbn=978-1471159589|location=London}}</ref> Like his parents, [[Charles, Prince of Wales]] and his first wife [[Diana, Princess of Wales]] spent the first part of their own honeymoon at Broadlands in 1981. In 2011, [[Prince William, Duke of Cambridge|William, Duke of Cambridge]] and [[Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge]] broke tradition by spending their first night as a married couple at [[Buckingham Palace]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a22583968/prince-william-kate-middleton-wedding-night/|title=Will and Kate Broke Royal Tradition With Where They Decided to Spend Their Wedding Night|last=Roberts|first=Kayleigh|date=29 July 2018|website=ELLE|language=en-US|access-date=20 August 2019}}</ref>

In 2007 Romsey celebrated the 400th anniversary of James I's charter with a programme of events hosted from March through to September, including a visit on 8 June from Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh.<ref>BBC News (2007).[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/6734411.stm Queen marks charter anniversary] Retrieved 1 November 2007</ref> The cost of the visit created some local controversy, with particular attention being paid to the £5,000 spent on a new toilet for Her Majesty's use, though in the event she did not make use of it.<ref>BBC News (2007).[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/7049255.stm Town left with royal toilet bill] Retrieved 3 November 2007</ref>