Editing Isle of Wight (section)

===19th century===

In the spring of 1817, the twenty-one year old [[John Keats]] spent time in Carisbrooke and Shanklin, where he found inspiration in the countryside and coast, and worked on his long poem ''[[Endymion (poem)|Endymion]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mapping Keats's Progress: 16-23 April 1817: Endymion, On the Sea, & Eternal Poetry: Picturing Young Keats on the Isle of Wight |url=https://johnkeats.uvic.ca/1817-04-16.html |access-date=31 July 2023 |website=johnkeats.uvic.ca}}</ref>

In the mid-1840s, [[Phytophthora infestans|potato blight]] was first found in the UK on the island, having arrived from Belgium. It was later transmitted to Ireland.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=102367 | title=The Potato Blight - Its Origin Historical Marker }}</ref>

In the 1860s, what remains in real terms the most expensive ever government spending project saw fortifications built on the island and in the Solent, as well as elsewhere along the south coast, including the [[Palmerston Forts]], [[The Needles Batteries]], and [[Fort Victoria (Isle of Wight)|Fort Victoria]], because of fears about possible French invasion.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.armouries.org.uk/collections/history-of-the-collection/museum-history/fort-nelson-history|title=Fort Nelson History|work=Royal Armouries|access-date=8 June 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120073521/http://www.armouries.org.uk/collections/history-of-the-collection/museum-history/fort-nelson-history|archive-date=20 November 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The future [[Queen Victoria]] spent childhood holidays on the island and became fond of it. When she became queen, she made [[Osborne House]] her winter home. Subsequently, the island became a fashionable holiday resort for many, including [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson]], [[Julia Margaret Cameron]], and [[Charles Dickens]] (who wrote much of ''[[David Copperfield (novel)|David Copperfield]]'' there), as well as the French painter [[Berthe Morisot]] and members of European royalty.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.visitisleofwight.co.uk/things-to-do/attractions/history-and-heritage | title=Isle of Wight history and heritage|work=visitisleofwight.co.uk |access-date=28 November 2016}}</ref>

[[File:Queen Victoria&#039;s Bathing Machine. - panoramio.jpg|thumb|Queen Victoria's [[bathing machine]], preserved at Queen Victoria's Beach east of [[Osborne House]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/osborne/things-to-do/queen-victorias-beach/ |title=Queen Victoria's Beach |publisher=[[English Heritage]] |access-date=6 February 2021}}</ref>]]

Until the queen's example, the island had been rural, with most people employed in farming, fishing, or boat-building. The boom in tourism, spurred by growing wealth and leisure time and by Victoria's presence, led to the significant urban development of the island's coastal resorts. As one report summarises, "The Queen's regular presence on the island helped put the Isle of Wight 'on the map' as a Victorian holiday and wellness destination ... and her former residence Osborne House is now one of the most visited attractions on the island."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://independenttravelcats.com/visiting-the-isle-of-wight-queen-victoria-trail-victorian-sites/|title=Isle of Wight Travel Guide: Following the Queen Victoria Trail|date=28 November 2017|website=Independent Travel Cats}}</ref> While on the island, the queen used a [[bathing machine]] that could be wheeled into the water on Osborne Beach; inside the small wooden hut, she could undress and then bathe, without being visible to others.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/queen-victoria-bathing-machine/|title=Why does the Queen use a "bathing machine" to go swimming in ITV's Victoria?|website=Radio Times}}</ref> Her machine had a changing room and a WC with plumbing. The refurbished machine is now displayed at the beach.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/history/victoria/7.html|title=The Queen's Bathing Machine at Osborne|website=www.victorianweb.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/victoria-s-plunge-queen-s-beach-open-public-7946869.html|title=Victoria's plunge: Queen's beach to open to public|date=17 July 2012|website=The Independent}}</ref>

On 14 January 1878, [[Alexander Graham Bell]] demonstrated an early version of the telephone to the queen,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.islandecho.co.uk/140-years-since-first-telephone-call-queen-victoria-isle-wight/ |title=140 Years Since First Telephone Call to Queen Victoria on the Isle of Wight |date=14 January 2018 |publisher=Island Echo |access-date=14 January 2020 |quote=He made the UK's first publicly-witnessed long distance calls, calling Cowes, Southampton and London from Osborne House. Queen Victoria liked the telephone so much she wanted to buy it.}}</ref> placing calls to Cowes, Southampton, and London. These were the first publicly-witnessed long-distance telephone calls in the [[UK]]. The queen tried the device and considered the process to be "quite extraordinary" although the sound was "rather faint".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/connecting-britain/alexander-graham-bell-unveils-telephone/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/connecting-britain/alexander-graham-bell-unveils-telephone/ |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Alexander Graham Bell demonstrates the newly invented telephone |date=13 January 2017 |newspaper=The Telegraph |access-date=14 January 2020 |quote=one of the Queen’s staff wrote to Professor Bell to inform him "how much gratified and surprised the Queen was at the exhibition of the Telephone"}}{{cbignore}}</ref> She later asked to buy the equipment that was used, but Bell offered to make "a set of telephones" specifically for her.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/magbell.30000106/ |title=pdf, Letter from Alexander Graham Bell to Sir Thomas Biddulph, February 1, 1878 |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=14 January 2020 |quote="The instruments at present in Osborne are merely those supplied for ordinary commercial purposes, and it will afford me much pleasure to be permitted to offer to the Queen a set of Telephones to be made expressly for her Majesty's use."}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Ross |first=Stewart |title=Alexander Graham Bell |series=(Scientists who Made History) |location=New York |publisher=Raintree Steck-Vaughn |date=2001 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/alexandergrahamb00ross/page/21 21–22] |isbn=978-0-7398-4415-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/alexandergrahamb00ross/page/21}}</ref>

The world's first radio station was set up by [[Guglielmo Marconi]] in 1897, during her reign, at [[the Needles Battery]], at the western tip of the island.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lee|first=Eric|title=How internet radio can change the world: an activist's handbook|date=2005|publisher=iUniversr, Inc. |location=New York |isbn=9780595349654 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Md0aYx9jql8C&q=The+world%27s+first+radio+station+on+the+Isle+of+Wight&pg=PA7 |access-date=22 March 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Connected Earth |url=http://www.connected-earth.com/Journeys/Firstgenerationtechnologies/Awirelessworld/Theoriginsofradio/index.htm |access-date=22 March 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402110146/http://www.connected-earth.com/Journeys/Firstgenerationtechnologies/Awirelessworld/Theoriginsofradio/index.htm |archive-date= 2 April 2015 }}</ref> A {{convert|168|ft|adj=on}} high mast was erected near the Royal Needles Hotel as part of an experiment on communicating with ships at sea. That location is now the site of the Marconi Monument.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theneedles.co.uk/landmarks/marconi-statue/|title=The Needles Marconi Statue|website=www.theneedles.co.uk}}</ref> In 1898 the first paid wireless telegram (called a "Marconigram") was sent from this station, and the island was for some time<ref name="vintage-radio.net">{{cite web | url=https://vintage-radio.net/forum/showthread.php?t=85074 | title=What happened to the National Wireless Museum? | access-date=19 June 2018}}</ref> the home of the National Wireless Museum near Ryde.<ref name="Miscellany">{{cite book | title=Isle of Wight: A Miscellany | author=Julia Skinner | publisher=Francis Frith Collect | date=2012 |isbn=978-1-84589-683-6}}</ref>

Queen Victoria died at Osborne House on 22 January 1901 at 81.