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The Isle of Wight:
Women, History, Books and Places does not contain a chapter about Queen
Victoria and Osborne House, which are, perhaps, all some know about the Island. But somehow she sneaks into several chapters. If
her daughter, Princess Beatrice, is known as her mother's companion, she may be
less familiar as Governor of the Island, living in Carisbrooke Castle and
responsible for the foundation of the Carisbrooke Castle Museum, one of the
Island's jewels. She has her place in its history, as does her sister, artist
and rebel Princess Louise. Given more space is Isabella de Fortibus, known as 'Lady
of the Isle'. She was the last Lord of the Island, ruling almost as a queen
from Carisbrooke Castle
in the 13th century, in defiance of the king the other side of the Solent. Before her was 9th century Queen Osburga, of
Arreton Manor, mother of Alfred the Great. But the book is not only about
royalty, even though it includes visits from Russian, Austro- Hungarian, and
French Empresses. The Island had earlier
withstood French invasions, following Romans who left their villas, two of them
now excavated and open to the public.
The Island is sometimes
known as 'Dinosaur Isle', and that chapter begins the book, not so much about
the creatures, but those who hunted for, and found, their fossils. It has also
been called 'Ghost
Island', and there are
plenty of those, and of witches burnt at the stake, and smugglers - all aptly
named 'Outsiders'. There is a chapter on 'Irregular Relations' which includes a
smuggler who climbed her way to the top of French society via a royal Comte, and
the delightfully-named, fast-living, 16th century Dowsabel Mills, who also opened
a girls school. Nuns and philanthropists find their place, as does a notable pioneer
photographer and a now recognised marine engineer, powerboat racers,
aviatrixes, sailors, those campaigning for women's suffrage, and a spy or two,
one of whom was nearly hanged. That is not to forget writers and artists such
as the French Impressionist Berthe Morisot. Her delicate and evocative watercolour
is not only a memento of her 1875 Cowes
honeymoon, but also adorns the book's cover.
