Isle of Wight Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (; also referred to informally as The Island or abbreviated to IoW) is a county and the largest and second-most populous island in England. It is in the English Channel, between 2 and 5 miles off the coast of Hampshire, separated by the Solent. The island has resorts that have been holiday destinations since Victorian times, and is known for its mild climate, coastal scenery, and verdant landscape of fields, downland and chines. The island has been home to the poets Swinburne and Tennyson and to Queen Victoria, who built her much-loved summer
Isle of Wight Rifles the mainland, soldiers comprised 1 in 4 of the local population. By this time Queen Victoria had moved to the Isle of Wight at Osborne House. The separate RVCs were brought under the umbrella of the 1st Administrative Battalion of Isle of Wight Rifle Volunteers, formed on 5 July 1860 with headquarters at Newport, under Colonel Dunsmore formerly of the 42nd Highlanders. In 1880 the Administrative Battalion was consolidated as the 1st Isle of Wight Rifle Volunteers, organised as follows: In September 1885 the unit became the 5th (Isle of Wight 'Princess Beatrice's) Volunteer Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment, Princess