Ryde on the Isle of Wight was visited in preparation for the stay in Carlsbad that was to treat the liver problem diagnosed in Harrogate. Marx stayed there with his wife and daughter Eleanor appr. from 10 to 25 July 1874. While there, they also had a brief visit from their daughter Laura.

Karl Marx to Friedrich Engels, 15 July 1874, 11, Nelson Street:

This island is a little paradise, especially for the gentlemen who have parked all the best situated land. We took a tour around the island by boat, were in Ventnor, Sandown, Cowes, Newport, and also undertook various walking tours. It is too warm to do the latter with any consistency, though certainly a very moderate temperature compared with London. [...]

Our landlord is a scripture reader for the poor, and his theological library, about two dozen volumes, adorns our sitting room. Although he is a member of the Church of England, I found Spurgeon's sermons among them. At Sandown, where I took a warm bath, I found a similar library in the bath-house, and one cannot take a step without seeing notices announcing gatherings of the pious. [...]

My health is better, in particular no pills are necessary, but despite all this my head is not completely in order. Laura gave us great pleasure last Saturday with her visit; unfortunately she had to return on Monday evening. When we accompanied her to the pier on her departure, a temperance excursion gang arrived from Brighton. Half of them were drunk. It was, as an old Englishman next to me remarked, “the worst lot he had ever met with in his life.”