Why did HG Wells write the time machine?

Here are the only things I could find out about why HG Wells wrote The Time Machine:

• Jonathan Smith's 'Gulliver's Travels
• Based in Kew Gardens- Garden of Eden- A few miles from The Time Traveller in Richmond ~ Represents: Peace & happiness, unending work (always something to do in a garden), perfect life (reached the goal).
• Went to a science college -- He likes science
• The Time Machine was the first novel about Time Travel, starting off a new era, so he must have wanted to be the first to write about it.
• He was interested in the theories of Time Travel.