7th July 1914

RED CROSS FIELD DAY IN KENT COUNTRYSIDE
Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachments from Brenchley, Matfield, Pembury and Speldhurst demonstrate the treatment of war casualties at a mock clearing hospital. Casualties are transported to a temporary base hospital.
The exercise is efficiently organised and executed, receiving high praise from War Office inspectors.

3rd August 1914

Germany declares war on France

4th August 1914

GOVERNMENT TAKES CONTROL OF ALL RAILWAYS
The Government takes control of all railways, including the South-Eastern and Chatham Railways.

8th August 1914

DEFENCE OF THE REALM ACT (DORA) INTRODUCED
Large areas of Kent become Restricted Areas, with only those holding an official pass allowed entry.
This gave the government more power than it would usually have. It allowed the government to quickly decide that something new could become a crime. For example, feeding wild animals became a crime because it was seen as a waste of food, which was hard to get during wartime. DORA also stopped newspapers from writing about anything that didn't support the war effort and which may have upset people who were fighting and working hard for their country. The government brought in Daylight Saving Time, where the clocks go forward one hour, so that daylight lasted longer and people could do more work.

11th August 1914

GERMANS DETAINED IN FOLKESTONE
About 200 German men are detained when they attempt to leave Folkestone and return home to Germany.
Under the Aliens Restriction Act, passed by the Government on August 5th, the deadline for "alien enemies" to leave the United Kingdom without a special permit was 10th August.

24th August 1914

COMMITTEE FOR REFUGEES SET UP IN FOLKESTONE
The Belgian Committee for Refugees is officially instituted at the French Protestant Church in Victoria Grove, Folkestone.
The Committee soon subdivides in order to support both the immediate needs of the refugees for food and clothing and their longer term needs for accommodation and employment.
By the end of August, 6,000 meals are being provided every day in Folkestone.
From early September, additional help with feeding and clothing refugees is provided by the London War Refugees Committee.
Local funds are boosted by additional contributions after appeals in national newspapers.
For more information see the "Report on the work of the Committee" by J A Ferguson, April 1916.

7th September 1914

FRANCO-BELGIAN NEWSPAPER ON SALE IN FOLKESTONE
The first copy of the "Franco-Belge de Folkestone", a daily newspaper for Folkestone's Belgian refugee community, goes on sale.
The newspaper is printed in French and published by F J Parsons Ltd at the Herald offices in Folkestone.
The price of a copy is five centimes or one halfpenny.

13th October 1914

KENT VOLUNTARY AID DETACHMENTS MOBILISE
The Kent Voluntary Aid Detachment receives a telegram with instructions to mobilise all hospitals at once and to prepare to receive large numbers of wounded.
In August 1914 there were about 50 Voluntary Aid Detachments in Kent.
In October over 80 Kent Voluntary Aid Detachment hospitals are quickly mobilised to receive Belgian casualties evacuated from Ostend.
Over the next 4 years, the Kent Voluntary Aid Detachment cares for over 126,000 sick and wounded soldiers, with many of the hospitals remaining open until 1919.

29th October

COUNTY PREPARES EMERGENCY MEASURES
A Central Organising Committee is set up at a meeting at Sessions House, County Hall, Maidstone, to co-ordinate Local Emergency Committees with a mandate to organise the movement or destruction of livestock, transport, stores, crops and the movement of civilians in the event of an invasion.
On 16th October 1914, the Home Office issues a confidential memorandum: "Instructions for the Guidance of the Civil Population in the event of belligerent operations in the United Kingdom" to Lord Lieutenants of a number of counties, including Kent.
Representatives from around the county attend a meeting on 29th October at County Hall, Maidstone, chaired by Lord Harris, Vice-Lord Lieutenant of Kent.
For further information see the correspondence concerning the setting up of the Central Organising Committee and Local Emergency Committees.

2nd January

1ST AMBULANCE TRAINS RUN FROM DOVER HARBOUR
The new Marine Station on Dover Pier opens as a Military Hospital Base. Army Ambulance Trains are dispatched from the Marine Station.

5th March

EGGS FOR THE WOUNDED NEEDED
Local papers publish appeals for donations of eggs for wounded soldiers in hospitals.

4th August

FISHING INDUSTRY SUFFERING BADLY
The Local Fisheries Committee reports to Kent County Council that the fishing industry in Kent has been considerably hampered as a consequence of the war. In places it is practically at a standstill.

2nd September

KING GEORGE V VISITS SHORNCLIFFE BARRACKS
King George V arrives by Royal Train at Lyminge. Accompanied by Lord Kitchener, the King inspects the Canadian troops at Shorncliffe.

12th October

On the morning of October 12, 1915, the 49-year-old British nurse Edith Cavell is executed by a German firing squad in Brussels, Belgium.

17th November

HMHS ANGLIA STRIKES MINE AND SINKS
The Hospital Ship "Anglia" is 3 miles off Dover when she strikes a mine and is sunk. The "Anglia" is the first Hospital Ship to be sunk whilst carrying wounded during the war.
The collier SS "Lusitania", one of the vessels assisting in the rescue of those aboard the "Anglia", also strikes a mine and is wrecked by an explosion.
HMHS "Anglia" had left Boulogne at 11am in the morning with over 360 wounded servicemen on board, together with doctors, nurses and stretcher bearers as well as the ship's crew.
Initially it is estimated that around 85 lives are lost in the disaster. This figure is later estimated to be in the region of 150.
Survivors are brought into Dover in a number of vessels.

2nd March

A system of compulsory recruitment for the armed forces was introduced and called conscription. This in turn made the need for female labour even more vital and the government began co-ordinating the employment of women to fill the gaps.

2nd April

EXPLOSION AT FAVERSHAM GUNPOWDER WORKS

By 1916, the labour force at the Faversham "Cotton Powder" factory is working flat-out to supply munitions for the Army. At least 116 people are killed in the explosion, including the whole of the Works Fire Brigade.
Afterwards, at the Coroner's inquest, the jury records a verdict of "accidental death caused by shock and injuries received in an explosion due to an accidental fire, cause unknown".

20th April

Florence Cordell became the first woman bus conductor in Britain.

26th October

SOUTH EASTERN & CHATHAM RAILWAY COMPANY STEAMER QUEEN BLOWN UP IN CHANNEL
The turbine steamer "Queen" is caught in mid-channel by a German raiding flotilla.
TSS “Queen” had been used for carrying troops to Boulogne during the day. She is returning to Folkestone at night carrying mail when she is surrounded by German ships and ordered to stop. German officers and men board the "Queen" and order Captain Carey and his crew to lower their boats and leave the ship.
The crew launch the lifeboats. Shortly afterwards, the Germans fire a torpedo into the hull of the "Queen".The explosion is heard in Folkestone.The "Queen" drifts for three hours before she eventually sinks off South Goodwin.
One crew member, 20-year-old Lewis Dilnot, from Folkestone, serving as a cook on board the "Queen", is lost.
The rest of the crew row ashore to the Warren safely.

18th January

PIG, POULTRY AND RABBIT REARING IN DOVER
Dover Town Council encourages local residents to keep pigs, poultry and rabbits in an effort to increase the supply of food.
Notices inform the public that "There are probably many places in the Borough where pigs can be kept without risk of nuisance. Apart from individual pig-keepers, groups of people might combine to keep a number of pigs jointly and would be able to collect sorted waste from shops, hotels, boarding houses, and private houses."
Free leaflets on the keeping of pigs, poultry and rabbits are available from the Sanitary Inspector.

4th April

BELGIAN KITCHEN GARDENS IN FOLKESTONE
The Folkestone Refugees Committee reports that the Belgian Kitchen Garden scheme is proving successful.
Belgian refugees are cultivating around 4 acres of land on the West Cliff estate in Folkestone.

25th May

FOLKESTONE DEVASTATED BY GOTHA BOMBING RAID

Diverted Gotha planes drop bombs on Folkestone. Over 70 civilians and 18 military personnel are killed; many more are injured.
Bombs in Tontine Street, crowded with shoppers, account for the deaths of 61 people, mainly women and children.
At the Shorncliffe Army Camp, 18 military personnel are killed. 17 of these men are Canadian servicemen.
There is extensive damage to numerous buildings in and around Folkestone.

29th May

PUBLIC ASKED TO EAT LESS BREAD
The Ministry of Food appeals to the public to eat less food.
The public are told: "We must all eat less food; especially we must all eat less bread and none must be wasted."
For further information see the letter from Ministry of Food appealing for a reduction in the consumption of bread, 29th May 1917.

14th July

AIRCRAFT RETURN FROM FRANCE TO DEFEND KENT
Royal Flying Corps gunners and pilots are recalled from France to defend Kent.
56 Squadron is to be based at Bekesbourne Airfield, near Canterbury.

6th December

CANTERBURY RECTOR ARRESTS BOMBER CREW
Rev Philip Somerville, a Special Policeman, arrests the 3 crew members of a German Gotha plane which has landed in a field on the outskirts of Canterbury.
The plane has crash-landed in a field near Broad Oak Road, Canterbury.
After surrendering their arms and equipment to the Rev. Somerville, the men are taken by ambulance wagon to Canterbury Police Station. The two airmen who have been injured in the crash are then taken on to be treated in hospital.

15th February

HEAVY SHELLING IN DOVER HARBOUR

The trawler "James Pond" and a number of drifters are sunk. The paddle minesweeper "Newbury" and a number of other drifters are badly damaged and towed into Dover by tugs.
89 lives are lost.
39 bodies are recovered from the sea and taken to lie in Dover Market Hall before burial.

3rd March

PRISONERS OF WAR EMPLOYED ON FARMS
30 Prisoners of War are sent to The White House, Bough Beech, near Edenbridge to work on the land.
In 1916, the Government made arrangements for Prisoners of War to work on the land in the UK, but virtually the whole of Kent was considered a prohibited area for aliens and the county was excluded from this provision.
With increasing food shortages, coupled with a shortage of labour, there is a growing need for extra farm workers throughout the county.
On the 22nd January 1918, the Kent War Agricultural Committee was informed that the War Cabinet has sanctioned the employment of Prisoners of War for agricultural work.
These prisoners will now be allowed to be employed at farms in Kent (excluding districts within 5 miles of the coast, Romney Marsh and a portion of the Chatham area).
The prisoners are to be selected men, used to agricultural work in their native country, and will be employed in groups of 30 to 40 prisoners. They will be housed under guard at night in suitable depots selected by the County Committee. During the day the prisoners will be sent under escort to the farmers who have applied for them, within a marching radius of three to four miles of the depot, or to the nearest station when railway transport can be economically used. The farmer is required to pay the Commandant of the Camp for the services of the men weekly at the rate of 5½d. per hour worked. (This rate is raised in August to 6½d. per hour.)
The first group of 30 alien Prisoners of War arrives at The White House, Bough Beech, on 3rd March 1918 and another 15 join them at the end of April.
During the year, further groups of prisoners are sent to depots in other parts of Kent, including Dartford, Tenterden, West Kingsdown, Womenswold and Tovil, Maidstone.
By early July, the "Kent Messenger" reports that about 200 German Prisoners of War are now working on farms in Kent.
Demand for men is greater than the supply and the County War Agricultural Committee is endeavouring to arrange for more centres to be opened.

13th June

WOMEN'S LAND ARMY MARCHES THROUGH MAIDSTONE

The Maidstone branch of the Kent Women's Agricultural Committee organises a demonstration and recruiting meeting to attract more women and girls to work on the land.
Over 200 women and girls working on farms around Maidstone, accompanied by the Band of the 2nd Battalion of the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment, Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, take part in a procession through the streets of Maidstone.
The procession presents an imposing spectacle, with the women carrying flags and banners as they march alongside farm wagons drawn by brightly decorated horses.
After marching through the town, the women assemble in front of a large crowd in the Lock Meadows. The Mayor, Councillor G Foster Clark, then presides over the recruiting meeting.
It is reported in the "Kent Messenger" that the number taking part in the procession could easily have been higher, but the organisers were anxious not to disrupt work in progress on the land.

17th September

BURNING SHIP TORPEDOED TO SAVE DOVER
HMS "Glatton", a newly commissioned coastal defence ship moored off Dover, catches fire. Vice-Admiral Sir Roger Keyes gives his order for the ship to be torpedoed in order to prevent an explosion which could devastate Dover.

11th November

NEWS OF THE ARMISTICE IS SPREAD THROUGHOUT THE COUNTY

News of the Armistice reaches people anxiously waiting outside newspaper offices and town halls around the county.

The Armistice between the Allies and Germany is signed in Compiègne in the early hours of 11th November 1918.
A cease-fire is to be in force at 11 am.
At 8 am, a nurse at St Anselm's VAD Hospital in Walmer receives a phone call from Deal Pier with the news; this news spreads quickly amongst staff and patients at the hospital.
At 9.10 am, in Sheerness, ships' sirens are heard hooting; troops marching through the streets cheer; people decorate the town with flags and bunting.
At 10.30 am, in Sittingbourne, the town's siren gives the "All Clear" signal; factory hooters are sounded, maroons are sent up at the Fire Station; peals of bells are rung from the Parish Church.
In Dover, a chorus of hooters from the ships of the Dover Patrol echoes everywhere; aeroplanes circle overhead.
By noon, Rochester Cathedral is crowded with people who have assembled for a thanksgiving service.
In Tunbridge Wells, the streets are thronged with people; impromptu processions spring up everywhere; in the evening all the lights in the town are switched on.