Description:

Situated on the south east tip of England, the Isle of Thanet has been called the cradle of England's civilisation. This volume looks at the way its people have contributed to that history. It considers changing patterns of daily life looking at wages, population change, disease, employment opportunities and trade. There are accounts of how people survived on the home front in the world wars and in the Napoleonic era when Thanet was on the forefront of the struggle. There are extracts of diaries kept by Thanet men who served in the Crimea, with Nelson, in the Boer War, in the Battle of Britain, and who experienced events such as the Christmas Day truce of 1914 and the Battle of the Somme. Attention is given to surviving evidence for each period back to the Conquest with studies made of selected documents and buildings. Incorporating the most up to date research, this book seeks to present an overview of regional social history in a popular manner. Published in aid of the Trust for Thanet Archaeology.