Communications.—Railway communications are practically monopolized by the South Eastern & Chatham Company, a monopoly which has not infrequently been the cause of complaint on the part of farmers, traders and others. This system includes some of the principal channels of communication with the continent, through the ports of Dover, Folkestone and Queenborough. The county contains four of the Cinque Ports, namely, Dover, Hythe, New Romney and Sandwich. Seaside resorts are numerous and populous—on the north coast are Minster (Sheppey), Whitstable and Herne Bay; there is a ring of watering-places round the Isle of Thanet—Birchington, Westgate, Margate, Broadstairs, Ramsgate; while to the south are Sandwich, Deal, Walmer, St Margaret’s-at-Cliffe, Dover, Folkestone, Sandgate and Hythe. Tunbridge Wells is a favourite inland watering-place. The influence of London in converting villages into outer residential suburbs is to be observed at many points, whether seaside, along the Thames or inland. The county is practically without inland water communications, excluding the Thames. The Royal military canal which runs along the inland border of Romney Marsh, and connects the Rother with Hythe, was constructed in 1807 as part of a scheme of defence in connexion with the martello towers or small forts along the coast.
Population and Administration.—The area of the ancient county is 995,014 acres, with a population in 1901 of 1,348,841. In 1801 the population was 308,667. Excluding the portion which falls within the administrative county of London the area is 974,950 acres, with a population in 1891 of 807,269 and in 1901 of 935,855. The area of the administrative county is 976,881 acres. The county contains 5 lathes, a partition peculiar to the county. The municipal boroughs are Bromley (pop. 27,354), Canterbury, a city and county borough (24,889), Chatham (37,057), Deal (10,581), Dover (41,794), Faversham (11,290), Folkestone (30,650), Gillingham (42,530), Gravesend (27,196), Hythe (5557), Lydd (2675), Maidstone (33,516), Margate (23,118), New Romney (1328), Queenborough (1544), Ramsgate (27,733), Rochester, a city (30,590), Sandwich (3170), Tenterden (3243), Tunbridge Wells (33,373). The urban districts are Ashford (12,808), Beckenham (26,331), Bexley (12,918), Broadstairs and St Peter’s (6466), Cheriton (7091), Chislehurst (7429), Dartford (18,644), Erith (25,296), Foots Cray (5817), Herne Bay (6726), Milton (7086), Northfleet (12,906), Penge (22,465), Sandgate (2294), Sevenoaks (8106), Sheerness (18,179), Sittingbourne (8943), Southborough (6977), Tonbridge (12,736), Walmer (5614), Whitstable (7086), Wrotham (3571). Other small towns are Rainham (3693) near Chatham, Aylesford (2678), East Mailing (2391) and West Mailing (2312) in the Maidstone district; Edenbridge (2546) and Westerham (2905) on the western border of the county; Cranbrook (3949), Goudhurst (2725) and Hawkhurst (3136) in the south-west. Among villages which have grown into residential towns through their proximity to London, beyond those included among the boroughs and urban districts, there should be mentioned Orpington (4259). The county is in the south-eastern circuit, and assizes are held at Maidstone. It has two courts of quarter sessions, and is divided into 17 petty sessional divisions. The boroughs having separate commissions of the peace and courts of quarter sessions are Canterbury, Deal, Dover, Faversham, Folkestone, Gravesend, Hythe, Maidstone, Margate, Rochester, Sandwich and Tenterden; while those of Lydd, New Romney, Ramsgate and Tunbridge Wells have separate commissions of the peace. The liberty of Romney Marsh has petty and general sessions. The justices of the Cinque Ports exercise certain jurisdiction, the non-corporate members of the Cinque Ports of Dover and Sandwich having separate commissions of the peace and courts of quarter sessions. The central criminal court has jurisdiction over certain parishes adjacent to London. All those civil parishes within the county of Kent of which any part is within twelve miles of, or of which no part is more than fifteen miles from, Charing Cross are within the metropolitan police district. The total number of civil parishes is 427. Kent is mainly in the diocese of Canterbury, but has parts in those of Rochester, Southwark and Chichester. It contains 476 ecclesiastical parishes or districts, wholly or in part. The county (extra-metropolitan) is divided into 8 parliamentary divisions, namely, North-western or Dartford, Western or Sevenoaks, South-western or Tunbridge, Mid or Medway, North-eastern or Faversham, Southern or Ashford, Eastern or St Augustine’s and the Isle of Thanet, each returning one member; while the boroughs of Canterbury, Chatham, Dover, Gravesend, Hythe, Maidstone and Rochester each return one member.
History.—For the ancient kingdom of Kent see the preceding article. The shire organization of Kent dates from the time of Aethelstan, the name as well as the boundary being that of the ancient kingdom, though at first probably with the addition of the suffix “shire,” the form “Kentshire” occurring in a record of the folkmoot at this date. The inland shire-boundary has varied with the altered course of the Rother. In 1888 the county was diminished by the formation of the county of London.
At the time of the Domesday Survey Kent comprised sixty hundreds, and there was a further division into six lests, probably representing the shires of the ancient kingdom, of which two, Sutton and Aylesford, correspond with the present-day lathes. The remaining four, Borowast Lest, Estre Lest, Limowast Lest and Wiwart Lest, existed at least as early as the 9th century, and were apparently named from their administrative centres, Burgwara (the burg being Canterbury), Eastre, Lymne and Wye, all of which were meeting places of the Kentish Council. The five modern lathes (Aylesford, St Augustine, Scray, Sheppey and Sutton-at-Hone) all existed in the time of Edward I., with the additional lathe of Hedeling, which was absorbed before the next reign in that of St Augustine. The Nomina Villarum of the reign of Edward II. mentions all the sixty-six modern hundreds, more than two-thirds of which were at that date in the hands of the church.
Sheriffs of Kent are mentioned in the time of Æthelred II., and in Saxon times the shiremoot met three times a year on Penenden Heath near Maidstone. After the Conquest the great ecclesiastical landholders claimed exemption from the jurisdiction of the shire, and in 1279 the abbot of Battle claimed to have his own coroner in the hundred of Wye. In the 13th century twelve liberties in Kent claimed to have separate bailiffs. The assizes for the county were held in the reign of Henry III. at Canterbury and Rochester, and also at the Lowey of Tonbridge under a mandate from the Crown as a distinct liberty; afterwards at different intervals at East Greenwich, Dartford, Maidstone, Milton-next-Gravesend and Sevenoaks; from the Restoration to the present day they have been held at Maidstone. The liberty of Romney Marsh has petty and quarter sessions under its charters.
Kent is remarkable as the only English county which comprises two entire bishoprics, Canterbury, the see for East Kent, having been founded in 597, and Rochester, the see for West Kent, in 600. In 1291 the archdeaconry of Canterbury was co-extensive with that diocese and included the deaneries of Westbere, Bridge, Sandwich, Dover, Elham, Lympne, Charing, Sutton, Sittingbourne, Ospringe and Canterbury; the archdeaconry of Rochester, also co-extensive with its diocese, included the deaneries of Rochester, Dartford, Malling and Shoreham. In 1845 the deaneries of Charing, Sittingbourne and Sutton were comprised in the new archdeaconry of Maidstone, which in 1846 received in addition the deaneries of Dartford, Malling and Shoreham from the archdeaconry of Rochester. In 1853 the deaneries of Malling and Charing were subdivided into North and South Malling and East and West Charing. Lympne was subdivided into North and South Lympne in 1857 and Dartford into East and West Dartford in 1864. Gravesend and Cobham deaneries were created in 1862 and Greenwich and Woolwich in 1868, all in the archdeaconry of Rochester. In 1873 East and West Bridge deaneries were created in the archdeaconry of Canterbury, and Croydon in the archdeaconry of Maidstone. In 1889 Tunbridge deanery was created in the archdeaconry of Maidstone. In 1906 the deaneries of East and West Dartford, North and South Malling, Greenwich and Woolwich were abolished, and Shoreham and Tunbridge were transferred from Maidstone to Rochester archdeaconry.
Between the Conquest and the 14th century the earldom of Kent was held successively by Odo, bishop of Bayeux, William of Ypres and Hubert de Burgh (sheriff of the county in the reign of Henry III.), none of whom, however, transmitted the honour, which was bestowed by Edward I. on his youngest son Edmund of Woodstock, and subsequently passed to the families of Holland and Neville (see [Kent, Earls and Dukes of]). In the Domesday Survey only five lay tenants-in-chief are mentioned, all the chief estates being held by the church, and the fact that the Kentish gentry are less ancient than in some remoter shires is further explained by the constant implantation of new stocks from London. Greenwich is illustrious as the birthplace of Henry VIII., Mary and Elizabeth. Sir Philip Sidney was born at Penshurst, being descended from William de Sidney, chamberlain to Henry II. Bocton Malherbe was the seat of the Wottons, from whom descended Nicholas Wotton, privy councillor to Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary and Elizabeth. The family of Leiborne of Leiborne Castle, of whom Sir Roger Leiborne took an active part in the barons’ wars, became extinct in the 14th century. Sir Francis Walsingham was born at Chislehurst, where his family had long flourished; Hever Castle was the seat of the Boleyns and the scene of the courtship of Anne Boleyn by Henry VIII. Allington Castle was the birthplace of Sir Thomas Wyat.
Kent, from its proximity to London, has been intimately concerned in every great historical movement which has agitated the country, while its busy industrial population has steadily resisted any infringement of its rights and liberties. The chief events connected with the county under the Norman kings were the capture of Rochester by William Rufus during the rebellion of Odo of Bayeux; the capture of Dover and Leeds castles by Stephen; the murder of Thomas à Becket at Canterbury in 1170; the submission of John to the pope’s legate at Dover in 1213, and the capture of Rochester Castle by the king in the same year. Rochester Castle was in 1216 captured by the dauphin of France, to whom nearly all Kent submitted, and during the wars of Henry III. with his barons was captured by Gilbert de Clare. In the peasants’ rising of 1381 the rebels plundered the archbishop’s palace at Canterbury, and 100,000 Kentishmen gathered round Wat Tyler of Essex. In 1450 Kent took a leading part in Jack Cade’s rebellion; and in 1554 the insurrection of Sir Thomas Wyat began at Maidstone. On the outbreak of the Great Rebellion feeling was much divided, but after capturing Dover Castle the parliament soon subdued the whole county. In 1648, however, a widespread insurrection was organized on behalf of Charles, and was suppressed by Fairfax. The county was among the first to welcome back Charles II. In 1667 the Dutch fleet under De Ruyter advanced up the Medway, levelling the fort at Sheerness and burning the ships at Chatham. In the Kentish petition of 1701 drawn up at Maidstone the county protested against the peace policy of the Tory party.
Among the earliest industries of Kent were the iron-mining in the Weald, traceable at least to Roman times, and the salt industry, which nourished along the coast in the 10th century. The Domesday Survey, besides testifying to the agricultural activity of the country, mentions over one hundred salt-works and numerous valuable fisheries, vines at Chart Sutton and Leeds, and cheese at Milton. The Hundred Rolls of the reign of Edward I. frequently refer to wool, and Flemish weavers settled in the Weald in the time of Edward III. Tiles were manufactured at Wye in the 14th century. Valuable timber was afforded by the vast forest of the Weald, but the restrictions imposed on the felling of wood for fuel did serious detriment to the iron-trade, and after the statute of 1558 forbidding the felling of timber for iron-smelting within fourteen miles of the coast the industry steadily declined. The discovery of coal in the northern counties dealt the final blow to its prosperity. Cherries are said to have been imported from Flanders and first planted in Kent by Henry VIII., and from this period the culture of fruits (especially apples and cherries) and of hops spread rapidly over the county. Thread-making at Maidstone and silk-weaving at Canterbury existed in the 16th century, and before 1590 one of the first paper-mills in England was set up at Dartford. The statute of 1630 forbidding the exportation of wool, followed by the Plague of 1665, led to a serious trade depression, while the former enactment resulted in the vast smuggling trade which spread along the coast, 40,000 packs of wool being smuggled to Calais from Kent and Sussex in two years.
In 1290 Kent returned two members to parliament for the county, and in 1295 Canterbury, Rochester and Tunbridge were also represented; Tunbridge however made no returns after this date. In 1552 Maidstone acquired representation, and in 1572 Queenborough. Under the act of 1832 the county returned four members in two divisions, Chatham was represented by one member and Greenwich by two, while Queenborough was disfranchised. Under the act of 1868 the county returned six members in three divisions and Gravesend returned one member. By the act of 1885 the county returned eight members in eight divisions, and the representation of Canterbury, Maidstone and Rochester was reduced to one member each. By the London Government Act of 1892 the borough of Greenwich was taken out of Kent and made one of the twenty-eight metropolitan boroughs of the county of London.