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Voluntary Aid Detachments stage a large-scale mock rescue operation near Faversham.
A "sham fight" is staged at Penenden Heath, Maidstone, at the start of a week-long recruiting drive for new members of the Royal West Kent Queen's Own Territorial Army.
Children at Sandgate Church of England School welcome the Mayor of Folkestone to their school to watch an elaborate commemoration of Empire Day.
A “Grand Recruiting Week” is being held in Faversham.
3 aeroplanes are sent from the Isle of Grain to Westgate-on-Sea to observe a fleet firing exercise being held off the East Kent coast.
Members of Kent's Territorial Force Voluntary Aid Detachments hold a 10-day camp at Herne Common.
On the Isle of Sheppey, Eastchurch Air Station has expanded rapidly since 1910 and is already established as the centre for flight training for the Admiralty as well as a centre for experimentation.
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.
Lord Beauchamp is installed as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports at a colourful ceremony in Dover.
Personnel and newly completed airships are moved from Farnborough to Kingsnorth Airship Station.
In response to the threat of war, land around the seaplane base at St Mildred's Bay, Westgate-on-Sea, is requisitioned by the Royal Navy Air Service.
In Dover Harbour, HMS "Attentive" gives the signal that warships in the harbour are preparing for immediate departure.
A boom has been placed across the entrance to the River Medway, to protect the Royal Navy dockyards at Sheerness and Chatham from the German Navy.
In the evening, about 40 buses full of troops are seen passing along Watling Street, heading towards Dover.
Swingate Down, formerly a private airfield, in a field on the cliff top, provides a final landing ground for planes bound for France.
The Government takes control of all railways, including the South-Eastern and Chatham Railway.
The last boat from Calais, SS "Engadine", brings less than 20 passengers into Dover; the last boat from Ostend, PS "Rapide", brings nearly 1,000 passengers.
At 11.02 pm, Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, sends a telegram commanding the Fleet to commence hostilities against Germany.
Throughout the county, large crowds turn out to wave farewell to the Territorials.
Notices are issued warning the public that entrance into Dover will only be allowed under strict restrictions.
The West Kent Yeomanry assembles at Maidstone County School.
The Royal East Kent Mounted Rifles assemble in the Canterbury area.
The Queenborough Boys’, Girls’ and Infants’ Schools have been commandeered by the War Office for the use of the Military.
Boys are released from school after requisition requests for their services are made to Head Teachers by the Chief Constable of Kent.
Franz Heinrich Lösel, a photographer of German origin, is arrested near Sheerness Harbour on suspicion of taking photographs for use by an enemy state.
Captain E W Jaffray, Mayor of Queenborough, appoints a committee to organise emergency action to protect civilians in Queenborough in the event of an invasion.
Voluntary Aid Detachments in Ramsgate are preparing to receive sick and wounded patients.
Despite Government advice to the contrary, many people are now stocking up with large quantities of food.
Large areas of Kent become Restricted Areas, with only those holding an official pass allowed entry.
All Kent branches of the St John Ambulance Society, the British Red Cross and the Territorial Force Voluntary Aid are amalgamated to work together as the Kent Voluntary Aid Detachment.
Every Parish Council in the county is asked to call a public meeting to obtain the names of men who will consent to act as Special Constables.
The London Hospital Convalescent Home in Tankerton, near Whitstable, is being fitted out to cater for military and naval wounded patients.
Over 1,000 horses have been commandeered by the military authorities in the Maidstone district.
At a meeting at Sessions House, County Hall, Maidstone, the Kent War Relief Committee is set up to deal with problems caused by distress arising as a consequence of the war.
Additional seeds are to be sown by the boys of the gardening class at Chilham School to augment food supplies in case there should be shortages.
200 young German men are detained when they attempt to leave Folkestone and return home to Germany.
St Augustine's College is used as a temporary hospital for men from local troops.
At least 20 aeroplanes are seen passing over Tonbridge during the night.
The Kent Cyclists Battalion is currently engaged in the task of watching the Kent and Sussex coast, spending long periods in exposed positions.
The Mayor of Tunbridge Wells addresses a meeting in the Great Hall to deal with the organisation of war relief.
"The Times" reports that the Mayor of Deal, Councillor C Hussey, is arrested on Dover Cliffs on suspicion of spying.
All the German miners employed by the Anglo-Westphalian Company near Chislet have been forced to leave.
Dover Cricket Week is abandoned "in consequence of the war".
General Sir John French embarks from Dover on board the light cruiser HMS "Sentinel."
Members of the Folkestone and District Homing Pigeons Society have offered their birds to the Government for conveying messages.
Cliffe Parish Council holds a meeting in the Infant School in the evening to consider Lord Kitchener’s appeal for men.
The Tilling-Stevens motor vehicle factory in Maidstone becomes a controlled establishment under the Ministry of Munitions.
Immediately after the outbreak of war, local volunteers are recruited by the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Families Association so that help can be made available when needed urgently by the wives and children of men on active service.
50 people attend a meeting in the Central Hall, Sevenoaks, to set up a local Ambulance Brigade.
On Tuesday evening, 18th August, the Admiralty orders that no boats may leave the Thames Estuary.
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