HMS Thanet (H29)

HMS Thanet was an S-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. Built during, and commissioned shortly after the First World War, she went on to see service in the Second World War, being sunk early in 1942.

Thanet had been one of the ships on the China Station on the outbreak of war. After briefly being converted to a minelayer she spent the early years of the war patrolling off Hong Kong. With the Japanese entry to the war Thanet evacuated Hong Kong with another destroyer, just hours after the Japanese began their attack on the city. She made her way to Singapore and briefly deployed there until being sent to intercept an enemy troop convoy, in company with the Australian destroyer HMAS Vampire (D68). The allied ships ran into a heavy Japanese force, and after a short battle Thanet was sunk and Vampire was forced to withdraw.

Construction and commissioning

Thanet was ordered from the yards of Hawthorn Leslie & Company, Hebburn in July 1917, part of the 1917-18 Programme. She was laid down there on 13 December 1917 and launched on 5 November 1918, six days before the Armistice with Germany. She was commissioned on 3 August 1919, and was initially used to trial a 'flying off platform' for aircraft.

Thanet

Thanet /ˈθænɪt/ is a local government district of Kent, England, which was formed under the Local Government Act 1972, and came into being on 1 April 1974. The Isle of Thanet makes up the major part of the District.

The district, which is governed by Thanet District Council, is located on the north eastern tip of Kent, and is predominantly coastal, with north, east and southeast facing coastlines. It is bordered by the City of Canterbury district to the west, and the Dover district to the south. The main towns in the district are Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs.

History

The Isle of Thanet is the major part of the Thanet District. Formed over 7000 years ago and separated from the mainland by the Wantsum Channel, it has always borne the brunt of invasions from the Continent. An Isle of Thanet Rural District had existed from the Local Government Act 1894 until it was abolished in 1935 to form part of Eastry Rural District. The current District was formed in 1974, by the addition of the area over which was once the Wantsum Channel, including the settlement of Sarre.

Isle of Thanet (UK Parliament constituency)

Isle of Thanet was a county constituency which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885, until it was abolished for the February 1974 general election.

It was located on the Isle of Thanet, in Kent.

Boundaries

1918-1950: The Municipal Boroughs of Margate, Ramsgate, and Sandwich, the Urban District of Broadstairs and St Peters, and the Rural District of Isle of Thanet (the civil parishes of Acol, Birchington, Garlinge, Minster, Monkton, St Lawrence Extra, St Nicholas at Wade, Sarre, Stonar, and Westgate on Sea).

1950-1974: The Municipal Boroughs of Margate and Ramsgate, the Urban District of Broadstairs and St Peters, and in the Rural District of Eastry the civil parishes of Acol, Minster, Monkton, St Nicholas at Wade, and Sarre.

Members of Parliament

Election results

Elections in the 1880s

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1900s

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1914/15: