[2] On 3 January 1861 the Margate committee proposed a design for a new boathouse to be located on land leased from the South Eastern and Chatham Railway company.

Subsequent disagreements between the RNLI, the local lifeboat committee and the Margate Pier and Harbour Company further delayed the completion.

[3] The boathouse was 61 ft long and 22 feet wide and was fitted with a petrol-driven winch and dynamo to provide lighting.

[citation needed] The Second World War saw the station fall under the control of the Royal Navy, although day-to-day running was still carried out by the branch personnel.

Coxswain Edward Parker was awarded a Distinguished Service Medal for his work in taking the Lord Southborough to the beaches during the Dunkirk evacuation.

The boathouse sustained damage following a severe storm in 1953, requiring the complete replacement of the floor[5] On 20 May 1960 the Margate Station celebrated its centenary under the control of the RNLI.

In 1966 the station began to operate an inshore inflatable lifeboat D-class (RFD PB16) with the designation (D-99)[12] In September 1976, the Margate Pier and Harbour Company closed the iron Margate Jetty to the public as it had become unsafe,[13] but provision was made for the crew to carry on using the jetty for the lifeboat station.

[citation needed] On 11 January 1978 a violent storm with gale-force winds and waves hit the North Kent coast.

[14][15] This washed away most of the iron jetty, leaving just the boathouse and slipway with no access to the severely damaged lifeboat house from the shore.

Members of the crew were airlifted to the boathouse by Royal Air Force helicopter to launch the North Foreland, which was stranded inside.

[2] On 11 November 2011 HRH Queen Elizabeth ll visited Margate where she toured the old town and stood for the two minute silence at 11.00am.

[24][25] Other equipment included the Talus MB-H [26] T107 crawler tractor launch vehicle which continued in launching the Atlantic 85 after the ALB Leonard Kent was withdrawn from service at Margate and returned to Poole where she took on a refit, after which it then went back into service in 2022 replacing Newcastle's Mersey class boat.