Edith Cavell

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Image:Edith Cavell - Project Gutenberg eText 14676.jpg Image:Ac.cavell.JPG Image:Eca dead2.jpeg

Edith Louisa Cavell (December 4, 1865 - October 12, 1915) is a World War I heroine.

Edith Cavell was born at Swardeston in Norfolk, where her father was rector, in 1865; she trained as a nurse. In 1907, she was appointed matron of the Berkendael Institute in Brussels in Belgium. When World War I broke out, the hospital was taken over by the Red Cross. Nurse Cavell is alleged to have helped hundreds of soldiers from the allied forces to escape from occupied Belgium to the neutral Netherlands, in violation of military law. In 1915, she was arrested and court-martialled by the Germans for this offence. UK and US diplomats disagreed about whether anything could be done to help her case, with Sir Horace Rowland, from the Foreign Office suggesting "I am afraid that it is likely to go hard with Miss Cavell, I am afraid we are powerless." The sentiment was echoed by Lord Robert Cecil, who joined the coalition government in 1915 as an under secretary for foreign affairs after working for the Red Cross. "Any representation by us," he advised, "will do her more harm than good." She made no defence admitting her actions and was executed by firing squad at 2am on October 12, becoming a popular martyr and entering British history as a heroine. The execution took place at the Tir National, a State military site (today a memorial, near the State television buildings), where she was buried. Edith Cavell's case became an important article of British propaganda throughout the war [1]. The German medical officer assisting was the expressionist poet Gottfried Benn (1886-1956), who gave an account of the event.

The night before her execution she told the Anglican chaplain, Rev. Gahan, who had been allowed to see to give her Holy Communion, "I realise that patriotism is not enough, I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone." These words are inscribed on her statue in St. Martin's Place, near Trafalgar Square in London.

Her final words to the German pastor, Le Saur were recorded as 'Ask Mr. Gahan to tell my loved ones later on that my soul, as I believe, is safe, and that I am glad to die for my country.'

After the war Edith Cavell's body was exhumed and returned to the UK. A memorial service at Westminster Abbey led by King George V was followed by travel by special train to Thorpe Station, Norwich. She was reburied on Life's Green, at the east end of Norwich Cathedral. Every year a service is held before the grave.

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Memorials

Many memorials were raised to her name.

Not far from her grave in Norwich a monument was unveiled by Queen Alexandra in 1917 in front of a Nurses Home that also bore her name.

Her name is listed along with 34 others shot by the Germans at the gaol where they were held and the range where they were shot.

In 1916, Mount Edith Cavell in the Canadian Rockies was named in her honour. An important hospital of Brussels bears her name, as does the road it is on.

There is a hospital in Peterborough, schools in Vancouver, British Columbia and St. Catharines, Ontario, and the Edith Cavell Bridge in New Zealand.

Edith became a popular French and Belgian girls' name after her execution. The French chanteuse Edith Piaf was the best known.

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References

McFadyen, Rev Phillip and Chamberlin, Rev David, "Edith Cavell 1865-1915 - A Norfolk Heroine" 1985, 1997-2005. http://www.edithcavell.org.uk (Accessed October 15 2005)

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