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Statue in memory of Edith Cavell, opposite the National Portrait Gallery, London

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A propaganda image of Edith Cavell

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

Edith Cavell was born in 1865 at Swardeston in Norfolk, where her father, the Reverend Frederick Cavell, was Vicar for 45 years. She trained as a nurse at The Royal London Hospital and in 1907 was appointed matron of the Berkendael Institute in Brussels, 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."

Representing the United States, which had not yet joined the war, Hugh Gibson, First Secretary of the American legation at Brussels, made clear to the German government that executing Cavell would further harm their nation's already damaged reputation. In a statement issued afterward, he noted: "We reminded him (Baron von der Lancken) of the burning of Louvain and the sinking of the Lusitania, and told him that this murder would stir all civilized countries with horror and disgust. Count Harrach broke in at this with the rather irrelevant remark that he would rather see Miss Cavell shot than have harm come to one of the humblest German soldiers, and his only regret was that they had not 'three or four English old women to shoot.'"

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, "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.

Memorials

Following her death, many memorials were created around the world to remember Cavell. One of the first occurred in 1917 when Queen Alexandra unveiled a monument near her grave in Norwich in front of a home for nurses which also bore her name.

Other memorials include:

An inscription on a war memorial, naming the 35 people executed by the German Army outside the gaol in which they were killed.
Mount Edith Cavell, a peak in the Canadian Rockies, named in 1916.
Cavell Corona, a geological feature on Venus.
Hospitals in Peterborough and the Brussel's borough of Uccle (Ukkel), a wing of the Toronto Western Hospital, schools in Vancouver, British Columbia, St. Catharines, Ontario and Bedford, England, a building at the University of Queensland, and a bridge in New Zealand.

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

Books on Edith Cavell

Kindred Spirit: Memory, Landscape and the Martyrdom of Edith Cavell, by Katie Pickles, Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (due for publication June 2007), ISBN 1-4039-8607-X
The Edith Cavell Nurse from Massachusetts - The War Letters of Alice Fitzgerald, an American Nurse Serving in the British Expeditionary Force, Boulogne-The ... ... Trial, And Death of Nurse Edith Cavell by Alice L. Fitzgerald, E. Lymon Cabot (July 2006), Publisher: Diggory Press, ISBN 1-84685-202-1
Edith Cavell by Sally Grant, David Yaxley and Robert Yaxley (illustrators), Publisher: The Larks Press (May 1995) ISBN 0-948400-28-5
A whisper of eternity;: The mystery of Edith Cavell by A. A Hoehling, Publisher: T. Yoseloff (1957), ASIN B0007DUAIC
Friend Within the Gates: The Story of Nurse Edith Cavell, by Elizabeth Grey, Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co (June 1971), ISBN 0-395-06786-3
The Story of Edith Cavell, by Iris Vinton, Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap (1959), ASIN B0007DY2FE
Dawn;: A biographical novel of Edith Cavell, by Reginald Cheyne Berkeley, Publisher: Sears (1928), ASIN B00085XCEI
Edith Cavell, by Rowland Ryder, Publisher: Hamilton (1975), ISBN 0-241-89173-6
Edith Cavell: Nurse, Spy, Heroine, by Leeuwen, Published: G. P. Putnams Sons (1968), ASIN B000J6G6OY
Edith Cavell, heroic nurse, by Juliette Elkon Hamelecourt, Publisher: J. Messner (1956), ASIN B0007ETGGI
The Secret Task of Nurse Cavell: A Story about Edith Cavell, by Jan Johnson, Publisher: Harper San Francisco (1979), ISBN 0-03-041661-2
A noble woman: The life story of Edith Cavell, by Ernest Protheroe, Publisher: C.H. Kelly; 3rd ed edition (1918), ASIN B0008AH3RU
With Edith Cavell in Belgium, by Jacqueline Van Til, Publisher: H.W. Bridges (1922), ASIN B00088GV84
Ready to Die: The Story of Edith Cavell (Faith in Action Series), by Brian Peachment, Publisher: Canterbury Press, ISBN 0-08-024189-1
In memoriam: Edith Cavell, by William S. Murphy, Publisher: Stoneham (1916), ASIN B0008BTZ5C
The case of Edith Cavell: A study of the rights of non-combatants, by James M. Beck, Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons, ASIN B00087OKN8
The secret trial: An unhistorical charade suggested by the life and death of Edith Cavell, by Richard Heron Ward, ASIN B0007JC7Q4
The Dutiful Edith Cavell, by Noel Boston, Publisher: Norwich Cathedral (1955), ASIN B0007JR6U6

External links

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 *[[Mount Edith Cavell]], a peak in the [[Canadian Rockies]], named in [[1916]].
 *[[List of coronae on Venus|Cavell Corona]], a geological feature on [[Venus]].
-*Hospitals in [[Peterborough]] and the Brussel's borough of [[Uccle]] (Ukkel), a wing of the [[Toronto Western Hospital]], schools in [[Vancouver, British Columbia]], [[St. Catharines, Ontario]] and [[Bedford]], England, and a bridge in [[New Zealand]].
+*Hospitals in [[Peterborough]] and the Brussel's borough of [[Uccle]] (Ukkel), a wing of the [[Toronto Western Hospital]], schools in [[Vancouver, British Columbia]], [[St. Catharines, Ontario]] and [[Bedford]], England, a building at the [[University of Queensland]], and a bridge in [[New Zealand]].
 Edith became a popular French and Belgian girls' name after her execution. The French chanteuse [[Édith Piaf]] was the best known.