Edith Cavell
EDITH CAVELL
Executed in Belgium by German Firing Squad
for assisting injured soldiers in World War I
Assistant matron at the
Shoreditch Infirmary, 1903-06
(Saint Leonard’s Hospital, Kingsland Road)
“Patriotism is not enough.”
Born in 1865, the daughter of the Vicar of Swardeston in Norfolk, Edith Cavell excelled in French as a teenager and in due course became a governess to a family in Brussels. As the children grew older, Edith yearned to serve larger and needier groups of people. When her father became ill in 1895 she hurried back to care for him and decided to become a nurse the following year. After several years of training and night work the prospect of higher pay, day work and the chance to teach led to Edith taking the position of Assistant Matron at Shoreditch Infirmary in 1903. She stayed at the infirmary until 1906 when the prospect of an extended holiday led her to resign from her job.
At this time a Belgian surgeon was proposing to start a nurses training school and he required a matron to administer such an institution, teach, be fluent in French and have been trained in the manner of Florence Nightingale. Edith qualified on all counts and was recommended for the job by one of the children that she used to govern. Edith opened the school on 1st October 1907 and by 1914 her school had become a source of nursing personnel for hospitals, communal schools and private nursing homes.
On a September day in 1914 Edith was approached and asked to hide two English soldiers who had been separated from their unit in a the recent battle at nearby Mons. It had become too dangerous to hide in the countryside any longer. The sight of the soldiers put an end to any hesitation she felt, and they were assigned to beds and received medical attention. When they had sufficiently recovered, Edith provided them with guides who escorted them to Holland. This venture proved to be the forerunner of a much greater involvement for Edith.
During the following months Edith provided a place of refuge and some of the elements required for their escape. Despite her position at the nursing home, Edith did most of the chores herself, as she did not want to incriminate the nurses in her charge. She carried on with her regular duties of supervising her nurses, delivering regular lectures and managing costs. Despite the food shortages that occurred after the Germans occupied Brussels she managed to feed the patients and staff as well as the hidden soldiers.
By 1915 she had lodged more than 100 British and an additional 100 French and Belgian soldiers, but with comings and goings becoming so frequent at the nursing home that Germans grew suspicious. Realising that evidence against her was mounting, friends and colleagues urged her to leave. She refused and on the 5th August German secret police arrested Edith. After 3 days of questioning, they tricked Edith into confessing by telling her that they already had the necessary information and the best way to save her friends was to confess. Edith spoke freely about the help she had given to Allied soldiers and was subsequently tried in a military court in Brussels.
Two firing squads carried out the execution on October 12th, 1915. Edith was still wearing her nurses uniform.
Although the action was justified according to the rules of war, the shooting of Edith Cavell was a serious blunder. Within days the heroic nurse became a worldwide martyr and as a result Allied morale was strengthened, and recruitment doubled for eight weeks after her death was announced.
Edith Cavell is buried at the Cathedral in Norwich, close to her native Swardeston.
Page updated: 28 Feb 2007