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Edith Louisa Cavell, World War I Nurse (1865-1915)
Image: Mourning Card - Nurse Edith Cavell, 1919
Source: Museum Victoria
Edith Cavell was born at Swardeston, Norfolk, where her father was Rector. She was an accomplished artist and she and her sister sold paintings and cards to raise money to build a Church Room. She took several posts as a Governess in England and in Brussels. In 1895, she returned to Swardeston to nurse her father through a brief illness and decided to take up nursing as a career in 1896, training at the London Hospital. She worked in many nursing homes in England and in Brussels and, on 10 October 1907 took charge of a pioneer training school for lay nurses on the outskirts of Brussels.
When World War I broke out in 1914, she was at home with her mother but returned to Brussels immediately. When that city fell to the Germans, they commandeered the hospital for their own wounded. English nurses were sent home, but Edith and her assistant, Miss Wilkins stayed. An 'underground lifeline' was established and some 200 Allied soldiers were helped to escape. This organization lasted for almost a year. Eventually her part in it was discovered; she was interned and sentenced to death. A Lutheran chaplain obtained permission for the English Chaplain to visit her on the eve of her execution and to administer the Blessed Sacrament to her. In the early hours of 12 October 1915, the death sentence was carried out by a firing squad.
During her last hours, she wrote, 'Standing as I do in view of God and eternity, I realise that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.' After the War, her remains were escorted to Westminster Abbey for the first part of the Burial Service, on 15 May 1919. A special train then took the remains to Norwich where they were interred in the Cathedral precincts.
Museum Victoria holds several items that commemorate the life and contribution of Edith Cavell, including badges, photographs and a commemorative card.
(showing 1 - 8) 8 items
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Badge - 'Our Day Nation & Honor', World War I, 1915-1919
Alternative Name(s): Button, Pin World War I-era badge inscribed 'Our Day Nation & Honour', and featuring an image of British nurse Edith Louisa Cavell who died at the hands of a Germa ...
Images: 1 -
Badge - 'Our Day Nation & Honor', World War I, 1915-1919
Alternative Name(s): Button, Pin World War I-era badge inscribed 'Our Day Nation & Honour', and featuring an image of British nurse Edith Louisa Cavell who died at the hands of a Germa ...
Images: 1 -
Badge - 'Our Day Nation & Honor', World War I, 1915-1919
Alternative Name(s): Button, Pin World War I-era badge inscribed 'Our Day Nation & Honour', and featuring an image of British nurse Edith Louisa Cavell who died at the hands of a Germa ...
Images: 1 -
Badge - 'Our Day Nation & Honor', World War I, 1915-1919
Alternative Name(s): Button, Pin World War I-era badge inscribed 'Our Day Nation & Honour', and featuring an image of British nurse Edith Louisa Cavell who died at the hands of a Germa ...
Images: 1 -
Badges - Our Day, Nation & Honor, World War I, 1915-1919
Alternative Name(s): Button, Pin Two World War I-era badges inscribed 'Our Day Nation & Honour', and featuring an image of British nurse Edith Louisa Cavell, died at the hands of a Ger ...
Images: 2 -
Mourning Card - Nurse Edith Cavell, 15 May 1919
Small mourning card printed in memory of nurse Edith Cavell, 'murdered by the Germans at Brussels', 12 October 1915. Printed by Burgess Printers, York Place, Strand, London, as a memen ...
Images: 3 -
Photograph - Edith Cavell Memorial, Norwich, England, Driver Cyril Rose, World War I, 1919
Image depicting the memorial erected in Norwich, England, to Edith Cavell, taken between October 1918 and July 1919. One of 129 World War I photographs likely to have been taken by Driv ...
Images: 2 -
Lantern Slide - 'Miss Cavell, The Nation's Heroine', circa 1915
Black and white lantern slide titled 'Miss Cavell, The Nation's Heroine'. British nurse Edith Louisa Cavell died at the hands of a German firing squad in 1915. She was found guilty of a ...
Images: 1
