Edith Cavell

Nurse

• Born: December 4, 1865
• Place of Birth: Place of birth: Swardeston, Norfolk, England
• Died: October 12, 1915
• Place of Death: Place of death: Brussels, Belgium

Education: Royal London Hospital

Significance: Edith Cavell was a British nurse best known for helping save the lives of soldiers during World War I. She was arrested for helping Allied soldiers escape to neutral territory during the war. After a trial, she was found guilty of treason and executed.

Background

Edith Louisa Cavell was born on December 4, 1865, in Swardeston, Norfolk, England. She was the oldest of four siblings of Reverend Frederick and Louisa Sophia Cavell. As a child, she enjoyed ice skating and nature. She spent much time with her siblings in church and listening to sermons given by her father. From an early age, her parents taught her to give to others less fortunate, even though the Cavells were not well off themselves.

As a teenager, Cavell learned to speak French and moved to Belgium to work as a governess. She eventually returned to England in the 1890s when her father became ill. She helped restore his health and decided that she wanted to become a nurse. Cavell trained under the tutelage of Eva Lückes at the Royal London Hospital. She did not have a good relationship with Lückes, who called Cavell unpunctual and unreliable. Cavell eventually proved Lückes wrong and helped nurse more than a thousand people sick with typhoid fever back to good health.

She next worked in various hospitals throughout England, including Shoreditch Infirmary. She filled in as matron at the Manchester and Salford Sick Poor and Private Nursing Institution at the Queen’s District Nursing Home. In 1907, Cavell moved to Brussels, where under the direction of Dr. Antoine Depage, she nursed a sick child back to health.

Under Depage’s direction, Cavell trained nurses at a facility in Brussels. She became known for her rigid rules and ensured that all the women under her tutelage were punctual—for which Cavell was chastised earlier in her career—or they were punished. Cavell continued to train nurses throughout the 1910s.

Life’s Work

Cavell often returned to England to visit her mother. One day when she was working in her mother’s garden, she learned of the German invasion of Belgium. She quickly traveled back to Brussels to care for the wounded in the war in August 1914. She worked at her training school, which was converted to a Red Cross hospital, dispatching care to wounded soldiers—regardless on which side they were fighting.

The Germans captured Brussels, but Cavell stayed to tend to the wounded. She then began to shelter Allied soldiers at the school and help them retreat to Holland. She felt compelled to help the soldiers just as it was her duty to aid the sick and wounded. She was very careful about the process, not even telling her fellow nurses about the activities in an effort to protect them should she be discovered by German authorities. Even when German officials searched the school, Cavell remained calm and managed to slip out soldiers without being caught. This lasted for about a year, and more than two hundred soldiers were helped during this time.

In the summer of 1915, two helpers from the escape route were arrested. Cavell was arrested shortly after and interrogated. During questioning, officials told her that the two people arrested had confessed about the escape system. She believed the lie and revealed everything about how she aided the Allied soldiers. This was a capital offense under German law, and Cavell was charged with treason.

At her trial, Cavell admitted her guilt but stated that she did it for humanitarian reasons. She was sentenced to death by firing squad. Many tried to appeal her sentence to no avail. Cavell was executed in secrecy on October 12, 1915. Her execution outraged many people, including the British, American, and Spanish governments who had fought for her release. Media outlets extensively covered the trial and dubbed Cavell a Christian martyr who cared about saving the lives of others, despite the consequences it had on her own life.

Impact

Cavell is remembered for devoting her life to helping others. Her execution shocked many people throughout the world, and her selflessness was not forgotten. She has memorials dedicated to her throughout England, Canada, and Belgium, among other places. In 1917, the Nation’s Fund for Nurses—later the Cavell Nurses’ Trust—was established in Cavell’s memory to recognize the efforts of all nurses. The world remembered Cavell on the hundredth anniversary of her death in 2015 for her contributions to the war effort.

Personal Life

Cavell never married and did not have any children. While she was in Brussels, she often traveled home to visit her family before the onset of the war. She felt a great duty to help others, and this was a reason she participated in the escape system. Cavell once asked a British soldier she was helping travel to England to deliver a Bible and letter to her mother.

Bibliography

"Edith Cavell’s Life & Legacy." Edith Cavell 1865–1915. Edith Cavell 1865–1915. Web. 18 May 2016.

"1915: British Nurse Edith Cavell Executed." History.com. A+E Networks. Web. 18 May 2016.

Norton-Taylor, Richard. "Edith Cavell, Shot by Germans during WWI, Celebrated 100 Years On." Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited, 12 Oct. 2015. Web. 18 May 2016.

Rigby, Nic. "Nurse Edith Cavell and the British World War One Propaganda Campaign." BBC. BBC, 12 Oct. 2015. Web. 18 May 2016.

"Who Was Edith Cavell?" Cavell Nurses’ Trust. Cavell Nurses’ Trust. Web. 18 May 2016.

"Who Was Edith Cavell?" IWM, 2024, www.iwm.org.uk/history/who-was-edith-cavell. Accessed 28 Sept. 2024.