12 October
Edith Cavell, Nurse, 1915
Edith Louisa Cavell was born on 4 December 1865 in Swardeston
in Norfolk. At the age of 20 she entered the nursing
profession. In 1907 she became the matron of the Berkendael
Institute in Brussels. During the First World War the Germans
occupied Belgium, and Cavell sheltered British, French and
Belgian soldiers at the Institute, from where they were helped
to escape to Holland, which was neutral. In August 1915,
Cavell and several others were arrested and tried by a
court-martial. Cavell made a full confession and was sentenced
to death on 7 October.
Although neutral governments, including the US and Spanish
representatives tried to have them repreived, she and a
Belgian, Philippe Baucq, were shot on 12 October.
Her death was widely condemned, and Cavell, who is buried at
Norwich Cathedral, is commemorated in a statue just off
Trafalgar Square.
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