One of the books I have currently
unearthed is a slim volume on The Dutiful Edith Cavell. In fact, it was finding both books, the one on Bruges in World War One and this Cavell story, which made the connection in my mind. In fact, Edith Cavell was a name from my childhood when her story featured prominently in my beloved Girls' Book of Heroines. I was
thrilled and horrified as a little girl with Edith’s story, often re-told by my mother, born in 1902, and I went, in adulthood, to find her final grave outside the East end
of Norwich Cathedral. She had been born nearby, in Swardeston,
daughter of the rector there, on December 4,
1865 and fought hard to become a professional nurse, not then a
socially acceptable job for a girl of her class. She began her
training in 1895 as a probationer nurse at the London Hospital and
worked in a number of London hospitals holding increasingly important
jobs such as staff nurse, Night Superintendent, Assistant
Superintendent, Acting Matron [Manchester] and gaining a reputation
as a teacher of nursing.
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| Edith with students, |
Before she began her nursing career,
Edith had spent the years 1890-1895 in Brussels as a governess to a
French family. In
1906, a leading Belgian doctor, M. Depage, decided to found a
surgical and medical home in Brussels and
he looked for a highly-trained English nurse, preferably
French-speaking. He regarded the current English nursing
practices and standards as the best available, far superior to those
in Belgium where the Catholic Church had traditionally provided all
nursing and hospitals but increasingly lacked knowledge of modern
developments. Almost
inevitably, he chose Edith
for whom the post as Directrice of l’Ecole Belge d’Infirmieres
Diplomees seemed created. Her confidence,
efficiency and success eventually overcame the huge prejudices
she encountered, the most potent of which was the social hostility to
a woman of her class working professionally. A particular help in
overcoming all this prejudice was given by the then Queen Elisabeth
who turned to the Ecole for nursing when she broke her arm. Elisabeth
became a vocal supporter of Edith and her Ecole, conferring
a powerful respectability and approval on both woman and institution.
By 1914, Edith was Directrice of
three hospitals, giving weekly lectures to doctors and nurses and
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| Princesse Marie de Croy |
fast becoming an admired public figure in Brussels. At the outbreak
of war, she turned the Berkendael Medical Institute into a Red Cross
Hospital. In August 1915, following the Battle of Dinant after which
the forts at Namur surrendered, there were thousands of French and
Belgian soldiers hiding in the surrounding woods, then, after the
defeat at Mons, hundreds of British soldiers on the run joined them,
seeking protection and sustenance from local peasants. It was then
that Prince Reginald de Croy and his sister, Princesse Marie, whose
ancestral home, the
Chateau de Bellignies, lay in the Mons area, responded to many
requests for help from locals hiding soldiers on the run. The de Croy
family instigated what became the Brussels H.Q. of an underground
movement for the
organised escape to Holland, of foreign soldiers in hiding in
occupied Belgium. Quite soon after its formation, one
of those involved asked Edith Cavell if she could consider hiding two
fugitive British soldiers and she immediately agreed, thus becoming
an important link in the chain of escape. Eventually, one of the
ostensible escapees, a German agent, betrayed her and several others
and all were arrested, accused of treason. Had the escapees been
civilians, the charge would have been less severe but helping
soldiers escape [in her case,
over 200 men] thus
enabling them to fight again, could only be treason, with death as
the only penalty. No written
evidence against Edith was found but she admitted everything to her
German captors after they told her, untruthfully,
that others had all confessed and supplied details. Of the thirty
five arrested, only five were executed.
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| Enlistment poster. |
In spite of strenuous protests from
the American and Spanish embassies, the executions were carried out
quietly, early
on October 21, 1915. Edith was made to watch one execution before her
own; in her turn,
she stood unbound with eyes uncovered and the soldiers
in the firing party all shot over her head leaving the officer in
charge to deliver the coup de grace. The
shooting of a woman spy was greeted world-wide with denunciation and
horror and Edith’s name became honoured and recognised everywhere.
Her execution certainly strengthened the resolve of the Allies and
greatly influenced the decision of America to join the war.
Interestingly, her death penalty was for “conducting
soldiers to the enemy”. This
she did not actually do; she hid them to allow others to do the
conduction. A few hours after
her execution, the German Military Code was amended and the following
added:
‘Whosoever knowingly aids, in any manner whatsoever, such a
person,[a person who has wished to aid an enemy of Germany] in
concealing his presence, whether by giving him lodging,
by clothing him, or by giving him nourishment, is liable to the same
punishment. [death]’
Though retrospective, this gave, from the German point of view, a
semblance of justice and administrative tidiness.
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| Edith's grave in Life's Green, Norwich Cathedral. |
Her courage was undoubted but Edith
Cavell’s
somewhat humourless and dour personality hid
considerable kindness, concern for others and selflessness to a high
degree. Daughter of a
Victorian rector father and
brought up with evangelical strictness, the concept of duty ruled her
life and provided
the foundation for all her
life choices including those
leading to her death. She
had achieved an enormous amount in Brussels before the war in
establishing a series of high quality teaching hospitals; in
elevating the professional standing and standards of nursing in Belgium; and in
changing public perceptions of women working professionally. But
perhaps her martyrdom was the most effective persuader
for the enduring fame of her life’s work.
The German authorities refused to
return her body to England and so she
was buried near the prison at
Saint
Gilles in Brussels but after the war, her
body was exhumed and returned
to England
for a huge service at St Paul’s in London attended both by Royalty
and members of the Government. Crowds lined the route from Dover to
St Paul’s and after the service, as the cortege journeyed to
Norwich Cathedral, many thousands more paid their respects. Her
burial, outside the East End of the Cathedral in the grass-covered
Life’s Green, took place on May 15, 1919. Her
family had chosen this burial site near the place of her birth, in
preference to the honour of burial in Westminster Abbey, A
curiously fitting tribute to a woman who never sought glory. And it is worth remembering that Anna de Beir chiefly owed her life to the world-wide scandal caused by the execution of Edith Cavell.
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| London Memorial. |
thrilled and horrified as a little girl with Edith’s story, often re-told by my mother, born in 1902, and I went, in adulthood, to find her final grave outside the East end
of Norwich Cathedral. She had been born nearby, in Swardeston,
daughter of the rector there, on December 4,
1865 and fought hard to become a professional nurse, not then a
socially acceptable job for a girl of her class. She began her
training in 1895 as a probationer nurse at the London Hospital and
worked in a number of London hospitals holding increasingly important
jobs such as staff nurse, Night Superintendent, Assistant
Superintendent, Acting Matron [Manchester] and gaining a reputation
as a teacher of nursing.
