Edith Cavell
1865–1915 · British nurse and matron in Brussels who helped Allied soldiers escape German-occupied Belgium and was executed in 1915.
Edith Cavell was born on 4 December 1865 at the vicarage in Swardeston, Norfolk, the daughter of a Church of England clergyman. After years as a governess, including a post in Brussels, she trained as a nurse at the London Hospital, beginning in 1896, and later held senior posts in London infirmaries. In 1907 she returned to Brussels to direct a new nurses’ training school at the Berkendael Medical Institute. When the German army occupied Belgium in 1914 she remained at her post and treated wounded of both sides. She also joined a clandestine network that hid Allied soldiers and helped them escape through the Netherlands. Arrested on 5 August 1915, she admitted helping the men and was court-martialled in October. She was shot at dawn on 12 October 1915 at the Tir National in Brussels. After the war her body was brought to Britain; a funeral was held in Westminster Abbey, and she was buried in the precinct of Norwich Cathedral on 15 May 1919.
See also: Florence Nightingale
Key dates
- 1865 Born at Swardeston, Norfolk, 4 December
- 1896 Enters the London Hospital School of Nursing
- 1907 Takes charge of a nurses’ training school in Brussels
- 5 August 1915 Arrested by the German occupation authorities
- 12 October 1915 Executed at dawn in Brussels
- 15 May 1919 Buried at Norwich Cathedral after a funeral in Westminster Abbey
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