October 2016

History hangout
Edith Cavell’s name is familiar to
many of us but few know about
her connection to East London.
Nor do many know that in 1915,
aged 49, she was executed by a
German firing squad for helping
200 Allied soldiers escape from
occupied Belgium.
Born in Swardeston, near
Norwich, Cavell went to Norwich
High School for girls and later
worked at the Shoreditch
Infirmary (renamed St Leonard’s
Hospital) after training at the
London Hospital.
Having been a family governess
in Belgium for five years, in
1907 she returned to the
continent to be matron of
a newly established nursing
school. Three years later she
became a training nurse at
three hospitals, 24 schools and
13 kindergartens.
When war broke out in 1914,
Cavell was in Norwich visiting
her widowed mother. She went
back to Brussels where the
clinic and nursing school had
been taken over by the Red
Cross.
'Patriotism
is just not
enough'
Cavell began her nursing career in East London and the plaque (below) dedicated
to her can be seen outside St Leonard's Hospital, Shoreditch
Nurse Edith Cavell is a name familiar
to students of the Great War. Stephen
Selby points out her East London link
Following German occupation of
Belgium in the same year, Cavell
became active in helping Prince
Reginald de Croy smuggle
wounded British and French
soldiers into neutral Holland.
She was betrayed by
Frenchman Gaston
Quien, who later
convicted as a
collaborator.
She was held in prison
for ten weeks with no
hope of a diplomatic
reprieve.
30 LOVEEAST
Cavell was known for her
statements: "Patriotism is not
enough. I must have no hatred
or bitterness towards anyone,"
and “I cannot stop while there
are lives to be saved."
She was accused
of treason,
despite not
being German.
She was courtmartialled
for
aiding prisoners
to escape and,
perhaps unaware
of the unfortunate
consequences, admitted her
guilt the day before the trial.
Baron von der Lancken, the
governor general of Belgium,
allowed the execution to
proceed although he believed
she should have been pardoned
because of her honesty. But he
was overruled by General von
Sauberszweig, military governor
of Brussels.
The execution swayed public
opinion in the previously neutral
USA, who would eventually join
the Allies in the war effort.