| Birth: | Dec. 4, 1865 | | Death: | Oct. 12, 1915 | 
Executed WWI British nurse. A native of Swardeston, England, the daughter of the vicar, Edith took up nursing. She accepted the position of matron at Berkendael Medical Institute in Brussels. With the start of the war and German occupation of Belgium in 1914, the facility was converted into a military hospital treating German as well as captured British soldiers. Soon many were missing. Edith was charged in their escapes to neutral Holland and arrested by the Germans. Kept in solitary confinement for nine weeks, they successfully extracted a confession. She was pronounced guilty in a sham trial, sentenced to death, taken to a nearby rifle range and executed by a firing squad then buried on the site. This German blunder in killing a woman galvanized world opinion condeming their barbaric behavior in occupied Belgium. At wars end, her remains were repatriated to England with great fanfare. After an elaborate funeral at historic Norwich Cathedral attended by the Royal Family and hundreds of British notables, she was buried on the church grounds. Memorials to Miss Covell abound: in the UK, memorial postage stamps have been issued and a statue in Trafalgar Square has her last words spoken before her death emblazoned, "Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness for anyone." In Brussels, the nursing school she founded has her name and in Alberta, Canada, Mt Edith Cavell rises some 11,033 feet given the name in 1931. (bio by: Donald Greyfield (inactive))
Search Amazon for Edith Cavell | | | Burial:
Enclos des Fusilees
*
Brussels
Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium
*Former burial location |
Maintained by: Find A Grave
Record added: Jul 03, 2000
Find A Grave Memorial# 10254 |
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