Edith Cavell, the Story of a Norfolk Nurse

Norwich, United Kingdom: Norwich Cathedral Publications Ltd., 2000. 1st Edition . Soft cover. Very Good. In Very Good Used Condition. With A Crease On Back Cover Bottom Left. Minor Wear To Edges and/or Turned Corners. - For More Information On Condition. Please See All Photos. ~ Edith Louise Cavell was born in 1865 in the vicarage at Swardeston and grew up there. She was an accomplished artist and would collect and draw flowers. She had a flair for French which she had learned easily and quickly. She had several jobs as a governess and was recommended for a post in Brussels in 1890. In 1895 Edith returned to Swardeston to nurse her father through an illness, and this made her take up nursing. In 1905 she returned to Brussels and was put in charge of a pioneering training school for lay nurses on the outskirts of the city. Edith often returned to visit her mother, who, since her husband's death was living in Norwich, and she was home in 1914 when she heard of the German invasion of Belgium. She was back there by the 3rd of August. In the Autumn of 1914 two stranded British soldiers found their way to Nurse Cavell's training school, others followed and were spirited away to neutral territory in Holland. An underground lifeline was established, masterminded by Prince and Princess De Croy at a chateaus in Mons, and some 200 soldiers were helped to escape. Two members of the escape team were arrested on July 31st 1915, and five days later Nurse Cavell was interned. The German military authorities, having sentenced Edith and four others to death, were determined to carry out the executions immediately. Permission was given for the English Chaplain, Stirling Graham to visit her the night before she was to die, and both repeated the words of "Abide with me....". The Allies acclaimed Nurse Cavell as a martyr. After the war her remains were brought to Westminster Abbey for the first part of burial service on May 15th 1919. A special train then brought her to Thorpe Station, Norwich, from where great procession followed her to the cathedral and she was laid to rest here at Life's Green.