Edith Cavell was born in Swardeston, Norfolk, in 1865. She was
educated at home and attended boarding schools in Kensington,
Clevedon, near Bristol, and Laurel Court, Peterborough, where she
trained as a pupil teacher. She took several posts in England as a
governess and was a governess in Brussels, 1890-1895. She returned
to Swardeston to nurse her father in 1895. She was a nurse at
Fountains Fever Hospital in Tooting and a nurse probationer at
London Hospital under the matron Eva Lückes, 1896. She was a
private nurse in 1898 and Night Superintendent at St Pancras
Infirmary in 1899. She was Assistant Matron at Shoreditch Infirmary
in 1903, and Matron at Manchester and Salford Sick Poor and Private
Nursing Institution in 1907. She took charge of the pioneer
training school for lay nurses, L'Ecole d'Infirmiere Dimplonier' in
Brussels, Belgium, 1907 and whilst under German occupation
sheltered British, French and Belgian soldiers at the Institute and
helped them escape to Holland, 1914-1915. She was arrested, tried
by court-martial and executed in 1915. Her body was reburied at
Norwich Cathedral, 1919.
Papers of and relating to Edith Cavell are held at the Royal
London Hospital including:
Lecture notes as a probationer at the London Hospital 1896;
poetry quotations written as a probationer, [1896]; Notes appealing
for women in Belgium to enrol in nurse training school, [1907];
copy letters from Cavell and others to Sister Wilkins, Ecole Belge
d'Infirmières, 1912-1916; photographs of Cavell as a governess,
[1894], in uniform, and with nurses from the School of Nursing,
Brussels, 1913; glass negative photograph at the time of her
arrest, [?ID card], 1915; her last letter to her nurses from
prison, 1915; proclamation of Cavell's death sentence, 1915;
photographs of her grave in Belgium, and correspondence and
photographs concerning the transfer of her remains to England,
1919; printed correspondence of the US Ambassador to Belgium
relating to Cavell's arrest, 1915; correspondence concerning
Cavell's statue, [1916-1919]; articles, postcards, press cuttings,
plays and propaganda material relating to Cavell, including
photographs of the wreath laying ceremonies at her statue,
[1915-2000].
The information above was gathered from the AIM25 website
available at http://www.aim25.ac.uk.
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