Cavell, Edith (kăv`əl), 1865–1915, English nurse. When World War I broke out, she was head of the nursing staff of the Berkendael Medical Institute in Brussels. In 1915 she was arrested by the German occupation authorities and pleaded guilty to a charge of harboring and aiding Allied prisoners and assisting some 130 to cross the Dutch frontier. She was shot on Oct. 11, 1915, despite the efforts of Brand Whitlock, U.S. minister to Belgium, to secure a reprieve.
(born Dec. 4, 1865, Swardeston, Norfolk, Eng.—died Oct. 12, 1915, Brussels, Belg.) English nurse and heroine of World War I. She began her nursing career in 1895 and in 1907 became first matron of a hospital in Brussels, where she greatly improved the standard of nursing. After the German occupation of Belgium (1914), she became involved in an underground group that helped about 200 Allied soldiers escape to The Netherlands. She was subsequently arrested and executed by the Germans.
Bibliography
See biography by A. E. Clark-Kennedy (1965).
Cavell, Edith (Louisa)
)
Edith Cavell
(credit: Syndication International Ltd.)
| ?Page tools | ||
|---|---|---|
|