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| Sunday, 14 August 2005 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Famous trials that shook the world : Trial of Edith Cavell by Lionel Wijesiri Edith Louisa Cavell was born on December 4, 1865, in the vicarage of a small village in Norfolk, England. She was the eldest of four children. All the children were taught the principles which their father held dear: thought for others and self-sacrifice.
During her time at the school, Edith became so proficient in French, that the teacher recommended her to the Francois family in Brussels, as a governess to the family. Edith enjoyed her new position and stayed with the family until 1895 when her father became seriously ill. She returned home to nurse him. The experience of nursing her father convinced Edith that a career in nursing would provide the sort of profession that she was endeavouring to locate. In 1896, after her father's death, Edith entered the London Hospital Nurses' Training School. She completed the course in 1901 and until 1906, worked as a Night Supervisor and Assistant Matron in two infirmaries. During 1906, a Belgian surgeon called Antoine Depage, was attempting to establish a non-denominational hospital structure with trained personnel. He wished this medical structure to be inspired by the earlier work of Florence Nightingale. The base for this new structure was to be his existing location: the Berkendael Institute. He required a matron with administrative experience and was fluent in French. Edith was recommend by one of the Francois children, who had since married. Edith started the new appointment on October 1, 1907. Through her disciplined and enthusiastic approach, she began attracting more recruits to the school. By 1914, the school became an ever increasing source of trained nurses for the local hospitals and other nursing homes. In the summer of 1914, Edith was on a brief holiday visiting her family in England when news came of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in far Sarajevo. Edith's family urged her to stay in England, but she believed duty demanded that she return to the hospital in Brussels. When she said good-bye to them she did not know that she would never see her family again. On August 4, the Germans invaded Belgium. After entering Brussels on August 20, 1914, the German occupying forces allowed Edith, a national of an enemy nation, to remain as Matron. They also converted the teaching school into a Red Cross Hospital. However, before long the Germans began to appreciate her work as she began to treat an increasing number of injured German soldiers. Whatever their nationality, Edith provided the best treatment she could offer. There were posters all over Brussels warning that "Any male or female who hides an English or French soldier in his house shall be severely punished." In spite of this warning, there were many successful efforts to hide soldiers who were wounded or separated from their units, then given refuge and helped to escape to safety. In Edith Cavell's hospital too, wounded Allied soldiers were tended and then helped to escape. Soon Edith was persuaded to make room for some of the unfortunates who were not wounded but merely fleeing the Germans. They too were helped to get to places where they could rejoin Allied force. Despite the shortage of food, Edith continued to feed the hospital's growing official list of patients, the staff and the rising numbers of escapees. She also continued to do lot of jobs at night, to avoid unnecessary questions. By 1915, she had more than 200 British, French and Belgian soldiers lodged at the school. The Germans were becoming suspicious about the hospital and placed the hospital under observation. Edith associates warned her that she was under ever increasing danger. They advised her to leave the country immediately. But Edith's strong feelings of compassion and patriotism overruled the warnings and she continued to do what she thought was her duty. On August 15, 1915, as was almost inevitable, she was arrested by the German police and charged with assisting the enemy. The Germans suspected that not only were she and others helping Allied soldiers but that the same communication lines were used to divulge German military plans - a serious charge indeed. Edith was held incommunicado for ten weeks. Thirty-four others were accused of the same crime and were tried as a group. Several of the accused were friends of Edith's who had worked with her in helping the Allied soldiers. The trial lasted only two days. Edith's devotion to the truth condemned her she would not lie to save her life. She openly admitted that she had helped as many as 200 men to escape, and that some of them had written letters of thanks for her help. This was enough to cause her to be judged guilty and the sentence to be executed. Even in death, Edith Cavell caused other lives to be saved. There was such a storm of protest all over the world that the Germans were moved to spare the lives of the other 33 accused prisoners. Another result of the tragic event was that thousands of volunteers in England, Canada, Australia and other parts of the British Empire lined up at recruiting stations. And in the United States, there began an enormous popular pressure for America to declare war on Germany. After the War had ended, Edith's body was exhumed and returned to the UK. On May 19, 1919, King George V lead a very well attended memorial service at Westminster Abbey before Edith's body was taken by special train to Norwich, and she was reburied on Life's Green, in Norwich Cathedral. Several statues have been erected to commemorate Edith Cavell. One is located near Trafalgar Square in London. There is also a plaque with the following inscription: "Edith Cavell, Brussels, Dawn, October 12, 1915, Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness for anyone." Those were her last words before she died. Yet her name lives on. In Brussels the nurses' training school is called Ecole Edith Cavell. In Paris' Tuileries there is a beautiful sculpture of her. In Canada a western mountain is named Mt. Cavell. In the US Rocky Mountains, there is Cavell Glacier. And in Swardeston, where she was born, the window over the altar of the church is dedicated to her. |
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