Edith Cavell

by Diana Souhami

  —one of the ablest … Frederick Treves, “Tribute to a Great Woman,” London Hospital Gazette, xxii, 1918

  61 Edith Cavell wrote her notes … CI/1/1(LH)

  64 If thou canst hold … The Imitation of Christ

  —Edith Cavell had a self-sufficient manner … Eva Lückes, Register of Sisters and Nurses, N/5/4 (LH)

  11 MAIDSTONE

  65 Nearly half the houses … Borough of Maidstone, Epidemic of Typhoid Fever, 1897 HMSO 1898 (BL)

  67 through mischance … ibid.

  12 BACK TO THE LONDON

  69 the most magnificent operating … The Nursing Record and Hospital World, July 22, 1899

  70 Edith Cavell had plenty … Eva Lückes, Register N/5 (LH)

  71 Amelia Brandon was big … N/5 (LH). And following

  13 MELLISH WARD

  73 a smart sister, her nursing instincts … Eva Lückes, Register of Sisters and Nurses, No.1, p. 222, N/5/4 (LH)

  74 very self-opinionated … N/5/4 (LH)

  76 struck up one of those … ibid.

  —Edith Cavell is not a success … N/4/1(LH)

  14 THE INFIRMARIES

  79 Gathorne Hardy Act … see Gwendoline Ayers, England’s First State Hospitals and the Metropolitan Asylums Board 1867–1930

  81 You will have heard … July 2, 1901, Matron’s Correspondence, N/7(1) (LH)

  82 You will I think be pleased … November 5, 1903, Matron’s Correspondence, N/7(2) (LH)

  83 I knew her … quoted in Helen Judson, Edith Cavell

  84 What is she like … quoted in Rowland Ryder, Edith Cavell fresh and more suitable testimonial … October 7, 1904, Matron’s Correspondence, N/7 (3) (LH)

  —Will you forgive me … Matron’s Correspondence, N/7(4) (LH)

  15 A HOLIDAY

  86 She was very apologetic … N/4/1 (LH)

  87 felt refreshed after … Matron’s Correspondence, N/7(5)(LH)

  —What a great bond … September 13, 1906, Matron’s Correspondence, N/7(5) (LH)

  —I was asked to account … ibid.

  88 I feel it rather … N/7(6) (LH)

  89 Until the present … June 1907, N/7(7) (LH)

  PART THREE

  16 SETTING UP

  93 Will it weary you … N/7(8) (LH)

  98 Monsieur Depage was quite unable … December 26, 1907, N/7(12) (LH) three Dutch nurses … N/7(9) (LH). And following

  —passing the male catheter … October 27, 1907, N/7(10) (LH)

  99 They go into the kitchen … December 2, 1907, N/7(11) (LH)

  17 THE SCHOOL GOES ON

  101 The contrast which they present … Edith Cavell, article in Nursing Mirror and Midwives Journal, April 30, 1907 (CNL)

  103 to lie on one’s bed … Ruth Moore, “Nursing in Brussels” (unpublished MS) (RMA). And, “Memories of Edith Cavell,” Nursing Mirror, October 10, 1942 (CNL)

  —I was very glad to take her … January 7, 1908, N/7(13) (LH)

  105 Such difficulties are unavoidable … quoted in A. A. Hoehling, Edith Cavell, 1958

  106 not a good nurse and still less … September 9, 1908, N/7(14) (LH)

  —The patient is a woman … November 24, 1908, N/7(19) (LH)

  —A Dr. Pierart asked … October 24, 1908, N/7(17)(LH)

  —Sister Evans—in every way devoted … November 17, 1908, N/7(18) (LH)

  107 Among the things that a nurse must learn … Armand Colard, ‘Edelweiss—Les Amis de l’Ecole Edith Cavell, Marie Depage,’ Imprimerie Weissenbruch Bruxelles, 1954. Quoted in Clark-Kennedy, Edith Cavell

  109 When I came in 1910 … Jacqueline van Til, With Edith Cavell in Belgium, New York, 1922

  18 FAMILY LIFE

  110 The young girls are brought up … N/7 (LH)

  112 Maybe that was why … Ruth Moore, unpublished Mss (RMA)

  —the Reverend Philip Stocks … (SA)

  114 I was a Sister at … Sunday Graphic and Sunday News, February 4, 1934

  —My dear Sister … July 30, 1912, EC2(9) (IWM)

  115 Storms may gather, O love my love … typescript (LH)

  —Jacqueline van Til in a memoir … With Edith Cavell in Belgium

  116 The content of her lectures … (LH)

  117 We shall be with you … June 23, 1910 (SA)

  19 FRESH EFFORTS IN THE GOOD CAUSE

  119 The new Belgian School … Armand Colard, Historique de l’Ecole Edith Cavell/Marie Depage

  120 It is pleasant to hear … April 15, 1913, N/7(21) (LH)

  121 sad and mopy thin. … (SA). And CI/1/3(ii) (LH)

  122 a great and honourable profession … manuscript notes, c. 1909 CI/1/2 (LH)

  20 WAR DECLARED

  130 There has been no crime … Ramsay MacDonald, House of Commons speech on why he opposed Britain’s involvement in the First World War, August 3, 1914 (CNL). And see Eastern Daily Press (CNL). James Cameron, 1914, London, 1959. John Keegan, The First World War, 1999

  PART FOUR

  21 THE ARRIVAL OF THE ENEMY

  135 War was declared … (SA)

  —We were full of … “Nursing in War Time,” Nursing Mirror, August 22, 1914 (CNL). And following

  136 Queen Elisabeth offered … “Royal Palace Red Cross Hospital” (RMA)

  137 Yesterday I went to inspect … Edith Cavell, “Nursing in War Time,” The Nursing Mirror and Midwives’ Journal, August 22, 1914 (CNL)

  138 We have just heard … ibid.

  140 After the period … Nursing Mirror, April 24, 1915 (CNL)

  141 They will only walk through … EC to her mother, August 17, 1914. Quoted in Clark-Kennedy, Edith Cavell

  —but it did not need … Edith Cavell, “Brussels Under the German Rule,” Nursing Mirror, April 24, 1915 (CNL)

  —My dearest Mother and my dear Ones … Edith Cavell to her mother, August 19, 1914. Quoted in Clark-Kennedy, Edith Cavell

  142 I shall never forget … With Edith Cavell in Belgium

  —In the evening came the news … “Brussels Under the German Rule” (CNL)

  143 We were divided … ibid.

  22 OCCUPATION

  145 There are two sides to war … Edith Cavell, “Nursing in War Time” (CNL)

  147 He went to battles as an office boy … Brand Whitlock, Belgium Under the German Occupation, 1919

  —It is the hard necessity … ibid.

  —give anything for an English … EC1(4) (IWM)

  148 My darling Edith, It is almost … EC4(1) (IWM)

  149 I hope news of the safety … EC2(4) (IWM)

  150 I often saw … Ruth Moore, “Nursing in Brussels,” Nursing Mirror, October 9, 1975 (RMA)

  152 no gaieties of any sort … “Brussels Under the German Rule”(CNL)

  153 You would think every day … Edith Cavell to her mother, EC2(8) (IWM)

  23 THE LOST CHILDREN

  156 Harry Beaumont was a private … Harry Beaumont, Old Contemptible, 1967

  157 We had faith … ibid.

  161 Boger had a temperature … statement from Mrs. Millicent Battram (Sister White), October 5, 1970 (SA)

  24 YORC

  165 Nothing can describe … Princess Marie de Croÿ, War Memories, 1932

  166 As soon as they are well … ibid.

  170 The Countess was French … Louise Thuliez, Condemned to Death, 1934

  171 Late in the afternoon … Old Contemptible

  25 MY DARLING MOTHER

  173 We are all well … EC2(5) (IWM)

  174 All my thoughts … William J. Philpott, “The strategic ideas of Sir John French,” Journal of Strategic Studies, Volume 12, Issue December 4, 1989

  175 a bulletin of patriotic … Oscar E. Millard, Uncensored: the true story of the clandestine newspaper “La Libre Belgique,” 1938

  —I have written to you on every … EC2(6) (IWM)

  176 Dearest Flor EC2(7) (IWM)

  177 I am afraid you must … EC to her mother, October 19, 1914, EC2(9) (IWM)

  178 I seize every opportunity … EC2(15) (IWM)

  181
a man whose name … Brand Whitlock, Belgium Under the German Occupation, vol. I

  183 She had to walk … “Nursing in Brussels” (RMA)

  —My darling Mother, I take another … EC2(17) (IWM)

  26 THE MEN WHO DIED IN SWATHES

  185 The British Empire is fighting … Lord Kitchener, speech at the Guildhall, November 9, 1914

  187 People think it is mud and wet we mind … Corporal James Parr, 16th London Regiment, to his family, March 20, 1916. From War Letters of Fallen Englishmen, ed. Laurence Housman, 1930

  —Perhaps you don’t know … Lieutenant Barnett, Leinster Regiment, December 31, 1914. War Letters

  —As for the morals of the war … Captain John Crombie, Gordon Highlanders, March 2, 1917. War Letters

  —I have only had my boots off … Captain Julian Grenfell, Ist Royal Dragoons, October 24, 1914. War Letters

  189 Oh the smell of cows … Lieutenant William Grenfell, The Rifle Brigade, May 25, 1915. War Letters

  —Do you think that the experience … Lieutenant Horace Fletcher, Royal Welch Fusiliers, early 1916. War Letters

  —The suffering of men at the Front … Captain William Mason, Gloucestershire Regiment, autumn 1915. War Letters

  —The road thirty yards behind us … Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, Canadian Army Medical Service, May 17, 1915. A Memoir of John McCrae, ed. Andrew Macphail

  190 Any faith in religion … Lieutenant Peter Layard, Suffolk Regiment, March 1916. Memoir of P. C. Layard. Quoted in War Letters

  —If I live … Captain Thomas Kettle, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, July 1916. War Letters

  —It is VILE … Brigadier-General Philip Howele, 4th Hussars, November 3, 1914. War Letters

  191 The wide debridement. Thomas Helling and Emmanuel Daon, “In Flanders Fields: the Great War, Antoine Depage and the Resurgence of Debridement,” Annals of Surgery, vol. 228, no. 2, 1998

  27 CHRISTMAS 1914

  192 Just returned to billets again … Captain Sir Edward Westrow Hulse, Scots Guards, December 28, 1914. War Letters

  196 I have a beautiful bunch of chrysanthemums … EC to her mother, December 22, 1914, EC2 (16)(IWM)

  —Two of them, Sergeant Jesse Tunmore … “A Statement of my Escape” (NRO)

  197 I realise perhaps better than anyone … Cardinal Mercier; pastorals, letters, allocutions, 1914–1917 www.archive.org/cardinalmercier

  199 What do you think of these brave people … EC to her mother, EC2(16) (IWM) a huge bouquet … Ruth Moore,’Memories of Edith Cavell,’ Nursing Mirror, October 10, 1942 (RMA)

  28 ORGANISATION

  201 I am keeping a record … Edith Cavell to her mother, EC2 (4). And Edith Cavell’s diary, EC1(1) (IWM)

  202 People are wonderfully generous … Edith Cavell’s diary, August 1915, EC1 (IWM)

  29 THE MEN SHE HELPED

  211 I am writing to you to say … January 20, 1915, quoted in Rowland Ryder, Edith Cavell

  —acute mania … G. Tunmore to Mrs. Cavell, February 15, 1915 EC4(3) (IWM)

  213 It is with kind permission … February 1915, quoted in Rowland Ryder

  214 Referring to it being risky … ibid.

  217 My dear Eddy … March 11, 1915 (SA)

  218 All is very quiet … EC2(18) (IWM)

  220 We must foresee … New York Times, April 18, 1915

  221 tell all the helpers … Marie de Croÿ, War Memories

  30 WATCHED

  222 There was something degrading … Brand Whitlock, Belgium Under the German Occupation

  227 Very many happy returns … EC2(19) (IWM)

  229 I sat in her little sitting room … War Memories

  31 ARREST

  233 I have had a message from Brussels … Ruth de Borchgrave to Mrs. Cavell, July 28, 1915 (SA)

  235 Where is your husband … Louise Thuliez, Condemned to Death

  236 Pauline Randall went for a walk … (SA)

  237 On Aug. 5th 1915 … Ambroise Got, The Case of Miss Cavell. German documents of the trial. And “151 pages of diverse origin covering the trial and execution” EC10(1) (IWM)

  238 I refused to admit anything … Elisabeth Wilkins, unpublished notes (SA). And EC(1) (IWM). And Helen Judson, Edith Cavell

  239 My dearest Grace … EC2(20) (IWM)

  240 We felt as though … With Edith Cavell in Belgium

  PART FIVE

  32 FIRST INTERROGATION

  245 No not 5000 … Ambroise Got, The Case of Miss Cavell

  246 wild and implacable … Brand Whitlock, Belgium Under the German Occupation

  —I lay particular stress … Got, The Case of Miss Cavell

  249 All our suppositions … ibid.

  —My statements. … ibid.

  33 BETWEEN INTERROGATIONS

  251 Prisoners must obey … quoted in Louise Thuliez, Condemned to Death

  253 the whole caboodle … quoted as interview in Rowland Ryder, Edith Cavell

  34 THE OTHERS

  256 In the circumstances … Condemned to Death

  257 the scum and offscouring … Belgium Under the German Occupation

  —on a day in late August … War Memories

  35 THE ESCAPE OF THE PRINCE DE CROÿ

  259 A Flemish workman … War Memories

  36 THE SECOND INTERROGATION

  261 In this second deposition … The Case of Miss Cavell. And, Official German documents concerning Edith Cavell: bound volume of papers from August—December 1915 (151pp) EC10(1) (IWM)

  263 She had blue eyes … Condemned to Death

  37 SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

  265 My dear Sister, I am sorry … August 23, 1915 EC2(22) (IWM)

  267 Vanity it is … Imitation of Christ. And following

  268 Your charming letter … EC2(23) (IWM)

  269 We could not believe it to be possible … With Edith Cavell in Belgium. And following

  —My Dear Pauline … (SA)

  271 The bill 115 frs … EC2(21) (IWM)

  38 THE EFFORTS OF OTHERS

  272 I have news … FO 383/15 (NA)

  —The Under-Secretary … EC5(1) (IWM)

  —One day in August … Brand Whitlock, Belgium Under the German Occupation, vol. 2

  273 My Legation has just been informed … ibid.

  275 The American Minister presents … ibid.

  276 In reply to Your Excellency’s note … ibid.

  —a frail and delicate … ibid.

  277 Referring to your telegram … ibid.

  278 I am afraid it is likely … FO 383/15 (NA)

  —Any representation … ibid.

  279 To His Excellency Baron von Bissing … Ambroise Got, The Case of Miss Cavell, 1915

  39 THE TRIAL: THURSDAY OCTOBER 7

  286 I took them in … .Hearing of the Military Court EC(10) IWM

  287 I am asked … War Memories

  288 I think Baucq, Capiau, you and I … Condemned to Death

  289 His shaking shoulders … War Memories

  290 Grant me patience … The Imitation of Christ

  40 THE TRIAL: FRIDAY OCTOBER 8

  294 He went on talking … Albert Libiez, L’Affaire Cavell, 1922

  297 She was brought into danger … EC(10) (IWM). And, The Case of Miss Cavell. And, War Memories, And, L’Affaire Cavell

  41 SATURDAY OCTOBER 9

  299 the Imperial Military Decree … Armee-Verordnungsblatt, August 2, 1914, paras. 11–15 EC(13) (IWM)

  —From their own statements … EC(10) (IWM)

  301 very grateful for any … FO 383/15 (NA)

  —Thou that rulest … The Imitation of Christ

  42 SUNDAY OCTOBER 10

  302 That’s only the usual … Belgium Under the German Occupation

  43 MONDAY OCTOBER 11: DAY

  305 his cheeks flushed … G. Hostelet, “The Story of Nurse Cavell’s Trial,” Nineteenth Century and After, LXXXV

  —It is useless … Condemned to Death

  306 We had so much … ibid.

  —I deem that the interests … EC(10
) (IWM)

  307 It was intolerably difficult … Letter from Pastor Le Seur, Cassell’s Magazine No. 1970198 (1928)

  44 MONDAY OCTOBER 11: EVENING

  309 I went at once … Belgium Under the German Occupation. And FO383/15 (NA)

  310 I have just heard that Miss Cavell … Belgium Under the German Occupation. And following

  312 Miss Cavell’s trial … FO 383/15 (NA)

  45 MONDAY OCTOBER 11: NIGHT

  313 What is it, gentlemen … Belgium Under the German Occupation

  315 Von der Lancken was deaf … Notes and Queries, March 28, 1931

  316 But it was worse to go … Belgium Under the German Occupation

  46 WHAT WAS LEFT OF THE NIGHT

  318 My dear nurses, It is a very sad … EC2(24) (IWM) and CI/1/4 (LH)

  321 If it be Thy will … The Imitation of Christ

  322 like a solemn fast … Report by H. Stirling T. Gahan, British Chaplain in Brussels, in Belgium Under the German Occupation

  323 Abide With Me … Words: Henry F. Lyte, 1847. Music: William H. Monk, 1861

  324 My dear Sister, Mr. Gahan will give you … EC2(25) (IWM)

  325 Arrested August 5, 1915 … CI/1/5 (LH)