Image: The Execution of Edith Cavell (Public Domain)

On this day in history, October 12, 1915, in the early morning hours, Edith Cavell, a British nurse employed in Belgium, was executed by the Germans after being found guilty of assisting over 200 Allied soldiers to escape to England. During her trial, she admitted openly to undertaking this. Numerous others, primarily Belgian, had been captured with her, of whom 26 were found guilty and five sentenced to death, though only two death sentences were carried out. Cavell’s speedy execution, before anyone had time to appeal on her behalf, caused international anger. She became a cause célèbre for both sides during World War I.

One night, two associates came to the Berkendael Institute and informed Cavell that two injured English soldiers were concealed in a Brussels convent. She decided to grant them sanctuary and give them medical treatment. The soldiers ultimately left the institution with the aid of the Belgian underground. During the following nine months, over 200 troops went through Cavell’s hospital on their path to liberty, traveling about as doctors, nurses, visitors, patients, and domestics. Her contribution exacted a considerable toll on Edith Cavell. Because her staff was caught up in the scheme, her interest in their protection altered her health and severely strained her exhausted appearance.

The Germans penetrated the underground, and many refugees were detained or murdered. One informer, George Gaston Quien, who had gone through Cavell’s hospital, was the traitor of the network. On August 5, 1915, Otto Meyer and other members of the secret police arrested Cavell and another nurse, Elizabeth Wilkins. After questioning, nurse Wilkins was freed, but Edith was jailed. Told that other associates in the underground had given the Germans sufficient proof, she spontaneously confessed her part in the whole operation.

The trial was an inevitable finale. Under German legal processes, Edith Cavell was not allowed to meet with her lawyer before the trial, nor could the defense review the documents relating to the case. She was officially indicted for enabling no less than 130 people to flee Belgium. Had she confessed to only assisting the men to escape to Holland, the charges would have comprised nothing more than an effort to direct troops to their native countries. That was not a capital crime under German military law. But Edith Cavell was supposed to have signed an admission the day before her trial that she had assisted Belgian men of military age to reach the front, and that she had provided money and guides, or helped hide French and British soldiers so that they might negotiate the Belgian border to Holland. Her confession was not remarkable since she had been in solitary captivity for two months without legal counsel and experienced some self-doubts about the ethics of her actions.

The trial, which started on October 7, 1915, continued for just two days, but not one of the 35 defendants was refused legal rights. Since she did not want to compromise the Berkendael Institute or disgrace the uniform of the nursing career, Cavell wore civilian attire for the trial. Speculation has it that her uniform, greatly respected by the Germans, might have made her a more sympathetic person and earned her more compassion from the court. She did not defend herself. She was asked many questions, and her complete defense was spoken in French, totaling 130 words, and needing only four minutes to convey. The hearing ended on Friday, October 8, and the prisoners were told nothing until they were brought back to court on Monday, October 11. Nine defendants were found not guilty, yet the majority obtained prison terms ranging from two to fifteen years of hard labor. Five death sentences were given, but three of them were commuted. Edith Cavell and Philippe Baucq were condemned to an immediate death sentence. When it was recommended she plea for compassion, Cavell responded peacefully: “It is useless; I am English, and they want my life.”

The American embassy learned at eight o’clock on Monday evening, October 11, that the verdict had been given on Edith Cavell and that her execution would occur the next morning. From his sickbed, Ambassador Whitlock wrote to German authorities, arguing for compassion; he also sent Hugh Gibson, the American embassy attaché, and Marquis de Villabobar, the Spanish ambassador, to visit Baron von der Lancken. Repeated attempts to convince German officials to alter or suspend the execution were to no avail.

Edith Cavell wrote goodbye letters at St. Gilles prison to her family, her nurses and a letter to Eddy Cavell in her manuscript of Imitation of Christ. The Reverend Horace Sterling Gahan, the chaplain of Christ Church in Brussels, was allowed to celebrate communion with her and to deliver her last messages. The guards arrived for her at 6:00 a.m. on October 12, 1915, and she was taken to the Tir National, a rifle range close to the city. When they came to the execution post, le Seur squeezed her hand and delivered the Grace of the Anglican Church to her in English. She asked the chaplain to have Reverend Gahan inform her family that “my soul I believe is safe, and that I am glad to die for my country.” She was then tied to the execution post, and her eyes, full of tears, were blindfolded according to the soldier attending to her. She and Baucq were killed by the firing squad at 7:00 a.m. and buried nearby.

The execution of Edith Cavell – a woman and a nurse – provoked extensive outrage worldwide. There was no proof that she had been a spy, and many believed her death had been a judicial murder. Prime Minister Herbert H. Asquith, speaking in the House of Commons, stated that Edith Cavell met a worse fate in her final hours than a soldier on a battlefield. Even the Germans recognized the propaganda victory they had handed the Allies too late, and Kaiser Wilhelm II declared that no woman was permitted to be executed without his authorization.

After the end of World War I, Edith Cavell’s remains were sent back to England, and memorial services were held at Westminster Abbey on May 15, 1919. When the service was finished, the funeral continued by train to Norwich, where her body was laid to rest in Life’s Green, just outside of the cathedral. A statue in her honor stands in Saint Martin’s Place near Trafalgar Square in London.

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