Edith Cavell Statue

On Monday 12 October 2015, a bust of Edith Cavell was unveiled by Princess Astrid of Belgium and Princess Anne of Great Britain in the Montjoie Park in Uccle.

Edith Cavell was born on December 4, 1865 in England.
In 1886 she was a governess for two years, until she received a small inheritance and with that money decided to move to the mainland, to Austria and Bavaria and finally in 1890 to become a governess to a Brussels family.
She returned to England to care for her ailing father and in 1898 she graduated as a nurse from the Royal London Hospital.
Edith Cavell returned to Brussels in 1907, where she accepted a job offered by Dr Depage to head the nursing school he had just founded at his Berkendael Institute in Ixelles.

When World War I broke out, the hospital became a Red Cross hospital and Cavell instructed her nurses to care for all wounded, regardless of nationality.
In early September 1914, while caring for English soldiers and also helping them flee, she also started working for the British Secret Service. She organized escape routes for (some 200) Belgian, British and French soldiers across the Dutch border.
She also gathered military intelligence by interrogating wounded German soldiers. She regularly traveled to Ghent for her contacts with the secret services.
When Philippe Baucq was arrested in Brussels with a list bearing Cavell's name, she was arrested on 5 August 1915 by Polizeistelle B Brüssel.
Various authorities argued for a light sentence, without result.
On October 12 she was executed at the National Shooting Range in Schaerbeek
Her death in 1915 caused international outrage, thanks in part to British propaganda portraying her as an innocent, savior angel à la Florence Nightingale
In May 1919 her remains were exhumed. A ceremony was held, also attended by King Albert I of Belgium, and then her remains were repatriated to Westminster Abbey for a ceremony. After this it was transferred to Norwich Cathedral, where Cavell is now buried in the eastern part.

Source : Wikipedia

Do you have more information about this location? Inform us!

Source

• Text: Marie-Christine Vinck
• Photos: Marie-Christine Vinck