Cavell Van

This van (boxcar) at the Colonel Stevens Railway Museum (Tenterden-Town Station) was built in 1919 and is used to transport the body of Edith Cavell after World War I. The bodies of Charles Fryatt and the Unknown Soldier are also transported with this van.

Built in 1919 as prototype Parcels and Miscellaneous Van number 132 for the South Eastern and Chatham Railway Company.
On the 14 May 1919, HMS Rowena berthed at Dover's Admiralty Pier carrying the body of Nurse Edith Cavell following her exhumation from Belgium. The coffin was placed in Van 132 and transported to London Victoria Station. Nurse Cavell was then given a state funeral in Westminster Abbey before her body was transported to Norwich to be buried in the Cathedral on 19 May 1919.
Captain Charles Fryatt's body was also repatriated from Belgium and transported from Dover to London in Van 132. He was given a state funeral in St Pauls Cathedral on 8 July 1919 and then his body moved for burial in All Saints Church, Upper Dovercourt, Harwich, Essex.
On the 10 November 1920 the coffin containing the Unknown Warrior arrived at from {towid]152675,Boulogne France aboard Victoria Station. By now Van 132 was known as the Cavell Van and for this journey the carriage roof had been painted white so that the many hundreds of thousands who lined the railway route and bridges could identify the carriage and pay their respects.
Van 132 remained in service until 1991 when it was sold into museum hands but its condition was allowed to deteriorate. in 2009 its importance was realised and money raised to refurbish it and it was unveiled on 10 November 2010, the 90th anniversary of its most famous journey.
In 2015 the Cavell Van was transported by road to Norwich as part of an exhibition commemorating the 100th anniversary of Nurse Edith Cavell's execution.
The Cavell Van contains a replica coffin and sword and the iron work was made by the same company that made the original.

For current visiting hours, please visit the website of the museum.

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Source

• Text: Fedor de Vries
• Photos: Michael Roots