Edith Cavell

Edith Louisa Cavell (4 December 1865 – 12 October 1915) was a British nurse.

She saved the lives of soldiers from both sides. She helped some 200 Allied soldiers to escape from German-occupied Belgium during the First World War. She was arrested and accused of treason, found guilty by a court-martial and sentenced to death. Despite international pleas for mercy, she was shot by a German firing squad. Her execution received worldwide condemnation and extensive press coverage.^[1][2]

Edith Cavell was born on the 4th of December 1865 near Norfolk and was the oldest of four children. Her father was a vicar, who always taught her the importance of loving and caring for others. In 1890, she became a governess for a family in Belgium, before returning home to care for her sick father. She enrolled in nursing school in 1896, and graduated in 1898. In 1907, she became a matron at the nursing school in Belgium.