Silent in an Evil Time (15 page)

Edith would have felt just as embarrassed by the number of ways that England and other countries continued to pay tribute to her. Renowned English actresses played Edith in the story of her life on the screen and on the stage: Sybil Thorndike in a 1928 movie, Anna Neagle in a 1939 film, and Joan Plowright in a 1982 play. Around the world, everything from streets to mountains were named after Edith. In the town of Beaulieu-sur-Mer, on France's Mediterranean, a pretty road was renamed Rue Edith Cavell in gratitude for all the French soldiers rescued by Edith. And Canada put her name on a peak in the Rocky Mountains near Jasper, Alberta. The peak, 3,363 meters high, became Mount Edith Cavell.

OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT:

This stone memorial stands outside the Institut Edith Cavell in Brussels. It celebrates both Edith and Marie Depage, wife of Dr. Antoine Depage who founded the clinic that later became the Institut.
(The Royal London Hospital Archives)

The memorial to Edith in front of Norwich Cathedral describes her as “nurse, patriot and martyr.” She took great pride in her career as a nurse, but she never thought of herself as a martyr.
(Jack Batten)

Communities all over the world honored Edith by putting her name on streets and avenues. This sign borders a road running through the pretty little town of Beaulieu-sur-Mer on the French Riviera.
(Marjorie Harris)

This sign in the East End of Toronto faces a street originally named Dresden Avenue. Toronto's city council changed the name in the spring of 1916 as a gesture to honor Edith.
(Jack Batten)

In England, Belgium, and countless other countries, governments and citizens made sure that Edith's name would never fade from memory. A new nurses'residence, built at the London Hospital in 1916, was intended to be named Alexandra Home, after the widow of King Edward VII, but with Queen Alexandra's approval, the name was changed to Edith Cavell Home. In Brussels, the clinic where Edith served as the first Matron came to be called the Cavell Institute. A bust of her stands outside Norwich Cathedral, and a large bas-relief showing Edith and two soldiers, put up by the Societa Italo-Canadese on November 11, 1922, occupies a plaza in front of the Toronto General Hospital.

The best-known Cavell memorial is the statue of Edith that faces south across Trafalgar Square in London. The statue shows Edith looking far more imposing than she ever was in life. Below the statue, the pedestal carries Edith's name, together with the place, date, and time of her execution. That was all the information on the pedestal when the memorial was unveiled in the early 1920s. But in 1924, a man named F.W. Jowitt, the commissioner of public works in the government of the day, decided that the pedestal needed more. He ordered that Edith's declaration to the Reverend Stirling Gahan on the last night of her life be carved into the stone under the date of her death:

PATRIOTISM IS NOT ENOUGH. I MUST HAVE NO HATRED OR BITTERNESS FOR ANYONE.

The words were Edith's message to the world. She helped hundreds of her fellow countrymen escape the German enemy, an action that showed how much her country meant to her. But simple patriotism didn't go far enough. It couldn't prevent wars; it might even encourage them. In Edith's opinion, the only course of action was to reach out and accept all men and women, no matter what countries they came from. In saying her two famous lines, Edith was only doing her duty as she saw it.

Clark-Kennedy, A.E.
Edith Cavell, Pioneer and Patriot.
Faber. 1965.

Daunton, Claire.
Edith Cavell: Her Life and Her Art.
Royal London Hospital. 1990.

Elkon, Juliette.
Edith Cavell.
Messner. 1956.

Felstead, Theodore.
Edith Cavell. The Crime That Shocked the World.
Newman. 1940.

Gill, Gillian.
Nightingales: The Extraordinary Upbringing and Curious Life
of Miss Florence Nightingale.
Ballantine. 2004.

Gorrell, Gena K.
Heart and Soul: The Story of Florence Nightingale.
Tundra Books. 2000.

Keegan, John.
The First World War.
Random House. 2000.

Peachment, Brian.
Ready to Die: The Story of Edith Cavell.
Pergamon Press. 1980.

Ryder, Rowland.
Edith Cavell.
Hamish Hamilton. 1975.

Strachan, Hew.
The First World War.
Viking. 2004.

Strachey Lytton.
Eminent Victorians.
Bloomsbury 1918.

The following people and institutions were exceptionally generous in providing research materials, illustrations, and support. Sarah Batten. Rebecca Snow. Chris Harris. Peter Smith. Janet Inkstetter. The Royal London Hospital Archives and Museum, particularly Jonathan Evans, Kate Richardson, and Sarah Coombs. The Imperial War Museum. The church of St. Mary the Virgin in Swardeston, Norfolk, particularly Churchwarden Nick Miller. The Reference Library of the Toronto Public Library. Tundra Books, particularly Sue Tate and Kathy Lowinger. And, as ever, Marjorie Harris.

Copyright © 2007 by Jack Batten

Published in Canada by Tundra Books,
75 Sherbourne Street, Toronto, Ontario M5A 2P9

Published in the United States by Tundra Books of Northern New York,
P.O. Box 1030, Plattsburgh, New York 12901

Library of Congress Control Number: 2006940129

All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without the prior written consent of the publisher – or, in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency – is an infringement of the copyright law.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Batten, Jack, 1932-

Silent in an evil time: the brave war of Edith Cavell / Jack Batten.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

eISBN: 978-1-77049-005-5

1. Cavell, Edith, 1865-1915 – Juvenile literature.

2. Nurses – Great Britain – Biography – Juvenile literature.

3. World War, 1914-1918 – Belgium – Juvenile literature.

I. Title.

D630.C3B38 2007    J940.4′76092    C2006-906825-9

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) and that of the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Media Development Corporations Ontario Book Initiative.

We further acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts
Council for our publishing program.

The author gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

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