Edith Cavell remembered 94 years on

Edith Louisa Cavell was a nurse whose actions during World War One turned her into a heroine.

After completing her formal education, Cavell spent time as a Governess with a family in Belgium, before returning to Britain, where she turned her attention to nursing in 1895.

Cavell was appointed the director of the Berkendael Institute, a training school for nurses, which also served as a clinic, in Brussels seven years before the outbreak of World War One in 1914. Cavell and her school had earned a strong reputation prior to the onset of hostilities.

The German occupation forced the school to moth ball its expansion plans. Cavell turned her energies to helping captured Allied soldiers to escape. Allied soldiers were provided with false papers and disguised as patients.

Around 200 British, French and Belgian servicemen were thought to have been helped to escape to the neutral Netherlands by the time that the Germans arrested Cavell, Philippe Baucq (one of the leaders of the clandestine operation) and several others in August, 1915.

Cavell made a full confession and was sentenced to death. The words: "Patriotism is not enough" were part of the words that appeared in her final message from prison.

Cavell was shot at dawn on October 12, 1915. Baucq was also executed.

Edith Cavell became a martyr and her experience was milked for all its worth by British propaganda during the War. The outcry that her execution provoked led the Kaiser to order that the execution of all female prisoners must have his personal sanction.

After the end of World War One, a funeral service was held for Cavell in Westminster Abbey and her body was buried in Norwich Cathedral on May 15, 1919.

The statue of Cavell in St Martin's Place, near Trafalgar Square, (pictured above) was erected in the early 1920s. Roads were named after her in Belgium and across the British Empire.

The picture above is ©Viveca Koh and was uploaded onto Flickr on October 3, 2008. Viveca's photostream on Flickr can be viewed here.

Visitors to London can hear about the city's Theatreland, Covent Garden and more with the Museums, Galleries & Performing Arts Walk Talk Tour. The tour passes the statue of Edith Cavell in St Martin's Place.

Unlike a normal guided tour, listeners have the flexibility to explore the route at their own pace. To hear an audio sample from the tour please click here.

There are five Walk Talk Tours of London. Each of which is available in English, French, German and Spanish.

Buy one Walk Talk Tour and get a second free by entering the following promotional code in the shopping basket page: BI123.