The Lockdown Chronicles 20: Edith

Click on the image below to read the comic strip in full size. Sources and references on this post under the comic strip below.

As in the rest of this series, this is a homage; liberties were taken with the historical source material.

Edith Louisa Cavell (4 December 1865 – 12 October 1915) was a British nurse. She is celebrated for saving the lives of soldiers from both sides without discrimination and in helping some 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium during the First World War, for which she was arrested. She was accused of treason, found guilty by a court-martial and sentenced to death. Despite international pressure for mercy, she was shot by a German firing squad. Her execution received worldwide condemnation and extensive press coverage. The night before her execution, she said, “Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.” These words were later inscribed on a memorial to her near Trafalgar Square. Her strong Anglican beliefs propelled her to help all those who needed it, both German and Allied soldiers. She was quoted as saying, “I can’t stop while there are lives to be saved.” The Church of England commemorates her in its Calendar of Saints on 12 October. Cavell, who was 49 at the time of her execution, was already notable as a pioneer of modern nursing in Belgium. [Wikipedia entry]

Source texts:  Belgian Edith Cavell Commemoration Group, (2015) “Edith Cavell Story”; Pickles, Katie (2017) “Cavell, Edith Louisa”, International Encyclopedia of the First World War, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin; quotes from St George’s Hospital medical staff as quoted in Bayley, Sian (23 March 2020) “Coronavirus deaths at St George’s Hospital rises to 15”, News. The Wandsworth Times; White, Emma (2016) A History of Britain in 100 Dogs, Cheltenham: The History Press.

Source images: Panel 1: Harcourt, Bosworth W. Swardeston Common, August 15 1895 (drawing, Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, © Norfolk Museums Service, CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 Panels 2-4: Edith Louisa Cavell in Red Cross uniform. Colour process print after E. M. Ross, 1915. Wellcome Library no. 9872i, Wellcome Images, Wellcome Collection. CC-BY 4.0. This comic strip CC-BY-NC-SA.

References

Belgian Edith Cavell Commemoration Group, (2015) “Edith Cavell Story”; available at http://www.edith-cavell-belgium.eu/edith-cavell-story.html [Accessed 5 May 2020]

Pickles, Katie: Cavell, Edith Louisa (Version 1.1), in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, ed. by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson, issued by Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 2017-01-24. DOI: 10.15463/ie1418.10214/1.1. [Accessed 5 May 2020]

Tweets by Tooting MP and A&E doctor at St George’s Hospital, Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, and Dr Lisa Anderson, consultant cardiologist at St George’s Hospital, to the BBC’s Andrew Marr (22 March 2020), as quoted by Bayley, Sian (23 March 2020) “Coronavirus deaths at St George’s Hospital rises to 15”, News. The Wandsworth Times, available at  https://www.wandsworthguardian.co.uk/news/18328407.coronavirus-deaths-st-georges-hospital-rises-15/ [Accessed 5 May 2020]

White, Emma (2016) A History of Britain in 100 Dogs, Cheltenham: The History Press. Excerpt available at https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/edith-cavell-and-her-furry-four-legged-friends/ [Accessed 5 May 2020]

Harcourt, Bosworth W. Swardeston Common, August 15 1895 (drawing) Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, Norfolk Museums Service, available at http://norfolkmuseumscollections.org/collections/objects/object-3860293849.html [Accessed 5 May 2020]

Edith Louisa Cavell in Red Cross uniform. Colour process print after E. M. Ross, 1915. Wellcome Library no. 9872i, Wellcome Images, Wellcome Collection, available at https://wellcomecollection.org/works/ym9xg9kp [Accessed 5 May 2020]

Judson, Helen (1941) “Edith Cavell”. The American Journal of Nursing. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. 41 (7): 871. doi:10.2307/3415077

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The Lockdown Chronicles is a series of periodical comic strips made at night (in candlelight!) adapting and reusing openly-licensed or public domain items from online digital collections. Publication and tweetage are scheduled in advance. Historical sources are adapted and updated for the current pandemic; please refer to each strip’s references on each post for further context.  Catch up with the series at https://epriego.blog/tag/the-lockdown-chronicles/.