British nurse Edith Cavell was executed by a German firing squad in Brussels on 12 October 1915. She had been sentenced to death for helping Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium.

Born in Swardeston, Norfolk, in 1865, Cavell trained as a nurse in London. In 1907, she moved to Brussels to direct a nurses’ training school. During the German occupation of the city in 1914, she treated wounded soldiers from both sides.

Cavell also worked with a Belgian escape network. British and French servicemen were sheltered and helped into the neutral Netherlands. About 200 men escaped with assistance from Cavell and others.

German authorities arrested her in August 1915. She admitted helping the men escape and was sentenced to death by a military court. Appeals for clemency from representatives of neutral countries, including the United States and Spain, failed. Cavell was shot at dawn alongside Belgian Philippe Baucq, who had also helped organise the escapes.

Her execution caused widespread anger in Britain and was used in Allied wartime publicity. In 1919, her remains were returned to Britain. Following a service at Westminster Abbey, she was buried beside Norwich Cathedral.