(1865-1915)
Norwich Cathedral is an impressive introduction to the city. I tiptoe around the aisles as ‘Evening Song’ begins and swerve two children chasing each other, giggling in the vast space. Imagine the joy of ignoring the ‘quiet please’ signs and just going hell for leather trying to thump your older brother in a race around the cathedral.
Amongst its fine architecture, history and homage to God, the cathedral houses the grave of Edith Cavell – pronounced as in ‘travel’. I pick this up as there is an art exhibition in the knave and a volunteer has just started a tour of the artwork. I eavesdrop before she guides them round and I am left wandering the side precipices, occasionally coming across the squabbling kids again in chase. Maybe they live in the cathedral.
Cavell’s resting place is just outside the east wing of the cathedral. The inscription explains that for aiding both allied and enemy ailing forces in war she was sentenced to death and shot on 12th October 1915.
I find her statue positioned against an outer cathedral wall. Sculptured by J.G Gordon, she stands high on a plinth with a soldier reaching up to her with a laurel memorial wreath. This statue was erected in 1918, exactly 3 years after her execution and unveiled by Queen Alexandra. The backdrop of the information stand shows a picture of what looks like thousands of onlookers at the unveiling. The stand also notes a conversation with her friend the night before she was executed, ‘We shall always remember you as a heroine and as a martyr’. To which she replies, ‘Don’t think of me like that – think of me only as a nurse who tried to do her duty.’
The London statue was erected a few years later, although its subscription was raised within weeks of her death and the delay in its unveiling was down to sourcing the material. Nevertheless, the sculptor refused payment for its creation. On each of its four faces the words ‘Humanity’, ‘Sacrifice’, ‘Devotion’ and ‘Fortitude’ are inscribed along with her infamous last words; ‘Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone’.
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