Cavell WW1 postcard discovered in Bready

Mrs Doherty discovered the old postcard - commemorating WW1 martyr Edith Cavell - which she believes may have belonged to her mother-in-law whose brothers fought in the Great War.

The card is an unabashed propaganda piece focusing on Norfolk nurse, Sister Edith Cavell, who was executed by firing squad in retribution for her facilitation of the escape of approximately 200 allied soldiers from Belgium into the Netherlands.

Its headline reads: “Miss Edith Cavell: Murdered: October 12th, 1915: REMEMBER” over a grim illustration of a German officer standing over the dead nurse.

Overleaf is printed: “Miss Edith Cavell cowardly murdered by a German Officer. Condemned to death by military tribunal in Belgium, under the charge of having favoured the evasion of British soldiers, miss Edith Cavell, of Norwich, a voluntary nurse is taken to the execution ground on the 12th of October at day-break.

“She faints: the German officer gives his soldiers the order to fire; they hesitate to shoot on the prostrate body of a woman. “The fiend takes his revolver and leaning upon his victim, deliberately blows her brains out. REMEMBER!

It is signed simply: “Remember Belgium and England today.”

Londonderry military historian and World War 1 expert Richard Doherty explained that the postcard dates from the First World War period but said that its narrative is slightly misleading in that Sister Cavell was actually shot by firing squad rather than by a single officer.

Mr Doherty explained: “The card is contemporary.

“Sister Edith Cavell, a British nurse, was executed by the Germans for helping Allied prisoners escape from German-occupied Belgium.

“The German civil governor of Belgium advised leniency but the military authorities ignored his advice and she was shot by firing squad (not by a single officer).

“She is commemorated off Trafalgar Square in London with a memorial bearing the words she spoke to her Anglican priest - ‘Patriotism is not enough, I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.’”

The death of Sister Cavell struck a chord and sent reverberations around the globe at the time.

Explained Mr Doherty: “In Belgium she is remembered for her courage and also for her contribution to the development of nursing in that country.

“Incidentally, the UK government, on learning of the death sentence passed on her, decided to make no intervention through neutral intermediaries lest that exacerbate the situation and remove any possibility of clemency. The US government - which was neutral - did appeal to the Germans not to execute her.”