PETITION SEEKS TO HONOR WWI NURSE EDITH CAVELL

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V17 2014 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 17, Number 27, June 29, 2014, Article 23

Philip Mernick forwarded an update on a Change.org petition to spur the Royal Mint to create a coin honoring WWI nurse Edith Cavell. I was unaware of her tragic story and hope the effort succeeds. First, here's an excerpt from the original petition. -Editor

This year sees the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War. To mark this, HM Treasury will be issuing a new £2 coin with the face of the War Minister, Field Marshall Lord Kitchener.

Lord Kitchener represents all that I have always loathed about the First World War - the jingoism, the sheer waste of men, the "Lions led by Donkeys" mentality.

And then I thought of Edith Cavell, a heroine of my early childhood. The nurse who was executed for giving succour to all wounded soldiers regardless of nationality. The woman who is celebrated for saving the lives of soldiers in Brussels from all sides without distinction. She and Belgian and French colleagues helped over 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium. She was arrested, tried with 33 others by a German military court, found guilty of ‘assisting men to the enemy’ and shot by a German firing squad on October 12 1915.

"I realise that patriotism is not enough, I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone", these are her last words. She did not want to be remembered as a martyr or a heroine but simply as "a nurse who tried to do her duty". In the year in which we commemorate the First World War she should be honoured by her country as a woman who was one of the best.

The petition has reached an amazing 110,000 electronic signatures. Here's the latest update, a comment from Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne. -Editor

Mr Osborne: As well as being Chancellor of the Exchequer, I am Master of the Royal Mint. I can therefore address the hon. Gentleman’s question directly. I am certainly aware of the campaign, and I of course honour the bravery and sacrifice of Edith Cavell. There will be a whole series of coins to commemorate the first world war, some of which will be in general circulation and some of which will be for collectors. Like previous Governments, we act on the advice of a Royal Mint advisory committee on these topics, but I will directly take up with it the suggestion of marking Edith Cavell’s sacrifice and make sure that it is honoured in an appropriate way.

Petition organizers will be "pressing on to ensure that we have a £2 coin that goes into general circulation & not just a collector's coin" Good luck! -Editor