Thursday 12^th October 2023, the 108^th anniversary of Edith Cavell’s death, a memorial for her was unveiled at the Schaarbeek Cemetery. 

Edith Cavell is one of the most well-known nurses in Flanders during the First World War. As well as working as a nurse, treating the wounded, Cavell also helped soldiers to escape occupied Belgium. In 1915, she was sentenced to death when the network was discovered.

At the end of the war in 1918, the Red Cross in Brussels commune of Schaerbeek placed a white plaque next to her grave. In 1919, her remains were returned to the UK. Her sister Lillian accompanied her remains, some of her belongings relating to her life and death were also returned, which are now on display at the Imperial War Museum in London.  However, there was no record of the location of the white marble plaque, until now.  Richard Kent, a descendant of Lilian Cavell came across it 104 years later. Whilst clearing out his mother’s garage he found the plaque in an old suitcase. No one in the family has any memory of seeing the plaque on display.

The family decided the plaque should be returned to Belgium. The Commune of Schaarbeek in the person of Quentin Van Den Hove, the “Echevin” responsible for, amongst other things, “Manifestations Patriotiques”, has, in association with “The Belgian Edith Cavell Commemoration Group (BECCG)”, has decided to create an Edith Cavell Memorial, with the plaque as the centre piece. The new memorial will be placed in the Schaerbeek cemetery close to that of Gabrielle Petit. The cemetery staff have been able to restore the plaque which had been badly damaged and soiled.

"Le Comité de Schaerbeek de la Croix Rouge Belgique à Miss Edith Cavell, Infirmière, victime de son dévouement patriotique" Décembre 1918

"The Schaerbeek Committee of the Belgian Red Cross to Miss Edith Cavell, Nurse, victim of her patriotic devotion" December 1918