1-649-464 - Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images

'Miss Cavell, 1915: The Execution of Edith Cavell', 1916. Plate 88 from from The Great War: A Neutral's Indictment by Louis Raemaekers. The Dutch graphic artist Louis Raemaekers (1869-1956) produced fiercely anti-German cartoons during the First World War. The Germans offered a substantial reward for him, dead or alive, and the Dutch government, under pressure from Germany, placed Raemaekers on trial on a charge of endangering Dutch neutrality. He was acquitted, but fled to England because of the bounty on his head. Edith Cavell (1865-1915) was born in Swardeston, Norfolk, and devoted herself to nursing from the age of 20. In 1907 she was appointed matron of the Berkendael Medical Institute, Brussels. In World War I, during the German occupation of Belgium, the Berkendael Institute was converted to a military hospital. In August 1915 Cavell was arrested by the Germans and tried and found guilty of assisting the escape of 200 Allied soldiers to neutral Holland. She was executed by a firing squad on October 12, 1915.