Before the Borough Idiot, Cllr Palmer, rants on about the Hornet being a Labour blog let us remember there are times when basic decency rises above petty local government politics.
Dilmondenberg is absolutely right to give oxygen to this superlative idea.
The courage and moral integrity displayed by Edith Cavell must never be forgotten.
Campaign for an Edith Cavell £2 coin
Labour Councillors are supporting the campaign to have a likeness of Edith Cavell on a £2 coin. The campaign started following the announcement that the Treasury is planning a Kitchener coin and campaigners felt that there ought to be an additional coin which commemorates the good and brave deeds of the First World War carried out by people such as Edith Cavell, who is also commemorated with a statue at St Martin's Place in Westminster http://www.victorianweb.org/
The petition say - “Please issue a £2 coin with the face of Edith Cavell on it to commemorate a woman who did her duty during the First World War, a duty not just to country but to all humankind.”
The campaigners say;
“Edith Cavell was a 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.”
So far there are over 30,000 signatures in support of the petition.
Here is the link to the petition http://www.change.org/en-GB/
Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, Leader of the Labour Group said;
“The bravery shown by men and women during the First World War came in many forms and the courage shown by Edith Cavell has inspired many generations since then. Edith Cavell is commemorated in Westminster by a prominent statue in St Martin’s Place and it would be fitting to add to this with her likeness on a new £2 coin so that her bravery and commitment to her duty as a nurse can be remembered more widely”
ENDS
Contact Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg on 020 7566 7960 or 07864 042 584
Thank you very much Dame for giving me the opportunity to sign this petition to applaud a true heroine. Especially for being able to celebrate a lady who was so heroic during the first world war, where very few women got the recognition deserved! xxx
ReplyDeleteHer execution was represented at the time, and still to this day via the St Martin's Place memorial, as another German atrocity by the brutal and bestial Hun against a saintly innocent English nurse, along with all the nun raping and baby skewering. Most of these atrocities turned out on subsequent investigation to be propaganda or urban myth. The hard fact is that she knew what she was doing and knew it was punishable by death. She was guilty as charged and justly sentenced . No matter how admirably she met her death no state can tolerate assisting its enemy in a time of war - we shot plenty of German spies in the Tower of London.
ReplyDeleteAre you Pooter Cockell? He is half German though keeps it quiet and probably agrees with you
DeleteIn fact Miss Cavell has quite a number of memorials, including one outside Norwich Cathedral - which is near her place of birth, there are also memorials in Australia and Canaqda. The argument that she knew what she was doing would be punishable by death if caught, in my eyes makes her even more of a heroine. Wars are created and sustained by politians NOT nurses, British or otherwise. Point of interest Edith Cavell is recorded to have treated German soldiers. It is also reported a German soldier was executed for refusing to execute Miss Cavell.
ReplyDelete