Belgium Trip Day 2

On Tuesday 16 June, the Company tour party visited the  Brandhoek New Military Cemetery to lay a wreath at the grave of Captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse,  a British Army medical officer and one of only three people ever to be awarded the Victoria Cross, twice.

The Company then visited the Tyne Cot cemetery which is located near the village of Passchendaele, Tyne Cot is the world's largest Commonwealth War Graves site. Members  were moved by the scale of the cemetery and the huge loss of life whilst also finding its beauty breathtaking. There are just under 12000 graves and 80% of these graves are unnamed with the memorial walls containing the names of 35,000 missing.

In the afternoon the Company travelled to Brussels.

They visited the School of Nursing , established in 1907 and Edith Cavell was the Matron. The School of Nursing was called the L’ecole Belge d’infermieres Diplomees and was the first school of nursing in Belgium.

This is now a residential area , but the group enjoyed hearing about the history of the School of Nursing and its founding association with the Belgium Red Cross.

In November 1914, after the German occupation of Brussels, Cavell began sheltering British soldiers and funnelling them out of occupied Belgium to the neutral Netherlands. This placed Cavell in violation of German Military Law and the  authorities became increasingly suspicious of Cavell’s actions.

The Company then went to the prison where Edith Cavell spent her last 10 weeks.

Cavell was arrested on 6 August 1915 and charged with harbouring Allied soldiers and found guilty at a court martial. She  was held in Saint Gilles prison for ten weeks, the last two of which were spent in solitary confinement.

The final and poignant visit of the day was the site of the shooting range cemetery where Edith Cavell was executed.

The Master laid a wreath on behalf of the Company.