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Ref:
5130 |
Belgium/
Great Britain, Edith Cavell & Marie Depage,
Memorial medal 1915, bronze by A Bonnetain
for Fonson & Cie,
issued circa 1918 Obv:
conjoined busts of Cavell and Depage left,
Cavell in nurse’s headdress, their names around Rev:
1915 REMEMBER! in two lines Condition:
Very fine; Diameter: 60mm Reference:
BHM 4115; E 1943 Notes:
Edith Cavell (1865-1915), nurse. In 1905 was appointed first Matron of
the Berkendael Medical Institute in
Brussels, which in 1914 became a Red Cross hospital, receiving Allied
and German casualties. After the Allied withdrawal from Brussels the
Germans allowed it to continue. However some allied troops cut off
during the retreat sought Cavell’s help to escape. The Germans
became suspicious and put her on trial on 7th October 1915.
She didn’t deny the charges and was executed by firing squad on 12th
October 1915. Marie Depage was the wife of
the hospital’s founder. She was returning across the Atlantic
from America having raised funds for the Belgian Red Cross, when she
was a fatality of the sinking of the Lusitania on 5th
May 1915. This medal is a Belgian issue struck circa 1919. Price
£55 |
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