British nurse (1865–1915) celebrated for treating wounded soldiers of both sides during World War II, and for helping some 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium; in 1915, Cavell was arrested, court-martialled under German military law, and sentenced to death by firing squad. Bound exercise book of probationary nurse "Sawyer," approximately 72 pages, 6.5 x 8, covering five lectures given by Edith Cavell on the basics of nursing, given in 1905 and 1906, beginning with "Qualifications of a Nurse" and ending with "Nursing of Sick Children." The notebook has been extensively annotated in red ink by Edith Cavell, who pens about 65 corrections, 50 notes (ranging from a single word to a short paragraph), and writes her initials twice, "E. C."
Cavell's careful notations range from grammatical correction and instruction ("Use capitals only for the beginning of sentences & proper names") to corrections to medical terms (for example, substituting "bacilli" for "Ballicus"). She also offers clarification on some methods of treatment: Cavell writes, "Rinse the charcoal with the meal & sprinkle a little over the top when finished," in the discussion of a charcoal poultice, and points out: "Laudanum and opium are the same drug." Three medical charts are folded and loosely laid in to the front. In very good to fine condition, with the last few pages loose (but present) due to some damage to the spine, and a few sections of pages clipped out.
This notebook dates from the period when Cavell was engaged in poor law nursing in Highgate or Shoreditch, prior to her appointment as first matron of Dr. Antoine Depage's Berkendael Medical Institute in Brussels, which was to become the Red Cross Hospital in 1914. In correcting the work of a semi-literate nursing probationer, Cavell's many corrections and annotations demonstrate not only her clear and analytical perception of a nurse's duties, but her painstaking attention to detail in the training of younger nurses.
