Card of the Day: The Unveiling of the Nurse Cavell Memorial

The duties of the Royal Family may seem unclear at times. However, they do serve the public in a variety of ways, and always have. As part of the set of commemorative cards produced by the Wills Cigarette Company in 1935, the makers of the set have included scenes from the various good works of the family of King George V and Mary of Teck. This card shows some of the wartime efforts of the Royal Family as the attempted to bolster the moral of the British people.


The reverse of the card reads:

UNVEILING THE NURSE CAVELL MEMORIAL

The memorial to Edith Cavell which stands in St. Martin’s Place, close to Trafalgar Square, was unveiled by Queen Alexandra on 7th May, 1920. The monument is of Cornish granite, forty feet high, in front of which stands the figure of Nurse Cavell in marble. People of all classes contributed to its cost—mostly in small sums. A delegation from Brussels, led by the Belgian Ambassador, attended the ceremony, and Miss Cavell, sister of the Nurse, of whom the Queen Mother said, “met a martyr’s fate with calm courage and resignation,” was prominent in the distinguished company. Trumpeters of the Coldstream Guards are seen sounding the, “Last Post.”