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View photos from the Cavell Van Dedication Ceremony
View the BBC News video filmed at Tenterden Station on 10th November 2010
Press Release
21 October 2010
Historic Cavell Van returns to the Kent & East Sussex Railway after restoration
After a successful appeal by the heritage railway to raise £35,000 to restore and preserve an important railway legacy of the Great War era, the newly restored Cavell Van (South Eastern & Chatham Railway passenger luggage van No. 132) opens to the public at The Kent & East Sussex Railway in Tenterden, exactly ninety years after it carried the coffin of the unknown warrior.
There will be a Dedication Ceremony on the morning of 10 November 2010 before an invited audience: Admiral the Lord Boyce GCB OBE DL, Lord Warden and Admiral of the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover Castle is the Guest of Honour and will unveil a plaque. Also present will be the Mayors of Ashford and Tenterden, representatives of the Royal London Hospital's League of Nurses, Standard Bearers from the Tenterden Branch of the Royal British Legion and the Heritage Lottery Fund, without whose generous grant of £27,000 the project could not have been completed. Students and staff from Homewood School who researched the display panels will also be among other distinguished guests.
The Cavell Van will be open to the public at Tenterden Station on Wednesday 10 November 2010 from 2.30 pm to 4 pm and between 11am and 4pm on 11, 12, 13 and 14 November. On these dates a representative from the railway will be on hand to answer questions. Further dates when visitors can come and see the restored carriage will be announced in due course.
The basic design principle for the interior of the Cavell Van is to replicate as far as possible its appearance on 10th November 1920, the day when the Cavell Van was used to convey the body of the Unknown Warrior from Dover Docks to London's Victoria Station, where it lay overnight before interment in the presence of King George V in Westminster Abbey.
The van interior will have a display with the replica of the Unknown Warrior's coffin (constructed by K&ESR volunteers), placed upon a catafalque covered by a Union flag. The replica coffin is decorated in the same way as the original with metal bands, sword and plaque.
The railway’s Chairman Norman Brice said “Our project has attracted a great deal of attention and interest but perhaps the most striking aspect was that the metalwork, plaque and sword were fitted to the replica coffin by the grandson of the man who undertook the original work in 1920.”
Built in 1919, its historic significance originates from its role in conveying, from Dover to London, the remains of three war heroes repatriated from Europe. The first of these sombre journeys was made during May 1919 when No.132 carried the body of nurse Edith Cavell. Thereafter, it became known to railwaymen as the Cavell Van.
In her early career Edith Cavell served as a staff nurse at The London Hospital in Whitechapel, eventually moving to Belgium as director of a nurses’ training school in Brussels. She remained there at the onset of the Great War, and was soon helping allied soldiers escape the Germans. It was only a matter of time before she was arrested; she confessed, was court-martialled and shot on October 12th 1915 for “assisting the enemy.” She retained great dignity until the end - her final words ensuring her place as one of the war’s foremost heroines:
“Standing, as I do, in the view of God and eternity, I realise that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.”
Two months after her repatriation, Van 132 carried the remains of merchant seaman Captain Charles Fryatt. As master of the Brussels, Fryatt attained popular acclaim in March 1915 when, heading for Rotterdam, his vessel attempted to ram U-boat U33 instead of stopping, as ordered. Forcing it to dive, Fryatt thus made good his escape. The following year, however, bound for Tilbury, his ship was surrounded by destroyers, and boarded. Fryatt was charged with attempting to ram U33; he was shot after a show trial.
Van No.132’s most poignant duty, though, came in November 1920 when it conveyed the remains of the war’s highest profile casualty – The Unknown Warrior. Since then, it has led a varied life, most recently arriving on the Kent & East Sussex Railway in 2004.
There will be four information panels on the themes of: Nurse Edith Cavell; Captain Charles Fryatt; the Unknown Warrior; and Ashford's railway history and the Cavell Van. The first three of these boards were researched and designed by history students from Homewood School in Tenterden.
Also inside the Van will be an altar and drapes as in 1920. Newsreels with footage from The British Pathé Film Archive will show scenes from 1919 and 1920 of the three burial processions, as well as scenes of the trenches.
To find out more about the Kent & East Sussex Railway visit www.kesr.org.uk
To request images or to find out more about the launch event please contact Caroline Edmunds at Pennington PR on 01892 616647
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