Editing Edith Cavell (section)

===Execution===
The night before her execution, Cavell told the Reverend H. Stirling Gahan, the Anglican chaplain of Christ Church Brussels, who had been allowed to see her and to give her [[Holy Communion]], "I am thankful to have had these ten weeks of quiet to get ready. Now I have had them and have been kindly treated here. I expected my sentence and I believe it was just. Standing as I do in view of God and Eternity, I realise that patriotism is not enough, I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone."{{sfn|Gahan|1925|pp=288–89}}{{sfn|Gahan|1923}} These words are inscribed on her statues in London and in Melbourne, Australia.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.londonremembers.com/memorials/edith-cavell-statue|title = Edith Cavell statue}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-09-15 |title=Nurse Edith Cavell Memorial |url=https://citycollection.melbourne.vic.gov.au/nurse-edith-cavell-memorial/ |access-date=2023-04-12 |website=City Collection |language=en-US}}</ref>  Cavell's final words to the German [[Lutheran]] prison chaplain, Paul Le Seur, were recorded as, "Ask Father Gahan to tell my loved ones later on that my soul, as I believe, is safe, and that I am glad to die for my country."{{sfn|Peterson|2018}}

From his sick bed, [[Brand Whitlock]], the U.S. ambassador to Belgium, wrote a personal note on Cavell's behalf to [[Moritz von Bissing]], the Governor-General of Belgium. Hugh Gibson; Maitre G. de Leval, the legal adviser to the United States legation; and {{Ill|Rodrigo de Saavedra y Vinent|es}}, 2nd Marques de Villalobar, the Spanish minister, formed a midnight deputation of appeal for mercy or at least postponement of execution.{{sfn|Encyclopedia Americana|1920}} Despite these efforts, on 11 October, Baron von der Lancken allowed the execution to proceed.{{sfn|Scovil|1915}} Sixteen men, forming two firing squads, carried out the sentence pronounced on her and on four Belgian men at the [[Tir national]]{{sfn|Hoehling|1957}} shooting range in [[Schaerbeek]], at 7:00{{nbsp}}am on 12 October 1915. There are conflicting reports of the details of Cavell's execution. However, according to the eyewitness account of the Reverend Le Seur, who attended Cavell in her final hours, eight soldiers fired at Cavell while the other eight executed Baucq.{{sfn|Hoehling|1957}} Her execution, certification of death, and burial were witnessed by the German [[war poet]] [[Gottfried Benn]] in his capacity as a 'Senior Doctor in the Brussels Government since the first days of the (German) occupation'. Benn wrote a detailed account titled "Wie Miss Cavell erschossen wurde" (''How Miss Cavell was shot'', 1928).{{sfn|Benn|2013}}

There is also a dispute over the sentencing imposed under the German Military Code. Supposedly, the death penalty relevant to the offence committed by Cavell was not officially declared until a few hours after her death.{{sfn|Judson|1941}} The British post-war Committee of Enquiry into Breaches of the Laws of War however regarded the verdict as legally correct.{{sfn|Macdonell|1920|p=424}}

On instructions from the Spanish minister, Belgian women immediately buried Cavell's body next to Saint-Gilles Prison.{{sfn|Scovil|1915}} After the war, her body was taken back to Britain for a memorial service at [[Westminster Abbey]] and then transferred to [[Norwich Cathedral|Norwich]], to be laid to rest at Life's Green on the east side of the cathedral. The King had to grant an exception to an [[Order in Council]] of 1854, which prevented any burials in the grounds of the cathedral, to allow the reburial.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=31332 |page=5787 |date=9 May 1919 }}</ref>