Cavell Van: Our 200th Adventure!
Last November we had the chance to go and see the famous Cavell Van at its original starting point for its journey to Westminster, Dover. Obviously it is now July, but that just goes to show how much effort we've put into this blog now and how much we've grown in the last year. It's been emotional and as our 200th adventure at the time, we'd just like to thank everyone who reads the blog and interacts with us on Instagram as you've helped to cultivate our love for this and gave us the strength and encouragement to carry on. Because of that we've been to so many places and studied the history that we've got a massive backlog of posts, but like all good TV shows filmed in advance- good things come to those who wait!
What really is insane is that it was literally a month in real time, in between our 100th and 200th adventure. We saw that many historical sites in our 10 day holiday and then the few stragglers on the weekends that followed that we hit 100 very easily and now have a ridiculous backlog of posts. We toyed with increasing the amount we posted per week, but we're in the throws of buying a house, moving, and then renovating. That plus our already busy lives, we just can't commit, so we opted to keep doing what we're doing and instead have that solid plan to make sure Phantom Adventures UK keeps making the content we love.
Anyway, our 200th adventure took us down to the Marine Station in Dover which is where the famous Cavell Van began its journey to Westminster when carrying the Unknown Warrior. The van itself is a postal van, and began life as the prototype for the Parcels and Miscellaneous Van which the SE&CR built for use in 1919. Richard Maunsell designed the van and it was built in Ashford Works. They opted to rename it in honour of the first body it carried at the end of WWI.
We will go into Edith Cavell another time, but to touch on her now she was a nurse who served in Belgium during WWI. Between 1914 and 1915 she helped over 200 allied Prisoner of Wars escape until she was betrayed which led to her arrest. The Germans who held her refused to let her carry out her sentence and executed her. Her body was repatriated from Belgium in 1919 and it was this very van who transported her from Dover to London. As she was a hero, the van was named for her.
In the same year, and only two months later, the Cavell van was again tasked with being a funerary carriage, this time for Charles Fryatt. Fryatt was another casualty of WWI. He was the man in command of SS Brussels and gave the order to ram U-33 in 1915 when they ordered them to stop. This caused the other vessel to crash dive and then led to the SS Brussels being captured by the Germans a year later. They escorted the vessel to Zeebrugge, Court Martialled Fryatt and then executed him. His body was repatriated 2 months after Cavells and was taken by the van again from Dover to London. Both these heroes have different resting places.
A year later, a third body was repatriated, meaning that the Cavell van had become the funerary carriage for the only three sets of remains to be brought home to England at the end of WWI. The Unknown Warrior, probably the van's most famous inhabitant, was a British soldier killed on a battlefield in Europe. His identity isn't known, but the intention behind it and the reason why this man was chosen for burial at Westminster Abbey was to stand as a memorial for all the fallen who died and were laid to rest in foreign lands unidentified. This man's body was returned to England and carried from Dover to London on the 10th November 1920 and his funeral took place the next day which of course is Remembrance Day.
The van ran under the number 132 by the SE&CR. When the SE&CR was decommissioned the van went into service at the Southern Railway in 1923 and served as 1972 before becoming 374S when it transferred to departmental service in 1946. It used used as a storage van by Lancing Carriage Works and Brighton Works before being passed to British Railways. BR renumbered it DS734 when it joined their fleet and then transferred it to the internal user pool in 1967 and renumbered it 082757. It ended its service at Guildford cable depot and was retired in 1991 and stored at Hoo Junction.
The van was then sold to the Tenterden Rolling Stock Group in 1992, numbered 93 and placed at the Kent and East Sussex Railway. They then moved it to the Rother Valley Railway at Robertsbridge where it was then sold. Whoever had bought the van did not keep up with maintenance and the carriage deteriorated which led to another sale in 2003. However, it seemed this was for the best as the van returned to the KESR in 2004. They held onto it until restoration took place by public funding in 2009 to have it fully restored for the 90th anniversary of the Unknown Warrior in 2010.
It has stood at Bodiam Station ever since. This was where we first saw the van, and have done many times since, but seeing it where it transported its last war casualty was something else entirely. Obviously it has been taken out on occasion, take its trip to Norfolk for the 100th anniversary of Edith Cavell's death and of course the trip to Dover we refer to. Regardless, the van is permanently accessible.
We honestly couldn't think of a better adventure to list as our 200th! As its own little museum, we 100% recommend seeing this van if you get the chance. It is a truly special postal van and it was so worth preserving so well done the KESR!
DISCLAIMER: Now for the official bit. This blog does not receive any paid promotions from the places mentioned above. We have not been approached to promote or act as spokespersons for any attraction mentioned within this post and this is simply a post intended to act as a day in the life of a couple on a cute date. All photos included are taken by ourselves and as such the rights for these images are ours, no links, brands, or companies mentioned otherwise belong or are associated with Phantom Adventures UK. We are responsible only for this blog. Opinions are our own and not influenced by any third party source..
If you have any recommendations on places to visit or somewhere you would like to see on the blog, please feel free to drop us a message on instagram under @phantomadventuresuk or email us at phantomadventuresuk@gmail.com
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