It is so named because it was the van which carried the body of Edith Cavell when it was repatriated to the United Kingdom following the end of the First World War.

[2] It was built to Diagram 960 by the South Eastern and Chatham Railway at Ashford Works in 1919 and was the prototype Parcels and Miscellaneous Van.

[3] In 1919, it was used for the carriage of the bodies of two people killed during the First World War – Edith Cavell and Charles Fryatt.

A merchant mariner, he joined the Great Eastern Railway in 1892 and took command of his first ship in 1913.

It was sold to the Tenterden Rolling Stock Group in 1992 and moved to the Kent and East Sussex Railway.

[2] In December 2009, an appeal was opened to raise £35,000 to fully restore the van, with the intention of completion by 10 November 2010, the 90th anniversary of the carriage of the body of The Unknown Warrior.

[6] The fully restored van was unveiled on 10 November 2010,[11] and will now be used as a museum to commemorate The Unknown Warrior, Cavell and Fryatt.

The pupils carried out research at the Imperial War Museum, London, where they were allowed access to letters written by Cavell.

[3] In October 2015, the van was transported by road to Norwich, Norfolk as part of the commemorations for the 100th anniversary of Edith Cavell's death.