Rare postcard from WW1 heroine sold for €1,000

The postcard sent by Edith Cavell was sold for 1,000 euros at auction in Malaga in Spain

An "extremely rare" postcard written by World War One heroine and nurse Edith Cavell has sold at auction for €1,000 (about £880).

The postcard is thought to have been sent around the time of the outbreak of the conflict and is addressed to Mrs Cavell at 24 College Road, Norwich.

The postcard, which has the words "Mundesley much changed & much grown" written in pencil, has sold at an auction in Spain.

Auctioneers, International Autograph Europe S.L Malaga, said the postcard had "some extremely minor, light age wear" and was of the chapel on Mundesley High Street.

• BBC Bitesize: Who was Edith Cavell?

The opening bid was set at €1,000 and was expected to reach up to €1,200 (about £1,045).

Francisco Piñero, chief executive of the company, said autographs of Ms Cavell were "extremely rare" and it was one of only a small handful he has handled during his career.

The front of the postcard showed part of Mundesley, on the Norfolk coast east of Cromer

Cavell was born in Swardeston, near Norwich, where her father was the local vicar, and was inspired to become a nurse after she nursed him back to health.

In 1907, she travelled to Brussels to help run a new nursing school. She helped hundreds of soldiers escape as part of the Belgian underground resistance.

She was executed by a German firing squad for treason on 12 October 1915 at the age of 49, and her body was later returned to her home county.

Listed in the autograph letters, manuscripts and historical documents auction, it featured alongside autographs by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

A letter written by Lord Admiral Nelson was sold on Wednesday for €6,000

Also featured at the auction were two letters written by Norfolk's famous son Lord Admiral Nelson, including a document removed from a naval order book outlining a number of instructions and was signed by Nelson's niece Catherine Bolton.

The letter is believed to have been written during his blockade of the French fleet at Toulon, fetching €6,000 (about £2,490) at the auction.

The other document has been written by Nelson's personal chaplain Alexander Scott and was sold for €1,900 (about £1,655).