Cavell Van The Cavell Van is the prototype Parcels and Miscellaneous Van ( US : boxcar ) built by the South Eastern and Chatham Railway in 1919 . 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 . The van also carried the bodies of Charles Fryatt and The Unknown Warrior . It served with the South Eastern and Chatham Railway , the Southern Railway and British Rail ways before entering into preservation at the Kent and East Sussex Railway . The van was fully restored in 2010 . History . The Cavell Van was designed by Richard Maunsell . 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 . In 1919 , it was used for the carriage of the bodies of two people killed during the First World War - Edith Cavell , Charles Fryatt . It carried the body of The Unknown Warrior in 1920 . Edith Cavell . Edith Cavell was born in Swardeston , Norfolk in 1865 . She trained as a nurse in 1907 and worked at various hospitals in Belgium . During 1914 - 15 , she helped over 200 allied POWs escape before being arrested and subsequently executed . Her body was repatriated from Belgium in May 1919 , and was transported in the Cavell Van from Dover to London . Charles Fryatt . Charles Fryatt was born in Southampton , Hampshire in 1872 . A merchant mariner , he joined the Great Eastern Railway in 1892 and took command of his first ship in 1913 . On 28 March 1915 , his ship , the was ordered to stop by , but Fryatt ordered full steam ahead and attempted to ram " U - 33 " , which crash dived . On 25 June 1916 , Fryatt ' s ship was captured by the Germans and escorted into Zeebrugge . Fryatt was Court Martial led and later executed . His body was repatriated in July 1919 , and was carried in the Cavell Van from Dover to London , prior to his funeral at St . Paul ' s Cathedral , London . The Unknown Warrior . The Unknown Warrior was a British soldier killed on a battlefield in Europe . His body was carried from Dover to London on board the Cavell Van on 10 November 1920 , prior to the funeral service at Westminster Abbey on 11 November 1920 . Service history . The van was numbered 132 by the South Eastern and Chatham Railway . It passed to the Southern Railway in 1923 and was renumbered 1972 , then 374S on transfer to departmental service in August 1946 . The van was used as a stores van serving Lancing Carriage Works and Brighton Works . Under British Railways it was numbered DS734 . It was transferred to the internal user pool in October 1967 and renumbered 082757 . The van ended its service at Guildford cable depot . The van was withdrawn from service in 1991 and stored at Hoo Junction . It was sold to the Tenterden Rolling Stock Group in 1992 and moved to the Kent and East Sussex Railway . It was delivered to on 22 January 1992 . The van is numbered 93 on the Kent and East Sussex Railway stocklist . In 1994 , the van was moved to the Rother Valley Railway at . During its stay at the Rother Valley Railway , the van was sold and its condition deteriorated . It was sold again in 2003 and returned to the Kent and East Sussex Railway in 2004 . 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 . The fully restored van was unveiled on 10 November 2010 , and will now be used as a museum to commemorate The Unknown Warrior , Cavell and Fryatt . The exhibition mounted inside the van was put together by pupils from Homewood School , Tenterden , in a joint project between the school and the railway . The pupils carried out research at the Imperial War Museum , London , where they were allowed access to letters written by Cavell . The project was entered in a competition organised by the British Interactive Media Association . Homewood School were declared the winners of the competition on 8 July 2010 . The van ' s historical importance is assessed as " very important " by the Vintage Carriages Trust .