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Robert Clive (1725–74)

Robert Clive, later Baron Clive of Plassey, played an early part in the establishment of British imperial control of India. He became the effective ruler of Bengal, and was a controversial figure in his own time. As a founder of the Empire in India he came to be lionised by many in Britain as a hero, a view of him that has been called into question in more recent years.

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Edith Cavell (1865–1915)

Edith Cavell was a British nurse who, as matron of a hospital in Brussels, enabled hundreds of Allied soldiers to escape the German occupation during the First World War. She was caught, put on trial and shot executed in October 1915. Her death sparked international outrage and she became an important symbol – not only wartime sacrifice, but of forgiveness, too.