Florence Nightingale

Facts about Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale died at 90 years old
Born: May 12, 1820
Birthplace: Florence, Italy
Best known as: British nursing hero of the Crimean War

     

Florence Nightingale Biography

Florence Nightingale earned the nickname “The Lady With the Lamp” for her tireless nursing of British soldiers during the Crimean War.

Nightingale was born to wealthy English parents and proved to be a quick-witted and independent child.

In 1837 she felt she heard a call from God, though the nature of the calling was unclear. She became interested in nursing and, despite opposition from her parents, trained as a nurse and began work in a London clinic.

When the Crimean War broke out in 1854, she led a group of three dozen nurses to Constantinople to serve in British military hospitals there. (This was controversial: female nurses had not served in such wartime field hospitals before.)

No shrinking violet, she cajoled army officials to change terrible conditions in the hospitals, thus earning the gratitude of soldiers and a measure of public fame.

When the war ended in 1856 she returned to London and continued her reform campaign there.

Her outspoken Notes on Matters Affecting the Health, Efficiency and Hospital Administration of the British Army (1857) and Notes on Hospitals (1859) helped create changes in hygiene and overall treatment of patients.

She also founded the groundbreaking Nightingale Training School for nurses, and in later years published dozens of books and pamphlets on public health.

Nightingale was awarded the Royal Red Cross by Queen Victoria in 1883, and in 1907 became the first woman to receive the Order of Merit.

Extra credit

According to the Florence Nightingale Museum, her parents were so wealthy they “toured Europe for two years on their honeymoon”… Nightingale was named for Florence, Italy, the city of her birth… Her older sister was born in Naples in 1819, and was given that city’s ancient name of Parthenope… Florence Nightingale never married… She is often compared to Civil War nurse Clara Barton… Nightingale was played by actress Anna Neagle in the 1951 film The Lady With a Lamp.


     

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