Florence nightingale

September 19th, 2017
Who was Florence Nightingale?

Florence Nightingale was a truly inspirational nurse.

lamp iconWhy is Florence Nightingale Famous?

Florence Nightingale is famous for her nursing work during the Crimean War (1854 – 56). She changed the face of nursing from a mostly untrained profession to a highly skilled and well-respected medical profession with very important responsibilities.

lamp iconWhen and where was Florence Nightingale born?

Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy on 12 May 1820. Her father was a wealthy landowner. She was brought up in Derbyshire (where she spent her summers) and Hampshire ( where she spent her winters).

Florence was named after the place of her birth

lamp iconEducation

Rich English girls such as Florence were expected to do – almost nothing.
.At the time when Florence was born, many girls did not receive any type of education. Florence was very lucky because her father, William Nightingale, believed that all women should receive an education. He taught Florence and her sister a variety of subjects ranging from science and mathematics to history and philosophy.

lamp iconTeenage years

As Florence grew up she developed an interest in helping others. She cared for sick pets and servants whenever she had the chance.

Florence Nightingale felt called by God to become a nurse.
At seventeen years of age, she believed she was called into service by God “to do something toward lifting the load of suffering from the helpless and miserable.”

At first her parents refused to allow her to become a nurse because, at that time, it was not thought to be a suitable profession for a well educated woman. But Florence did not give up. Eventually in 1851 her father gave his permission and Florence went to Germany to train as a nurse.

In 1853 was running a hospital in London.

Work Timeline

1849 – traveled to Europe to study the European hospital system.
1850 – traveled to Alexandria, Egypt and began studying nursing at the Institute of Saint Vincent de Paul.
1851 – aged thirty-one, went to Germany to train to become a nurse.
1853 – became superintendent of the Hospital for Gentlewomen in London.
1854 – the Crimean War broke out.

lamp iconCrimean War

mapIn 1854 Florence Nightingale was asked to go to Turkey to manage the nursing of British soldiers wounded in the Crimean War (1854 – 56). She traveled to Scutari (the location where the wounded and ill soldiers of the Crimean War were taken) to help the wounded soldiers.

She found the hospital conditions to be in a very poor state. Many of the wounded were unwashed and were sleeping in overcrowded, dirty rooms without blankets or decent food. In these conditions diseases such as typhus, cholera and dysentery spread quickly. As a result, the death rate amongst wounded soldiers was very high. Most soldiers died from infections and disease. (Only one in six died from their war wounds; the other five in six died from infections and disease.)

Florence and her nurses changed these conditions. They set up a kitchen, fed the wounded from their own supplies, dug latrines for sanitation, and asked for help from the wives of the wounded. They were then able to properly care for the ill and wounded and the death rate among the soldiers dropped.

lamp iconWhy was Florence Nightingale called ‘The lady of the lamp’ ?

Florence was very dedicated to her job. She would often visit the soldiers at night when every one was asleep just to make sure they were ok. She was then referred to as “The Lady of the Lamp” because she hardly took time off to sleep. Florence became a true hero to the soldiers and everyone back home in England.

lamp iconFurther information

BBC Florence Nightingale – An online story book about her life

Florence Nightingale (1820 – 1910 )

Florence Nightingale 
Florence Nightingale was the daughter of a well-to-do family in England. During the Crimean War, she was put in charge of nursing. She carried a lamp as she walked the halls of the battlefield hospital and became known as the “lady with the lamp

Florence Nightingale was a famous nurse. She is best known for the work she did to care for the wounded soldiers during the Crimean War, but she also made a big contribution to changing the way in which hospitals were run. She was a celebrity in Victorian times and she has continued to be spoken and written about to this day.

We’ve put together some great Florence Nightingale facts for kids, teachers and parents – we hope you find this information both useful and interesting.

Key Florence Nightingale Facts – (Before the Crimean War)

  • Florence Nightingale was born in Florence (Italy) on 12th May 1820.
  • Her mother was called Fanny and her father was called William. Florence also had an older sister called Parthenope. They were a very wealthy family.
  • Florence grew up mingling with other rich children and spent much of her time visiting friends and attending parties.
  • On 7th February 1837, when she was 16 years, old Florence was convinced that she had heard the voice of God calling to her. She believed that God wanted her to carry out some special work.
  • When she was in her twenties Florence began to take an interest in how the sick people in the villages around her home (in Romsey, Hampshire) were taken care of. She started to believe that God wanted her to be a nurse.
  • Her parents were both shocked and angry when she told them that she wanted to learn more about nursing  at a Salisbury hospital. At the time nearly all nurses came from poor families.
  • Florence and some of her friends visited Kaiserwerth (in what is now Germany). The town was home to a hospital famous for training nurses. One year later, in 1851, Florence Nightingale recieved three months training at the hospital in Kaiserwerth.
  • Florence returned home as a trained nurse. She put these skills to good use as from 1851 – 1853 she cared for her mother, father and sister who had all become ill.
  • In 1853, when she was 33, she took a job running a small private hospital in London’s Harley Street.
  • Her father realised that Florence was really serious about helping the sick and injured and promised to pay her £500 a year. This was a massive sum of money in Victorian times.
  • In 1854 Florence helped to tend people suffering from cholera.

Florence NightingaleFlorence Nightingale and the Crimean War

  • In 1854 the Crimean War started between the Turks (and the British and French) on one side and the Russians on the other.
  • William Russell, a journalist for The Times, reported that British troops were dying becasue there weren’t enough doctors, nurses and medical supplies.
  • Sidney Herbert, a friend of Florence’s and the member of the government in charge of the military, wrote to her and asked her to organise a group of nurses and head for the Crimea (in Turkey).
  • On 4th November 1854 Florence Nightingale and 38 other nurses arrived at Scutari, an area of the city of Constantiople. The main British hospital was located there and Florence was not impressed by the conditions. The hospital was dirty, the drains were blocked, rats and fleas were everywhere.
  • At first the doctors did not want the help of Florence Nightingale and her nurses, but they soon changed their minds when the number of wounded soldiers continued to grow.
  • Florence made lots of improvements to the hospital in Scutari. She had the drains cleaned, sorted out a supply of drinking water, filled the hospital stores with clean sheets and bandages, set up a nursing timetable and made sure that the soliders were well fed and cared for.
  • Florence became very popular. The soldiers used to call her the ‘Lady with the Lamp’ because she used to walk the hospital wards at night to check on her patients.
  • The Crimean War ended in 1856 and Florence returned to England. She was a national heroine and many Victorians bought ornaments of Florence Nightingale to display in their homes. Florence also received thousands of letters from the public thanking her for the work she had performed during the war.
  • Queen Victoria invited Florence to meet with her in Balmoral, Scotland. They discussed Florence’s experiences and how military hospitals could be improved.

Life After the Lamp – Facts About the Second Half of Florence Nightingale’s Life

  • In 1859 Florence Nightingale wrote a book about caring for the sick called Notes on Nursing.
  • Florence Nightingale was convinced that all nurses should be properly trained, and in 1860 she set up the Nightingale Training School (for nurses) at St Thomas’s Hospital, London. The nurses who completed the training were known as Nightingale Nurses.
  • Florence carried on writing letters and reports about ways to improve health care. Her work became known in other countries and the Nightingale Nurses often went to work abroad, sharing Florence’s methods and ideas.
  • From 1861 to 1865, Florence gave advice on how best to care for soldiers wounded in the American Civil War.
  • Florence Nightingale was awarded the Royal Red Cross (from Queen Victoria) and the Order of Merit in 1907 (from King Edward VII). This was the first time the Order of Merit had been awarded to a woman.
  • Florence Nightingale died in 1910, aged 90. She is buried in a Hampshire churchyard. Her simple tombstone bears only her initials and the years in which she was born and died.

Florence Nightingale wasn’t the only women who made a name for herself by caring for the wounded troops of the Crimean War. Check out some facts about Mary Seacole, another Victorian lady who risked her life to tend the suffering soldiers, and read about some of the other famous Victorians.

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