Florence Nightingale

Birth of Florence Nightingale ~ The Lady With The Lamp

.

Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy, on 12th May 1820.

The city of Florence was the inspiration for her name.

Born into a very wealthy family, they frowned upon her entering into the nursing profession, and saw it as beneath a lady of her station.

Florence went against what was traditionally expected of her, and she would go on to become a war-hero nurse.

Leaving her family, she moved to London to work.

There, she received a letter from the Secretary of War, asking her to put a team together to look after British soldiers in the Crimea, during the Crimean War.

This was the first time that women had been officially allowed to serve in the army.

When she first arrived, with a staff of 38 nurses, the army doctors wanted nothing to do with her.

But she wouldn't go away and soon got to work ~ cleaning up the awful conditions there.

There weren't enough beds, everything was filthy, there weren't proper loos, and there were rats everywhere.

She quickly got the more able soldiers to work, making them scrub the hospital clean.

She would walk around the hospital at night, to make sure the poorly soldiers were comfortable.

This is how she became known as the lady with the lamp.

When she returned home, she was welcomed as a hero.

Even Queen Victoria wrote her a letter, to say thank you for what she had accomplished.

Florence Nightingale completely transformed the quality of care in war, and went on to improve healthcare all over the world, that's a pretty amazing legacy to leave.

A true hero who dedicated her life to helping others

.

https://www.womenshistory.org/.../florence-nightingale

.

https://ko-fi.com/thetudorintruders

.

Florence Nightingale 1860~Henry Hering - National Portrait Gallery, London