By Leanne Nguyen

(1820-1910)

Florence’s Childhood

Florence was born on the 12th of May 1820. She was part of a wealthy family and was born after her sister, Parthenope. Florence was very shy but at the age of eighteen she was pretty and clever. Her father believed that all girls should have education, so he taught Flo and Parthe in his own time. Florence never complained and tried very hard to learn, while Parthe would usually run up to mother and say that papa makes us work too long. Some of the subjects that her father taught her were Greek, Latin, French, German, Italian, history and philosophy.

February of 1838, the family went on a Europe trip. The carriage was big enough inside to accommodate nine or ten people and fitted with little innovation to add to their comfort. The trip was wonderful and Florence enjoyed it very much. The servants sat on the roof but were joined by Florence and her sister when the view and the weather was good.

God speaks to Florence

At the age of 17 God spoke to Florence but she had no idea of what God wanted her to do. Florence always tried very hard to help the poor in her fathers estates. But deep down in her she felt as if something was still missing.

After the European trip Florence first returned to England but her life did not change. Florence was full of life, clever, admired and in summer there was a lot of laughter and dancing. Florence had lots of fun and dancing, she was music ‘mad’. At that time she had put the “call” out of her mind and almost forgot about it.

Florence has to DecideYears went by and the memory of the ‘call’ began to come back. Florence was an educated, thinking, concerned and caring person and most of the time she felt trapped, lost, bored and useless with her life. Young ladies like her were expected to be quiet, respectable, religious and busy with many small tasks. Servants did all the house work, men went out to pursue their career and find money, and woman had absolutely nothing to do excepted organize parties and small household tasks. Women had no career.

Florence was admired by lots of handsome young men. Soon she was the centre of attention. Most men were love struck by Florence’s good looks. A man called Richard Monckton Milnes wanted Florence to marry him, she admired him a lots. Many months passed by and Flo still hadn’t replied back. Finally Richard asked Flo “You have to chose your work or …. or me”. Flo was very sad , but she knew marriage and her dream would not go together, so she said ‘no’ to him.

Finding a missionWhen she was 24 she knew exactly what she wanted to do, that is working among the sick in a hospital. Today it would be so easy, but at her time it was completely impossible.

It was impossible because firstly wealthy women were not allowed to work and secondly hospitals were dark, badly run and dirty places that people wanted to avoid at all costs. Flo’s parents were horrified, disgusted and totally disagreed for her to work.

Florence was very sad. But Florence was very determined to follow her dream. Secretly she studied hospital reports that her friends sent to her. In October 1846 her friend sent her info about an institution of Deaconess at Kaiserwerth (in Germany) where respectable, religious women (rather like nuns) nursed the sick. She would have loved to go there but didn’t dare mention it to her parents.

Trip To RomeAt the end of 1847 Florence had a nervous breakdown. Her parents sent her away to Rome hoping that she would get better. Florence stayed there for six months which gave her back her health and gave the friendship with Sidney Herbert a man which would soon be important to her not because of love but because they would work well together. Florence was very happy in Rome and wrote down notes of what she saw and learned. She was very sad when she had to return home, for the trip had not solved any of her problems. Her sister and mother still nagged her endlessly.

Soon Florence decided to visit Egypt to see her friends and tried to take notes about what she saw. The trip to Egypt gave her a new determination. On July 31 she was in Kaiserwerth, the village pastor opened a local hospital and was asking “Would not our young Christian women be able and willing to do Christian nursing?”. Florence saw her chance and stayed for two weeks and left feeling quite brave.

In June 1851 Florence wrote ‘I have so long been treated as a child, and have so long allowed myself to be treated as a child’. Two weeks after writing this Florence went back to Kaiserwerth, this time with her mother and sister. Florence’s mother and sister pretended that they were on a three month stay at the spa in Carlsbad. Florence studied hard at the local hospital. Even though life was hard, food was simple and they only got 10 minutes to eat, Florence was very happy. The students had to wake up at 5 in the morning and everyday the students had to get on their knees and offer themselves to God. Florence was happier than she had ever been in her life and she was finally doing what she had really wanted to do.

Finally in 1853, Florence accepted a job as Superintendent at Care of Sick Gentlewomen in Distressed Circumstances in London. For the first time she could do a professional job, her family still didn’t agreed but Florence did not give in.

Florence Fulfils Her Dream

Institution for the Care of Sick Gentlewoman was at 1 Harley street. Florence reorganized the hospital, she only needed ten days to turn an empty house into a hospital ready for patients to move in. She arranged a lot of things in order to get everything ready on time. She had hot pipes installed on each floor, lifts to carry food from the kitchen and bells were installed so that the patients could call the nurse from their floor. Out went the rat-eaten bed linen, out went soiled and stinking armchairs and out went the rotted pillows. New bedspreads were made and new brooms, brushes and dusters were brought.Staff who didn’t do their work properly were sacked and some ran away for their own good. New staff were hired, but the main problem was finding nurses who properly trained.

She worked so hard that she was soon equal with a man.

1 Harley Street

The Crimean WarIn 1854 at Crimea - Britain, France and Turkey declare war on Russia. At war, there were many dead and injured soldiers. On October 15, Sidney Herbert asks Florence to lead a party of nurses to Scutari to help with nursing the injured soldiers. She had chosen them carefully and had given each one a certain job.

Florence had chosen a group of 38 women-some professional nurse, some nuns and the 5 sisters from a Roman catholic convent. On October 21st 1854 the nurses set out on their long journey.

In November 5th 1854, Florence finally arrived at the Barrack Hospital in Crimea. Florence was not prepared for what she was about to see. The corridors where filthy and only lead to even filthier wards as well as a courtyard that stunk of mud. There was rubbish and dirt everywhere and the sewers below were blocked. The sick and wounded soldiers only lay about a foot apart from each other. The hotbeds were full of disease, filth and alive with vermin. Florence had to be careful, because she was worried that only one false move she and her nurses could be sent home.

There was absolutely nothing in the Barracks. There was no furniture, no medical supplies and no operating tables. Rats, mice and fleas crawled through the Barrack, for there were no candles or lamps. At night the nurses laid quiet and listened to the scampering of rats feet.

The doctors ignored Florence, for they thought that nurses were not needed. Florence waited for the doctors to accept her and her nurses. While she waited she arranged the nurses jobs around so that they wouldn’t be going anywhere near the wounded and sick soldiers.

When Florence went into the kitchen to cook she found that there were no pans, no kettles and tea was made in coppers which meat had just been cooked in. Luckily Florence had brought wine, beef essence and portable stoves with her. Florence stuck to every rule so that no one could disagree to her actions. The poor, sick and hungry men ate the food which did them good instead of making them more ill.

Finally the doctors had to accept Florence and her nurses because they could see many good things coming out of her team. Florence was delighted and set to work straight away. There had been no washing and the shirts were full of vermin. Florence ordered boilers and boilers were installed. All the chamber pots and vats were emptied and cleaned. She also ordered trays, tables, clocks, towels, soap, cups, plates and cutlery. One part of the hospital was damaged so Florence had to get a Turkish man to fix it. This was done to make space for extra 500 sick and wounded soldiers. Florence made it all out of her own and donated money. Despite all her good work, but the death rate was still high. Florence wrote and urged for the commission to come and inspect the hospital from top to bottom. They found that the whole hospital was built on top of a badly ruined sewer system. Water was infected.

After the sewer system clean up the death rate was decreased to half.

Day time she worked very hard, At night she visited the soldiers with a lamp. One soldier wrote:What comfort we felt to see her. We lay in the hospital by hundreds…..we kissed her shadow as she went by. Soon Florence was known as ‘the Lady with the Lamp’.

In April 29 1856 the war ended and Florence left for home.

Home againAfter the war Florence was exhausted and only wanted to return home peacefully. Florence was only 36 and thought that her work was nearly over but what she didn’t know was that all of the work she had done so far was only the beginning.

For the first few months after the war she received all sorts of letters and was getting them every second or two. The letters that were sent to her were congratulatory letters, sheets from men who wanted marriage, interviews and letters asking for public interviews. Florence didn’t like being a celebrity at that time and she called it a ‘fuz-buz’. She didn’t sign autographs and said no to interviews and public speaking. And she didn’t reply to any of her fans.After a while it became quiet and she received no more letters. She was happy.

Work after the warIn September Florence went to Balmoral in Scotland to see Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. They were very happy and listened carefully to everything Florence said. Though Florence knew that the only way to change something was to work with important politicians. Her old friend Sidney Herbert and other high politicians used up all their spare time to listen to Florence. Florence succeeded and she reformed the army. She did it by writing everything she knew about nursing throughout her whole life. She wanted to prove that the hospital was the reason for the death rate. All the barracks/hospitals were full of filth and the place was damp and dirty. It also had clamped and dirty drains that infected the water supply. The soldiers didn’t eat what they needed and every year the government took lots of the finest men and at least 1 500 died of poor food, water and disease. Even the public were on her side and no one could disagree. And it was that the army and army hospitals were fixed.

The Nightingale NursesIn 1859 Florence wrote a book called ‘notes on nursing, What

it is and what it is not’. In the book Florence wrote about what is required to be a good nurse. She had the right idea about training nurses. Sidney Herbert agree with her and all she needed to do now was to put her plan into action.

After publishing the book Florence was able to take $45 000 out of the Nightingale fund. She used up all the money to open up a nursing school right next to St Thomas’ Hospital. It was a huge success and the people who were chosen were trained to train others. In no time at all the Training School was open and lots of girls were trained. No nurse had ever been given the chance to study like this before.

Farewell To Our Great Heroine

The last few years of Florence went by quite quickly. Florence was extremely sad when Sidney Herbert died, for he was the one who had always helped her. Then in 1861 the American Civil War broke out and Florence was asked again and again of what to do in case Britain was involved. For the last fifty years of her life she wrote letters, books and reports. Florence could sit up in bed but could not walk so her visitors had to come to her. She only let the people who were part of her work in. She didn’t want to see all the other people.

Florence’s last days were happy and peaceful and she felt surrounded by the people she loved. In 1901 Florence could no longer see and then by 1908n she could no longer hear. Then on 13th August 1910 Florence died in her sleep.

Florence NightingaleBorn: 1820Died: 1910

Florence NightingaleThe tough British campaigner who was the founder of modern nursingBy Pam Brown.

Florence NightingaleBy Richard Tames

Florence NightingaleA discover BiographyBy Anne Colver