BIOGRAPHY FLORENCE NIGHTINGALETHE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS NURSE
This Biography of Florence Nightingale, recalls the life of one of the most famous nurses in the history of that Noble Profession. She was born 12 May 1820, into a very wealthy, well connected, English family, in the Italian city of Florence, from which she was given her name. Her education had an excellent grounding, for which her father had taken full responsibility. Under his ever watchful gaze, she was to learn the Classics, philosophy, mathmatics, history and several European languages. This Biography Florence Nightingale, recalls the life of one of the most famous nurses in the history of that Noble Profession. She was born 12 May 1820, into a very wealthy, well connected, English family, in the Italian city of Florence, from which she was given her name. Her education had an excellent grounding, for which her father had taken full responsibility. Under his ever watchful gaze, she was to learn the Classics, philosophy, mathmatics, history and several European languages.
ABOVE:FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE. In 1837, whilst living at the family home, Embley Park in Hampshire, Florence had the first of what she considered to be Divine callings, which would continue for the rest of her life.She deeply cared for people living in poverty and became more and more interested in the social issues of her day. So it was in 1844, that she became a leader of the movement for improved medical care in hospitals and infirmaries. In this she gained the support of the President of the Poor Law Board, Charles Villiers. From this, it was a natural progression for her, to become a leader in the movement for the Reform of the Poor Law. Once in that movement, she was extremely active, going far beyond the role of just providing medical care. When Florence Nightingale, announced her decision in 1845, that she was to join the nursing profession, it was met by intense anger and opposition by her family, especially her mother. The expected role of an affluent young woman in society, was to become a wife and mother. Nothing more and nothing less. Nursing on the other hand was considered a most unsuitable profession. It was considered to be full of coarse, drunk and promiscuous women, without a scrap of education.
ABOVE:THE HOSPITAL AT SCUTARI. In this, she rebelled absolutely. She worked extremely hard, - despite the unbearable opposition being relentlessly heaped against her, - to teach herself nursing and the medical sciences. She never did marry. Convinced that her calling was indeed a Divine one, she considered marriage would have a seriously detrimental effect on her ability to fully answer that vocation, which she now knew to be nursing. Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st. Baron Houghton, was rejected when he courted her. The breakdown she suffered because of this relationship, led to her meeting Sidney Herbert, the British Politician and Secretary for War, whilst she was recovering in Rome. They became lifelong friends, and it was Herbert who helped her tremendously in the pioneering work she was to later undertake, in the field of nursing during the Crimean War. Florence Nightingale travelled a lot until the early 1850's, receiving more callings from God to work for him. But it was her visit to the Lutheran Religious Community at Kaiserwerth-am-Rhein which she regarded as the turning point in her life. In 1853 she became Superintendent at The Institute for the Care of Sick Gentlewomen in Harley Street, London. The time was fast approaching when the name "Florence Nightingale, The Lady With the Lamp" would go down in history, for the zeal and sheer persistence she applied in getting the badly needed reforms passed, in the profession of nursing. Late in 1853, the British and French declared War on Russia. It was in the early months of 1854 when reports began to trickle back to Britain concerning the disgusting conditions in which wounded British soldiers were finding themselves in.
ABOVE:SICK AND WOUNDED SOLDIERS AT BALACLAVA. Under the authorisation of her friend Sidney Herbert (the Minister for War) Nightingale and 38 women volunteers, all of whom she herself had trained, were sent out to Turkey. They arrived in November 1854 in a place called Scutari, which is in modern day Istanbul. What they found there was total indifference by officials to the fate of the wounded soldiers. Hygeine was non existant, Medicines were in short supply, and the medicines they did have were being administered to badly cared for soldiers by overworked staff. There were mass infections, most of which were fatal. Typhoid, dysentry and cholera was rife, ten times as many men were dying from these diseases than were dying from actual battle wounds. During her first winter in Scutari over four thousand men had died in her hospital alone.
ABOVE:THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE MONUMENT AT WATERLOO PLACE LONDON SW1. When the British Government sent out a sanitary commission, it was six months after Florence Nightingale had arrived. The subsequent flushing out of the sewers and improvements to the ventillation reduced these deaths from 42%-2%. A dramatic decrease. This was to influence her later career, she fought for greater sanitary conditions. She was able to reduce deaths in the army and also fought for better sanitary design in hospitals. She gained the attention of Queen Victoria and her Consort Prince Albert together with that of Lord Palmerston, the Prime Minister. Her wishes for a formal investigation were granted in 1857, which led to the Royal Commission on the health of the army. Florence Nightingale became the first woman to become a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society in 1858 for her work on army and hospital statistics. In 1860, the Nightingale Training School and Home for Nurses based at St. Thomas's Hospital in London was opened, with ten students and funded by The Nightingale Fund. This was a fund of public contributions, set up during her time in the Crimea and which had raised a total of £50,000. It had been based on two principles: Nurses should have practical training in hospitals, specifically organised for that purpose. Nurses should live in a home fit to form a moral life and discipline. FOR SIGHTSEEING TOURS OF LONDON AND THINGS TO DO IN LONDON CLICK HERE How to Link to This PageIt will appear on your page as: FOR MORE INFO. ON FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE FOLLOW THIS LINKRETURN FROM FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE TO A-LONDON TOURIST GUIDE HOME PAGE.
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