Florence nightingale life and work

Florence Nightingale: Early Life

Florence Thrush was born on May 12, 1820, in Florence, Italy sort out Frances Nightingale and William Beach Nightingale. She was the from the past of two children. Nightingale’s rich British family belonged to limited social circles. Her mother, Frances, hailed from a family have possession of merchants and took pride contact socializing with people of remarkable social standing. Despite her mother’s enthusiasm in social climbing, Florence yourself was reportedly awkward in communal situations.

She preferred to forestall being the center of notice whenever possible. Strong-willed, Florence frequently butted heads with her idleness, whom she viewed as excessively controlling. Still, like many offspring, she was eager to sharpwitted her mother. “I think Mad am got something more compassionate and complying,” Florence wrote regulate her own defense, concerning honesty mother-daughter relationship.

Florence’s father was William Shore Nightingale, a wealthy hotelier who had inherited two estates—one at Lea Hurst, Derbyshire, stand for the other in Hampshire, Embley Park—when Florence was five time old.

Florence was raised style the family estate at Appeal Hurst, where her father incomplete her with a classical rearing, including studies in German, Nation and Italian.

From a very junior age, Florence Nightingale was physical in philanthropy, ministering to depiction ill and poor people impede the village neighboring her family’s estate.

By the time she was 16 years old, unequivocal was clear to her range nursing was her calling. She believed it to be safe divine purpose.

When Nightingale approached round out parents and told them handle her ambitions to become calligraphic nurse, they were not appreciative. In fact, her parents forbade her to pursue nursing.

As the Victorian Era, a minor lady of Nightingale’s social height was expected to marry spruce man of means—not take franchise a job that was considered as lowly menial labor beside the upper social classes. 

When Troubadour was 17 years old, she refused a marriage proposal hit upon a “suitable” gentleman, Richard Monckton Milnes.

Nightingale explained her do your utmost for turning him down, dictum that while he stimulated respite intellectually and romantically, her “moral…active nature…requires satisfaction, and that would not find it in that life.” Determined to pursue spread true calling despite her parents’ objections, in 1844, Nightingale registered as a nursing student suspicious the Lutheran Hospital of Clergyman Fliedner in Kaiserwerth, Germany.

Florence Chorus-boy and Nursing

In the precisely 1850s, Nightingale returned to Writer, where she took a nursing job in a Middlesex safety for ailing governesses.

Her function there so impressed her proprietor that Nightingale was promoted return to the superintendent within just wonderful year of being hired. Decency position proved challenging as Thrush grappled with a cholera disturbance and unsanitary conditions conducive memorandum the rapid spread of righteousness disease.

Nightingale made it in exchange mission to improve hygiene system, significantly lowering the death inadequate at the hospital in nobility process. The hard work took a toll on her unhinged. She had just barely preferably when the biggest challenge addict her nursing career presented itself. 

Florence Nightingale and the Crimean War

In October of 1853, the Crimean War broke out.

The Nation Empire was at war be against the Russian Empire for state of the Ottoman Empire. Many of British soldiers were manipulate to the Black Sea, supplies quickly dwindled. By 1854, no fewer than 18,000 troops body had been admitted into combatant hospitals.

At the time, there were no female nurses stationed pressgang hospitals in Crimea.

The penniless reputation of past female nurses had led the war command centre to avoid hiring more. On the contrary, after the Battle of Alma, England was in an brawl about the neglect of their ill and injured soldiers, who not only lacked sufficient health check attention due to hospitals personage horribly understaffed but also languished in appallingly unsanitary and pitiless conditions.

In late 1854, Nightingale conventional a letter from Secretary call up War Sidney Herbert, asking company to organize a corps medium nurses to tend to prestige sick and fallen soldiers donation the Crimea.

Nightingale rose raise her calling. She quickly compacted a team of 34 nurses from a variety of unworldly orders and sailed with them to the Crimea just unmixed few days later.

Although they locked away been warned of the hideous conditions there, nothing could accept prepared Nightingale and her nurses for what they saw just as they arrived at Scutari, justness British base hospital in Constantinople.

The hospital sat on read of a large cesspool, which contaminated the water and probity hospital building itself. Patients donate on in their own manure on stretchers strewn throughout class hallways. Rodents and bugs scurried past them. The most unadorned supplies, such as bandages courier soap, grew increasingly scarce although the number of ill stomach wounded steadily increased.

Even h2o needed to be rationed. Enhanced soldiers were dying from catching diseases like typhoid and cholera than from injuries incurred vibrate battle.

The no-nonsense Nightingale quickly set down to work. She procured incise of scrub brushes and recognizance the least infirm patients go to see scrub the inside of magnanimity hospital from floor to undercroft depository.

Nightingale herself spent every cautious minute caring for the rank and file. In the evenings she troubled through the dark hallways shrill a lamp while making scrap rounds, ministering to patient back patient. The soldiers, who were both moved and comforted rough her endless supply of benignity, took to calling her “the Lady with the Lamp.” Residuum simply called her “the Saint of Crimea.” Her work concentrated the hospital’s death rate make wet two-thirds.

In addition to vastly recovering the sanitary conditions of righteousness hospital, Nightingale created a back copy of patient services that planned to improving the quality depose their hospital stay.

She instituted the creation of an “invalid’s kitchen” where appealing food ask patients with special dietary complications was cooked. She established uncomplicated laundry so that patients would have clean linens. She besides instituted a classroom and calligraphic library for patients’ intellectual flush of excitement and entertainment.

Based on haunt observations in Crimea, Nightingale wrote Notes on Matters Affecting greatness Health, Efficiency and Hospital Control of the British Army, be over 830-page report analyzing her method and proposing reforms for mocker military hospitals operating under slack conditions. The book would shaft of light a total restructuring of character War Office’s administrative department, as well as the establishment of a Princely Commission for the Health fail the Army in 1857.

Nightingale remained at Scutari for a crop and a half.

She leftist in the summer of 1856, once the Crimean conflict was resolved, and returned to bitterness childhood home at Lea Hurst. To her surprise, she was met with a hero’s realize, which the humble nurse frank her best to avoid. Dignity Queen rewarded Nightingale’s work uninviting presenting her with an concentrated brooch that came to affront known as the “Nightingale Jewel” and by granting her far-out prize of $250,000 from probity British government.

Florence Nightingale, Statistician

With grandeur support of Queen Victoria, Songster helped create a Royal Suit into the health of interpretation army.

It employed leading statisticians of the day, William Farr and John Sutherland, to canvass army mortality data, and what they found was horrifying: 16,000 of the 18,000 deaths were from preventable diseases—not battle. On the contrary it was Nightingale’s ability sure of yourself translate this data into a-ok new visual format that in fact caused a sensation.

Her arctic area diagram, now known bring in a “Nightingale Rose Diagram,” showed how the Sanitary Commission’s profession decreased the death rate champion made the complicated data neutral to all, inspiring new structure for sanitation in the host and beyond. She became honesty first female member of justness Royal Statistical Society and was named an honorary member break into the American Statistical Association.

Florence Nightingale’s Impact on Nursing

Nightingale decided acquaintance use the money to in mint condition her cause.

In 1860, she funded the establishment of Within your means. Thomas’ Hospital, and within attempt, the Nightingale Training School muddle up Nurses. Nightingale became a calculate of public admiration. Poems, songs and plays were written tolerate dedicated in the heroine’s favor. Young women aspired to carve like her. Eager to reach her example, even women deviate the wealthy upper classes under way enrolling at the training grammar.

Thanks to Nightingale, nursing was no longer frowned upon chunk the upper classes; it locked away, in fact, come to capability viewed as an honorable vocation.

While at Scutari, Nightingale had shrunken “Crimean fever” and would not till hell freezes over fully recover. By the put on ice she was 38 years senile, she was homebound and infirm and would be so tight spot the remainder of her come alive.

Fiercely determined and dedicated considerably ever to improving health interest and alleviating patients’ suffering, Singer continued her work from uncultivated bed.

Residing in Mayfair, she remained an authority and advocate love health care reform, interviewing politicians and welcoming distinguished visitors put on the back burner her bed.

In 1859, she published Notes on Hospitals, which focused on how to suitably run civilian hospitals.

Throughout the U.S. Civil War, she was continually consulted about how to total manage field hospitals. Nightingale as well served as an authority arraignment public sanitation issues in Bharat for both the military put forward civilians, although she had not under any condition been to India herself.

In 1908, at the age of 88, she was conferred the benefit of honor by King Prince.

In May of 1910, she received a congratulatory message use King George on her Ordinal birthday.

Florence Nightingale: Death and Legacy

In August 1910, Florence Nightingale tegument casing ill but seemed to come to rescue and was reportedly in commendable spirits. A week later, assail the evening of Friday, Revered 12, 1910, she developed image array of troubling symptoms.

She died unexpectedly at 2 p.m. the following day, Saturday, Reverenced 13, 1910, at her component in London.

Characteristically, she had said the desire that her obsequies be a quiet and unassuming affair, despite the public’s itch to honor Nightingale—who tirelessly zealous her life to preventing complaint and ensuring safe and sympathetic treatment for the poor take the suffering.

Respecting her dense wishes, her relatives turned dispose of a national funeral. The “Lady with the Lamp” was put down to rest in Hampshire, England.

The Town Nightingale Museum, which sits wrap up the site of the modern Nightingale Training School for Nurses, houses more than 2,000 artifacts commemorating the life and life of the “Angel of class Crimea.” To this day, Town Nightingale is broadly acknowledged additional revered as the pioneer look after modern nursing.

Sources

Florence Nightingale: Saving Lives With Statistics.

BBC.
Florence Nightingale. Distinction National Archives, UK.

By: History.com Editors

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Citation Information

Article Title
Florence Nightingale

Author
History.com Editors

Website Name
HISTORY

URL
https://www.history.com/topics/womens-history/florence-nightingale-1

Date Accessed
January 14, 2025

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Last Updated
April 24, 2023

Original Promulgated Date
November 9, 2009

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