Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Florence Nightingale
-
Standard Name: Nightingale, Florence
Birth Name: Florence Nightingale
Nickname: Flo
Nickname: The Lady-in-Chief
Nickname: The Lady of the Lamp
Nickname: Commander-in-Chief
Nickname: Wild Ass of the Wilderness
FN
's fame began when she headed nurses in the Crimean war. After the war, she worked to reform health care and promoted sanitation at home and abroad. To this end she composed speeches, government reports, statistical analyses, articles, and pamphlets. She travelled extensively in her youth, producing many letters which were later collected and published. She also wrote theology, including the work which contains her feminist fragment Cassandra. Although FN
was a versatile, political, and prolific writer (she produced over two hundred literary works during her career), she is remembered almost solely for her nursing work.
Brothers, Barbara, and Julia Gergits, editors. Dictionary of Literary Biography 166. Gale Research, 1996.
Uglow, Jennifer S. Elizabeth Gaskell: A Habit of Stories. Faber and Faber, 1993.
219
Wedgwood, Barbara, and Hensleigh Wedgwood. The Wedgwood Circle, 1730-1897: Four Generations of a Family and Their Friends. Studio Vista, 1980.
258
Friends, Associates
Ann Bridge
As a small girl AB
met Florence Nightingale
, whom she remembered as a very old lady, with a ravaged, majestically intelligent face. . . . the hand that writes these words has touched the...
A meeting at the London Tavern raised ¥900 for CC
as a public testimonial. Among the contributors were Florence Nightingale
, the Countess of Pembroke
, and other members of the aristocracy.
Kiddle, Margaret, and Sir Douglas Copland. Caroline Chisholm. 2nd ed., Melbourne University Press, 1957.
186-7
Friends, Associates
Elizabeth Gaskell
While staying at Lea Hurst near Matlock in Derbyshire, EG
met Florence Nightingale
(who was shortly to leave for the Crimea) for the first time.
Uglow, Jennifer S. Elizabeth Gaskell: A Habit of Stories. Faber and Faber, 1993.
361-2
Friends, Associates
Felicia Skene
From her youth FS
was accustomed to mixing with distinguished people. Sir Walter Scott
, a friend of both of her parents, found her youthful company a relief when he was old and ill. In...
Friends, Associates
Harriet Martineau
HM
and Florence Nightingale
became correspondents in the 1860s, on matters such as nursing.
Martineau, Harriet. “Introduction and Editorial Materials”. Selected Letters, edited by Valerie Sanders, Clarendon Press, 1990, pp. vii - xxxiii, 235.
xxi
Family and Intimate relationships
Eleanor Rathbone
ER
's father was the sixth William Rathbone
in a Lancashire family which was Quaker
, Unitarian
, Liberal
and philanthropic. For six generations this family had been the epitome of fair trading, plain speaking...
Family and Intimate relationships
Florence Farr
FF
's father, William Farr
, was a successful doctor, medical statistician, and reformer. He lectured and published on the subject of hygiene, which he preferred to call hygiology. Bernard Shaw
describes him as...
Family and Intimate relationships
Julia Ward Howe
JWH
's second daughter, Florence
, was born, and was named after Florence Nightingale
, the remarkable young woman whom the Howes had met while on honeymoon in Europe.
Clifford, Deborah Pickman. Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory. Little, Brown and Co., 1978.
86
Howe, Julia Ward. Reminiscences, 1819–1899. Houghton Mifflin, 1899.
136
Family and Intimate relationships
Caroline Clive
In a letter Florence Nightingale
wrote of CC
: She is now married and has two children and I never saw happiness so stamped on any human creature's face. I liked her exceedingly and admire...
Family and Intimate relationships
Arthur Hugh Clough
In 1853, AHC
married Blanche Smith
, a cousin of Florence Nightingale
.
Family and Intimate relationships
Emma Caroline Wood
ECW
once rescued Evelyn
while he was serving in the Crimean War. He was afflicted by typhoid fever when she insisted on visiting him in a hospital. Florence Nightingale
, who ran the hospital, said...
Family and Intimate relationships
Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon
Her first cousins included Florence Nightingale
, Hilary Bonham-Carter
, and the future Mrs Arthur CloughArthur Hugh Clough
. Because of their illegitimate origins, however, the Smith children were not acknowledged by the Nightingales, and BLSB
only...
Education
Kate Marsden
KM
's decision to become a nurse was inspired by her own interests and her family's financial insecurity. In early 1877, she began to study and work at the Deaconesses' Institution and Training Hospital
at...
