Florence Nightingale

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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.
166: 268
Black and white, head-and-shoulders photograph of the young Florence Nightingale. She is wearing a simple black dress with lace collar and lace cap, and looking directly into the camera.

Milestones

12 May 1820
FN was born at Villa La Columbaia in Florence, Italy.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908.
1828-1830
Between the ages eight and ten, FN composed her autobiography, La vie de Florence Rossignol, written in French.
Dossey, Barbara Montgomery. Florence Nightingale: Mystic, Visionary, Healer. Springhouse Corporation, 2000.
8
By 19 August 1850
FN completed writing, in five days, her first pamphlet, The Institution of Kaiserswerth on the Rhine. It appeared anonymously the following year: her earliest published work.
Brothers, Barbara, and Julia Gergits, editors. Dictionary of Literary Biography 166. Gale Research, 1996.
166: 272
End of December 1859
FN published her foundational treatise Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It Is Not in its first, undated edition. It did not become available for sale until early next year.
Solo: Search Oxford University Libraries Online.
Athenæum. J. Lection.
1682 (1860): 87-8
Bishop, William John, and Sue Goldie. A Bio-Bibliography of Florence Nightingale. Dawsons for the International Council of Nurses, 1962.
15-17
Burmester, James, Rosamund Burmester, and Emma Pound. English Books. James Burmester Rare Books, 1985.
xlv
12 November 1901
FN 's letter Ladies Home, 90, Harley Street appeared in the Times.
Bishop, William John, and Sue Goldie. A Bio-Bibliography of Florence Nightingale. Dawsons for the International Council of Nurses, 1962.
99
13 August 1910
At the age of ninety, FN died in her sleep at her home in South Street, Park Lane, London.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908.
Nightingale, Florence. Ever Yours, Florence Nightingale. Vicinus, Martha and Bea NergaardEditors , Harvard University Press, 1990.
442

Biography

Birth and Family

12 May 1820
FN was born at Villa La Columbaia in Florence, Italy.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908.

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