Florence Nightingale

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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.
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.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
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...
Education Penelope Shuttle
Some sources say that PS attended a secondary modern school in Staines (that is one with non-academic aims and expectations). But attendance at a private school is strongly implied by her poem about a girls'...
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...
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 .
Friends, Associates Frances Isabella Duberly
FIDmade friends with almost all hands of the Shooting Star, on which she sailed to the Crimea, and they gathered to cheer her as she left the ship at Varna.
Duberly, Frances Isabella. Mrs Duberly’s War. Journals and Letters from the Crimea, 1854-6. Editor Kelly, Christine, Oxford University Press, 2007.
19
(She also mentions...
Friends, Associates Julia Wedgwood
JW and her sister Euphemia were close to Meta and Marianne Gaskell . Another friend of JW was Florence Nightingale .
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...
Friends, Associates Elizabeth Barrett Browning
During their visits to London, the Brownings socialised with such prominent figures as John Ruskin , Jane and Thomas Carlyle , Alfred Tennyson , Dante Gabriel and William Michael Rossetti , and Charles Kingsley ....
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 Caroline Chisholm
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

Timeline

1825: Frances Parkes (Mrs. William Parkes 1786-1842),...

Women writers item

1825

Frances Parkes (Mrs. William Parkes 1786-1842), published a highly successful domestic conduct book whose lengthy title begins Domestic Duties; or, Instructions to Young Married Ladies.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

1840: The Society of Protestant Sisters of Charity...

Building item

1840

The Society of Protestant Sisters of Charity (Nursing Sisters) was founded as a secular nursing order in London, inspired by Quaker Elizabeth Gurney Fry .
Franck, Irene, and David Brownstone. Women’s World: A Timeline of Women in History. HarperCollins; HarperPerennial, 1995.
119
Williams, Katherine. “From Sarah Gamp to Florence Nightingale: A Critical Study of Hospital Nursing Systems from 1840 to 1897”. Rewriting Nursing History, edited by Celia Davies, Barnes and Noble, 1980, pp. 41-75.
42-4, 49, 64
Dingwall, Robert et al. An Introduction to the Social History of Nursing. Routledge, 1988.
28

September 1854: The British landed in Crimea, unopposed by...

National or international item

September 1854

The British landed in Crimea, unopposed by the Russians they had come to make war with. They went on to lay siege to Sebastopol that October and to win important victories at Balaklava (25...

12 October 1854: W. H. Russell began reporting in The Times...

National or international item

12 October 1854

W. H. Russell began reporting in The Times on army medical service in the Crimean War, specifically on the confusion, mismanagement, and maladministration which he saw at the scene of action.
Cohen, Emmeline W. The Growth of the British Civil Service 1780-1939. Archon Books, 1965, http://U of G.
110
Cohen, Emmeline W. The Growth of the British Civil Service 1780-1939. Archon Books, 1965, http://U of G.
110
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
274

30 January 1855: Public outrage against Lord Raglan, who commanded...

National or international item

30 January 1855

Public outrage against Lord Raglan , who commanded Britain's forces in the Crimean War, culminated in a Parliament ary inquiry that brought down Lord Aberdeen 's government and enabled various reforms.
Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford, 1990.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
under Somerset, FitzRoy James Henry

By mid-April 1856: Frances Margaret Taylor published as a Lady...

Women writers item

By mid-April 1856

Frances Margaret Taylor published as a Lady VolunteerEastern Hospitals and English Nurses: the Narrative of Twelve Months' Experience in the Hospitals of Koulali and Scutari.
British Library Catalogue. http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&tab=local_tab&dstmp=1489778087340&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&fromLo.
Solo: Search Oxford University Libraries Online. 18 July 2011, http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=OXVU1&fromLogin=true&reset_config=true.

1 August 1863: Queen Victoria, in a letter to The Ladies...

Building item

1 August 1863

Queen Victoria , in a letter to The Ladies of England, denounced the crinoline, calling it an indelicate, expensive, dangerous, and hideous article.
Adburgham, Alison. Shops and Shopping 1800-1914: Where, and in What Manner the Well-Dressed Englishwoman Bought Her Clothes. Allen and Unwin, 1964.
93

August 1863: The Times argued for the regulation for ...

Building item

August 1863

The Times argued for the regulation for prostitutes.
Walkowitz, Judith R. ’We Are Not Beasts of the Field’: Prostitution and the Campaign Against the Contagious Diseases Acts, 1869-1886. University of Rochester, 1974.
111

24 October 1868: With the support of Lady Georgiana Fullerton,...

Building item

24 October 1868

With the support of Lady Georgiana Fullerton , novelist and journalist Frances Margaret Taylor established, in rented rooms off Fleet Street, London, the religious community that would become the Congregation of the Poor Servants of the Mother of God

31 December 1869: The Daily News published the Ladies' Protest,...

Building item

31 December 1869

The Daily News published the Ladies' Protest, a document signed by 124 women which outlined their arguments for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts.
Walkowitz, Judith R. Prostitution and Victorian Society: Women, Class, and the State. Cambridge University Press, 1980.
93
Martineau, Harriet. Harriet Martineau on Women. Editor Yates, Gayle Graham, Rutgers University Press, 1985.
267

1876-1878: More than six million people died from drought,...

National or international item

1876-1878

More than six million people died from drought, famine, and disease during a major famine in India.
Davis, Mike. Late Victorian Holocausts: El Nino Famines and the Making of the Third World. Verso, 2001.
25, 27

January 1877: A meeting between Emma Robarts and Lady Kinnaird...

Building item

January 1877

A meeting between Emma Robarts and Lady Kinnaird resulted in the decision to merge the Prayer Circles or Unions started by the former with the Nurses' Home organized by the latter; the union became the...

May 1893: The Royal British Nurses' Association, which...

National or international item

May 1893

The Royal British Nurses' Association , which added the word Royal to its name in 1891, became the first association of professional women to be granted a charter of incorporation; however, they were not granted...

5 January 1907: Baroness Angela Burdett-Coutts (who died...

Building item

5 January 1907

Baroness Angela Burdett-Coutts (who died of bronchitis on 30 December 1906) became the last person laid to rest at Westminster Abbey.
“Women’s History Timeline”. BBC: Radio 4: Woman’s Hour.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

Texts

Nightingale, Florence. “A Missionary Health Officer in India”. Good Words, 1879, pp. 492 - 496; 565.
Nightingale, Florence. Cassandra and Other Selections from Suggestions for Thought. Editor Poovey, Mary, New York University Press, 1993.
Nightingale, Florence. Ever Yours, Florence Nightingale. Editors Vicinus, Martha and Bea Nergaard, Harvard University Press, 1989.
Nightingale, Florence. Ever Yours, Florence Nightingale. Editors Vicinus, Martha and Bea Nergaard, Harvard University Press, 1990.
Nightingale, Florence. Florence Nightingale in Rome. Editor Keele, Mary, American Philosophical Society, 1981.
Nightingale, Florence. Florence Nightingale to Her Nurses. Editor Nash, Rosalind, Macmillian, 1914.
Nightingale, Florence. “Health Lectures for Indian Villages”. India, Vol.
new series 4
, No. 10, pp. 305-6.
Nightingale, Florence. Health Teaching in Towns and Villages: Rural Hygiene. Spottiswoode, 1894.
Nightingale, Florence. “Hospital Statistics”. Programme of the Fourth Session of the International Statistical Congress, Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1860, pp. 63-71.
Nightingale, Florence. How People May Live and Not Die in India. Emily Faithfull, 1863.
Nightingale, Florence, and William Rathbone. “Introduction”. Sketch of the History and Progress of District Nursing, Macmillan, 1890.
Poovey, Mary, and Florence Nightingale. “Introduction”. Cassandra and Other Selections from Suggestions for Thought, edited by Mary Poovey and Mary Poovey, New York University Press, 1993.
Nightingale, Florence. Introductory Notes on Lying-in Institutions. Longmans, Green, 1871.
Nightingale, Florence. “Ladies Home, 90, Harley Street”. Times, 1901, p. 6.
Nightingale, Florence. Letters From Egypt. Spottiswoode, 1854.
Nightingale, Florence. Life or Death in India. Spottiswoode, 1874.
Nightingale, Florence. Metropolitan and National Nursing Association for Providing Trained Nurses for the Sick Poor: On Trained Nursing for the Sick Poor. Cull, 1876.
Nightingale, Florence. Note on the Aboriginal Races of Australia. Emily Faithfull, 1865.
Nightingale, Florence. Note on the Supposed Protection Afforded Against Venereal Disease. Privately printed, 1863.
Nightingale, Florence. Notes on Causes of Deterioration of Race. Privately printed, 1860.
Nightingale, Florence. Notes on Hospitals. Parker, 1859.
Nightingale, Florence. Notes on Matters Affecting the Health, Efficiency, and Hospital Administration of the British Army. Harrison, 1858.
Nightingale, Florence. Notes on Nursing. Harrison, 1859.
Nightingale, Florence. Notes on Nursing. D. Appleton, 1861.
Nightingale, Florence. Notes on Nursing. Cambridge University Press, 2010, http://www.cambridge.org/series/sSeries.asp?code=CLOR.