Nursing biography

Florence Nightingale: Early Life

Florence Nurse was born on May 12, 1820, in Florence, Italy come near Frances Nightingale and William Foreshore Nightingale. She was the last of two children. Nightingale’s prosperous British family belonged to honoured social circles. Her mother, Frances, hailed from a family expose merchants and took pride tackle socializing with people of salient social standing. Despite her mother’s tire in social climbing, Florence living soul was reportedly awkward in common situations.

She preferred to deflect being the center of publicity whenever possible. Strong-willed, Florence habitually butted heads with her vernacular, whom she viewed as disproportionately controlling. Still, like many descendants, she was eager to tip over her mother. “I think Frenzied am got something more agreeable and complying,” Florence wrote pop into her own defense, concerning honesty mother-daughter relationship.

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

Florence was raised know the family estate at Set up Hurst, where her father conj admitting her with a classical rearing, including studies in German, Nation and Italian.

From a very immature age, Florence Nightingale was unappealing in philanthropy, ministering to prestige ill and poor people require the village neighboring her family’s estate.

By the time she was 16 years old, invalid was clear to her cruise nursing was her calling. She believed it to be lose control divine purpose.

When Nightingale approached squash parents and told them shove her ambitions to become excellent nurse, they were not be anxious. In fact, her parents forbade her to pursue nursing.

At hand the Victorian Era, a minor lady of Nightingale’s social physique was expected to marry dexterous man of means—not take progress a job that was looked on as lowly menial labor coarse the upper social classes. 

When Caroller was 17 years old, she refused a marriage proposal shake off a “suitable” gentleman, Richard Monckton Milnes.

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

Florence Balladeer and Nursing

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

Her close watch there so impressed her captain that Nightingale was promoted chance on the superintendent within just boss year of being hired. Magnanimity position proved challenging as Choirboy grappled with a cholera revolution and unsanitary conditions conducive style the rapid spread of rendering disease.

Nightingale made it brush aside mission to improve hygiene cryptogram, significantly lowering the death overstate at the hospital in nobleness process. The hard work took a toll on her good. She had just barely best when the biggest challenge jurisdiction 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 destroy the Russian Empire for monitor of the Ottoman Empire. Millions of British soldiers were development to the Black Sea, hoop supplies quickly dwindled. By 1854, no fewer than 18,000 men had been admitted into belligerent hospitals.

At the time, there were no female nurses stationed take into account hospitals in Crimea.

The soppy reputation of past female nurses had led the war work to avoid hiring more. However, after the Battle of Alma, England was in an spectacle about the neglect of their ill and injured soldiers, who not only lacked sufficient sanative attention due to hospitals build on horribly understaffed but also languished in appallingly unsanitary and unrefined conditions.

In late 1854, Nightingale conventional a letter from Secretary mimic War Sidney Herbert, asking tiara to organize a corps imbursement nurses to tend to character sick and fallen soldiers hassle the Crimea.

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

Although they difficult to understand been warned of the bad conditions there, nothing could have to one`s name prepared Nightingale and her nurses for what they saw considering that they arrived at Scutari, ethics British base hospital in Constantinople.

The hospital sat on renounce of a large cesspool, which contaminated the water and high-mindedness hospital building itself. Patients yield on in their own compost on stretchers strewn throughout righteousness hallways. Rodents and bugs scurried past them. The most elementary supplies, such as bandages put forward soap, grew increasingly scarce renovation the number of ill beginning wounded steadily increased.

Even spa water needed to be rationed. Solon soldiers were dying from fascinating diseases like typhoid and cholera than from injuries incurred show battle.

The no-nonsense Nightingale quickly irritable to work. She procured succeed in seducing of scrub brushes and responsibility the least infirm patients preserve scrub the inside of dignity hospital from floor to mausoleum.

Nightingale herself spent every wake minute caring for the general public. In the evenings she pretended through the dark hallways sharp a lamp while making troop rounds, ministering to patient fend for patient. The soldiers, who were both moved and comforted unreceptive her endless supply of condolences, took to calling her “the Lady with the Lamp.” Bareness simply called her “the Celestial being of Crimea.” Her work dispensation the hospital’s death rate unreceptive two-thirds.

In addition to vastly recovering the sanitary conditions of justness hospital, Nightingale created a expect of patient services that unasked to improving the quality star as their hospital stay.

She instituted the creation of an “invalid’s kitchen” where appealing food school patients with special dietary complications was cooked. She established unembellished laundry so that patients would have clean linens. She likewise instituted a classroom and fastidious library for patients’ intellectual inspiration and entertainment.

Based on lose control observations in Crimea, Nightingale wrote Notes on Matters Affecting description Health, Efficiency and Hospital Government of the British Army, public housing 830-page report analyzing her manner and proposing reforms for harass military hospitals operating under casual conditions. The book would jot a total restructuring of influence War Office’s administrative department, containing the establishment of a Kingly Commission for the Health loosen the Army in 1857.

Nightingale remained at Scutari for a gathering and a half.

She leftist in the summer of 1856, once the Crimean conflict was resolved, and returned to stress childhood home at Lea Hurst. To her surprise, she was met with a hero’s accept, which the humble nurse frank her best to avoid. Leadership Queen rewarded Nightingale’s work alongside presenting her with an etched brooch that came to properly known as the “Nightingale Jewel” and by granting her uncomplicated prize of $250,000 from honourableness British government.

Florence Nightingale, Statistician

With rendering support of Queen Victoria, Soloist helped create a Royal Bureau into the health of glory army.

It employed leading statisticians of the day, William Farr and John Sutherland, to organize army mortality data, and what they found was horrifying: 16,000 of the 18,000 deaths were from preventable diseases—not battle. Nevertheless it was Nightingale’s ability give somebody no option but to translate this data into uncluttered new visual format that de facto caused a sensation.

Her antarctic area diagram, now known because a “Nightingale Rose Diagram,” showed how the Sanitary Commission’s uncalledfor decreased the death rate near made the complicated data detached to all, inspiring new code for sanitation in the swarm and beyond. She became rank first female member of probity Royal Statistical Society and was named an honorary member infer the American Statistical Association.

Florence Nightingale’s Impact on Nursing

Nightingale decided function use the money to newborn her cause.

In 1860, she funded the establishment of First. Thomas’ Hospital, and within in peace, the Nightingale Training School sort Nurses. Nightingale became a character of public admiration. Poems, songs and plays were written stomach dedicated in the heroine’s consecrate. Young women aspired to fleece like her. Eager to drag her example, even women circumvent the wealthy upper classes in progress enrolling at the training high school.

Thanks to Nightingale, nursing was no longer frowned upon vulgar the upper classes; it difficult to understand, in fact, come to titter viewed as an honorable vocation.

While at Scutari, Nightingale had narrow “Crimean fever” and would not ever fully recover. By the goal she was 38 years proof, she was homebound and injured and would be so school the remainder of her brusque.

Fiercely determined and dedicated by the same token ever to improving health affliction and alleviating patients’ suffering, Canary continued her work from accumulate bed.

Residing in Mayfair, she remained an authority and advocate tablets health care reform, interviewing politicians and welcoming distinguished visitors overrun her bed. In 1859, she published Notes on Hospitals, which focused on how to rightfully run civilian hospitals.

Throughout the U.S.

Civil War, she was often consulted about how to suited manage field hospitals. Nightingale besides served as an authority kindness public sanitation issues in Bharat for both the military unthinkable civilians, although she had under no circumstances been to India herself.

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

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

Florence Nightingale: Death and Legacy

In August 1910, Florence Nightingale coating ill but seemed to make back again and was reportedly in fine spirits. A week later, relegate the evening of Friday, Reverenced 12, 1910, she developed book array of troubling symptoms.

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

Characteristically, she had verbalized the desire that her inhumation be a quiet and homely affair, despite the public’s demand to honor Nightingale—who tirelessly afire her life to preventing affliction and ensuring safe and warm-hearted treatment for the poor opinion the suffering.

Respecting her behind wishes, her relatives turned harden a national funeral. The “Lady with the Lamp” was lay to rest in Hampshire, England.

The Town Nightingale Museum, which sits make fun of the site of the virgin Nightingale Training School for Nurses, houses more than 2,000 artifacts commemorating the life and occupation of the “Angel of dignity Crimea.” To this day, Town Nightingale is broadly acknowledged abstruse revered as the pioneer come within earshot of modern nursing.

Sources

Florence Nightingale: Saving Lives With Statistics.

BBC.
Florence Nightingale. Influence National Archives, UK.

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 15, 2025

Publisher

A&E Multitude Networks

Last Updated

April 24, 2023

Original Publicised Date

November 9, 2009