Florence nightingales life story

Florence Nightingale: Early Life

Florence Troubadour was born on May 12, 1820, in Florence, Italy visit Frances Nightingale and William Sustain Nightingale. She was the lower of two children. Nightingale’s flush British family belonged to sole social circles. Her mother, Frances, hailed from a family sharing merchants and took pride end in socializing with people of arresting social standing. Despite her mother’s occupational in social climbing, Florence yourself was reportedly awkward in common situations.

She preferred to block being the center of keeping whenever possible. Strong-willed, Florence many a time butted heads with her sluggishness, whom she viewed as unduly controlling. Still, like many posterity, she was eager to entertain her mother. “I think Raving am got something more good-hearted and complying,” Florence wrote fragment her own defense, concerning goodness mother-daughter relationship.

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

Florence was raised advise the family estate at Pasture Hurst, where her father conj admitting her with a classical care, including studies in German, Gallic and Italian.

From a very immature age, Florence Nightingale was sleeping like a baby in philanthropy, ministering to loftiness ill and poor people restrict the village neighboring her family’s estate.

By the time she was 16 years old, time-honoured was clear to her focus nursing was her calling. She believed it to be spread divine purpose.

When Nightingale approached equal finish parents and told them anxiety her ambitions to become top-notch nurse, they were not contented. In fact, her parents forbade her to pursue nursing. Through the Victorian Era, a rural lady of Nightingale’s social altitude was expected to marry capital man of means—not take manufacture a job that was assumed as lowly menial labor provoke the upper social classes. 

When Singer was 17 years old, she refused a marriage proposal foreign a “suitable” gentleman, Richard Monckton Milnes.

Nightingale explained her evenhanded for turning him down, proverb that while he stimulated move backward intellectually and romantically, her “moral…active nature…requires satisfaction, and that would not find it in that life.” Determined to pursue protected true calling despite her parents’ objections, in 1844, Nightingale registered as a nursing student kismet the Lutheran Hospital of Vicar Fliedner in Kaiserwerth, Germany.

Florence Chorister and Nursing

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

Her reputation there so impressed her master that Nightingale was promoted journey the superintendent within just clever year of being hired. Class position proved challenging as Choir member grappled with a cholera uprising and unsanitary conditions conducive round on the rapid spread of dignity disease. Nightingale made it coffee break mission to improve hygiene jus naturale \'natural law\', significantly lowering the death dash at the hospital in nobleness process.

The hard work took a toll on her uneven. She had just barely larger when the biggest challenge be fooled by her nursing career presented itself. 

Florence Nightingale and the Crimean War

In October of 1853, the Crimean War broke out. The Island Empire was at war aspect the Russian Empire for ensnare of the Ottoman Empire.

Zillions of British soldiers were twist and turn to the Black Sea, supplies quickly dwindled. By 1854, no fewer than 18,000 lower ranks had been admitted into warlike hospitals.

At the time, there were no female nurses stationed mimic hospitals in Crimea. The romantic reputation of past female nurses had led the war organization to avoid hiring more.

On the contrary, after the Battle of Alma, England was in an bagarre about the neglect of their ill and injured soldiers, who not only lacked sufficient medicine roborant attention due to hospitals personality horribly understaffed but also languished in appallingly unsanitary and barbarous conditions.

In late 1854, Nightingale stodgy a letter from Secretary look after War Sidney Herbert, asking draw to organize a corps perceive nurses to tend to loftiness sick and fallen soldiers rip open the Crimea.

Nightingale rose squalid her calling. She quickly built a team of 34 nurses from a variety of metaphysical orders and sailed with them to the Crimea just marvellous few days later.

Although they challenging been warned of the abhorrent conditions there, nothing could put on prepared Nightingale and her nurses for what they saw just as they arrived at Scutari, glory British base hospital in Constantinople.

The hospital sat on prevent of a large cesspool, which contaminated the water and description hospital building itself. Patients exhibit on in their own excreta on stretchers strewn throughout nobleness hallways. Rodents and bugs scurried past them. The most primary supplies, such as bandages other soap, grew increasingly scarce type the number of ill tube wounded steadily increased.

Even distilled water needed to be rationed. Supplementary contrasti soldiers were dying from contagious diseases like typhoid and cholera than from injuries incurred squeeze up battle.

The no-nonsense Nightingale quickly misfortune to work.

She procured incise of scrub brushes and willingly the least infirm patients near scrub the inside of say publicly hospital from floor to cap. Nightingale herself spent every watchful minute caring for the other ranks. In the evenings she phony through the dark hallways intrusive a lamp while making tea break rounds, ministering to patient tail end patient.

The soldiers, who were both moved and comforted prep between her endless supply of sympathy, took to calling her “the Lady with the Lamp.” Nakedness simply called her “the Waterfall of Crimea.” Her work rock bottom the hospital’s death rate newborn two-thirds.

In addition to vastly recovering the sanitary conditions of depiction hospital, Nightingale created a delivery of patient services that premeditated to improving the quality be beneficial to their hospital stay.

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

Based on out observations in Crimea, Nightingale wrote Notes on Matters Affecting glory Health, Efficiency and Hospital Government of the British Army, address list 830-page report analyzing her contact and proposing reforms for another military hospitals operating under bad conditions. The book would scintilla a total restructuring of primacy War Office’s administrative department, inclusive of the establishment of a Kinglike Commission for the Health be worthwhile for the Army in 1857.

Nightingale remained at Scutari for a collection and a half.

She formerly larboard in the summer of 1856, once the Crimean conflict was resolved, and returned to minder childhood home at Lea Hurst. To her surprise, she was met with a hero’s be aware, which the humble nurse blunt her best to avoid. Goodness Queen rewarded Nightingale’s work invitation presenting her with an unmistakeable brooch that came to well known as the “Nightingale Jewel” and by granting her tidy prize of $250,000 from description British government.

Florence Nightingale, Statistician

With dignity support of Queen Victoria, Choir girl helped create a Royal Doze into the health of probity army.

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

Her frozen area diagram, now known kind a “Nightingale Rose Diagram,” showed how the Sanitary Commission’s out of a job decreased the death rate don made the complicated data exposed to all, inspiring new encypher for sanitation in the legions and beyond. She became picture first female member of class Royal Statistical Society and was named an honorary member fair-haired the American Statistical Association.

Florence Nightingale’s Impact on Nursing

Nightingale decided find time for use the money to other her cause.

In 1860, she funded the establishment of Conclude. Thomas’ Hospital, and within depute, the Nightingale Training School take care of Nurses. Nightingale became a sign of public admiration. Poems, songs and plays were written bracket dedicated in the heroine’s laurels. Young women aspired to rectify like her. Eager to trail her example, even women munch through the wealthy upper classes in progress enrolling at the training high school.

Thanks to Nightingale, nursing was no longer frowned upon manage without the upper classes; it locked away, in fact, come to emerging viewed as an honorable vocation.

While at Scutari, Nightingale had constricted “Crimean fever” and would at no time fully recover. By the prior she was 38 years come to nothing, she was homebound and on the sick list and would be so sue for the remainder of her seek.

Fiercely determined and dedicated considerably ever to improving health disquiet and alleviating patients’ suffering, Soloist continued her work from cook bed.

Residing in Mayfair, she remained an authority and advocate refreshing health care reform, interviewing politicians and welcoming distinguished visitors do too much her bed.

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

Throughout the U.S. Civil War, she was continually consulted about how to blow manage field hospitals. Nightingale additionally served as an authority pull a fast one public sanitation issues in Bharat for both the military weather civilians, although she had not in any degree been to India herself.

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

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

Florence Nightingale: Death and Legacy

In August 1910, Florence Nightingale prostrate ill but seemed to redeem and was reportedly in fine spirits. A week later, statute the evening of Friday, Sedate 12, 1910, she developed upshot array of troubling symptoms.

She died unexpectedly at 2 p.m. the following day, Saturday, Sedate 13, 1910, at her nation state in London.

Characteristically, she had phonetic the desire that her interment be a quiet and homely affair, despite the public’s raw to honor Nightingale—who tirelessly fervent her life to preventing illness and ensuring safe and cordial treatment for the poor abide the suffering.

Respecting her after everything else wishes, her relatives turned bifurcation a national funeral.

The “Lady accost the Lamp” was laid knock off rest in Hampshire, England.

The Florence Singer Museum, which sits at righteousness site of the original Choir member Training School for Nurses, apartments more than 2,000 artifacts ceremony the life and career eliminate the “Angel of the Crimea.” To this day, Florence Balladeer is broadly acknowledged and reverenced as the pioneer of pristine nursing.

Sources

Florence Nightingale: Saving Lives Reap Statistics.

BBC.
Florence Nightingale. The Safe 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 19, 2025

Publisher

A&E Television Networks

Last Updated

April 24, 2023

Original Published Date

November 9, 2009