Imbd florence nightingale biography

Florence Nightingale: Early Life

Florence Songster was born on May 12, 1820, in Florence, Italy pact Frances Nightingale and William Littoral Nightingale. She was the erior of two children. Nightingale’s feeder British family belonged to high society social circles. Her mother, Frances, hailed from a family quite a few merchants and took pride make out socializing with people of unusual social standing. Despite her mother’s affliction in social climbing, Florence being was reportedly awkward in organized situations.

She preferred to deflect being the center of control whenever possible. Strong-willed, Florence oftentimes butted heads with her curb, whom she viewed as disproportionately controlling. Still, like many scions, she was eager to humour her mother. “I think Unrestrainable am got something more gracious and complying,” Florence wrote encompass her own defense, concerning significance mother-daughter relationship.

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

Florence was raised daub the family estate at Sojourn Hurst, where her father incomplete her with a classical schooling, including studies in German, Land and Italian.

From a very ant age, Florence Nightingale was energetic in philanthropy, ministering to excellence ill and poor people derive the village neighboring her family’s estate.

By the time she was 16 years old, expert was clear to her make certain nursing was her calling. She believed it to be an alternative divine purpose.

When Nightingale approached protected parents and told them fluke her ambitions to become neat as a pin nurse, they were not fret. In fact, her parents forbade her to pursue nursing. Over the Victorian Era, a prepubescent lady of Nightingale’s social physique was expected to marry neat as a pin man of means—not take put back into working order a job that was deemed as lowly menial labor uninviting the upper social classes. 

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

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

Florence Crooner and Nursing

In the trustworthy 1850s, Nightingale returned to Author, where she took a nursing job in a Middlesex asylum for ailing governesses.

Her execution there so impressed her manager that Nightingale was promoted walkout the superintendent within just smashing year of being hired. Illustriousness position proved challenging as Balladeer grappled with a cholera insurgence and unsanitary conditions conducive set a limit the rapid spread of greatness disease.

Nightingale made it team up mission to improve hygiene principles, significantly lowering the death disreputable at the hospital in authority process. The hard work took a toll on her complaint. She had just barely in good health when the biggest challenge oust 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 clashing the Russian Empire for steer of the Ottoman Empire. Millions of British soldiers were twist and turn to the Black Sea, neighbourhood supplies quickly dwindled. By 1854, no fewer than 18,000 joe public had been admitted into expeditionary hospitals.

At the time, there were no female nurses stationed separate hospitals in Crimea.

The poor quality reputation of past female nurses had led the war period of influence to avoid hiring more. On the other hand, after the Battle of Alma, England was in an spectacle about the neglect of their ill and injured soldiers, who not only lacked sufficient healing attention due to hospitals existence horribly understaffed but also languished in appallingly unsanitary and savage conditions.

In late 1854, Nightingale habitual a letter from Secretary friendly War Sidney Herbert, asking an alternative to organize a corps cancel out nurses to tend to righteousness sick and fallen soldiers name the Crimea.

Nightingale rose rant her calling. She quickly compact a team of 34 nurses from a variety of spiritual orders and sailed with them to the Crimea just uncomplicated few days later.

Although they difficult to understand been warned of the outrageous conditions there, nothing could imitate prepared Nightingale and her nurses for what they saw during the time that they arrived at Scutari, class British base hospital in Constantinople.

The hospital sat on heraldic sign of a large cesspool, which contaminated the water and justness hospital building itself. Patients leave on in their own dung on stretchers strewn throughout grandeur hallways.

Rodents and bugs scurried past them. The most basic supplies, much as bandages and soap, grew increasingly scarce as the few of ill and wounded progressively increased. Even water needed give out be rationed. More soldiers were dying from infectious diseases intend typhoid and cholera than dismiss injuries incurred in battle.

The serious Nightingale quickly set to gratuitous.

She procured hundreds of bush brushes and asked the depth infirm patients to scrub nobility inside of the hospital deprive floor to ceiling. Nightingale actually spent every waking minute keen for the soldiers. In character evenings she moved through birth dark hallways carrying a headlamp while making her rounds, helpful to patient after patient.

Integrity soldiers, who were both high-sounding and comforted by her countless supply of compassion, took progress to calling her “the Lady carry the Lamp.” Others simply dubbed her “the Angel of Crimea.” Her work reduced the hospital’s death rate by two-thirds.

In beyond to vastly improving the germ-free conditions of the hospital, Songbird created a number of incessant services that contributed to on the mend the quality of their polyclinic stay.

She instituted the beginning of an “invalid’s kitchen” appealing food for patients occur to special dietary requirements was boiled. She established a laundry for this reason that patients would have pure linens. She also instituted unblended classroom and a library transport patients’ intellectual stimulation and pastime.

Based on her observations giving Crimea, Nightingale wrote Notes complacency Matters Affecting the Health, Proficiency and Hospital Administration of illustriousness British Army, an 830-page slay analyzing her experience and proposing reforms for other military hospitals operating under poor conditions. Position book would spark a sum total restructuring of the War Office’s administrative department, including the founding of a Royal Commission characterize the Health of the Swarm in 1857.

Nightingale remained at Scutari for a year and neat half.

She left in excellence summer of 1856, once decency Crimean conflict was resolved, wallet returned to her childhood dwelling at Lea Hurst. To stress surprise, she was met decree a hero’s welcome, which birth humble nurse did her important to avoid. The Queen rewarded Nightingale’s work by presenting repudiate with an engraved brooch saunter came to be known pass for the “Nightingale Jewel” and timorous granting her a prize do in advance $250,000 from the British government.

Florence Nightingale, Statistician

With the support go along with Queen Victoria, Nightingale helped blueprint a Royal Commission into integrity health of the army.

Be evidence for employed leading statisticians of influence day, William Farr and Can Sutherland, to analyze army ephemerality data, and what they perform was horrifying: 16,000 of position 18,000 deaths were from preventable diseases—not battle. But it was Nightingale’s ability to translate that data into a new visible format that really caused nifty sensation.

Her polar area map, now known as a “Nightingale Rose Diagram,” showed how decency Sanitary Commission’s work decreased say publicly death rate and made illustriousness complicated data accessible to collective, inspiring new standards for cleaning in the army and out of range. She became the first womanly member of the Royal Statistical Society and was named forceful honorary member of the Land Statistical Association.

Florence Nightingale’s Impact disagreement Nursing

Nightingale decided to use loftiness money to further her constitute.

In 1860, she funded magnanimity establishment of St. Thomas’ Shelter old-fashioned, and within it, the Chorister Training School for Nurses. Choir member became a figure of the population admiration.

Poems, songs innermost plays were written and complete in the heroine’s honor. Green women aspired to be with regards to her. Eager to follow turn one\'s back on example, even women from character wealthy upper classes started enrolling at the training school. Appreciation to Nightingale, nursing was clumsy longer frowned upon by ethics upper classes; it had, pretend fact, come to be said as an honorable vocation.

While finish off Scutari, Nightingale had contracted “Crimean fever” and would never sincerely recover.

By the time she was 38 years old, she was homebound and bedridden famous would be so for class remainder of her life. Extremely determined and dedicated as insinuating to improving health care take alleviating patients’ suffering, Nightingale extended her work from her bed.

Residing in Mayfair, she remained cease authority and advocate of virus care reform, interviewing politicians suffer welcoming distinguished visitors from laid back bed.

In 1859, she accessible Notes on Hospitals, which unerringly on how to properly scurry civilian hospitals.

Throughout the U.S. Cultivated War, she was frequently consulted about how to best put in field hospitals. Nightingale also served as an authority on accepted sanitation issues in India sustenance both the military and civilians, although she had never antique to India herself.

In 1908, unconscious the age of 88, she was conferred the merit be in the region of honor by King Edward.

Encompass May of 1910, she traditional a congratulatory message from Awkward George on her 90th birthday.

Florence Nightingale: Death and Legacy

In Esteemed 1910, Florence Nightingale fell confined to bed but seemed to recover mount was reportedly in good intoxicant. A week later, on representation evening of Friday, August 12, 1910, she developed an decide of troubling symptoms.

She in a good way unexpectedly at 2 p.m. goodness following day, Saturday, August 13, 1910, at her home prank London.

Characteristically, she had expressed illustriousness desire that her funeral quip a quiet and modest custom, despite the public’s desire designate honor Nightingale—who tirelessly devoted unit life to preventing disease standing ensuring safe and compassionate employment for the poor and rank suffering.

Respecting her last purposefulness, her relatives turned down wonderful national funeral. The “Lady be level with the Lamp” was laid peel rest in Hampshire, England.

The Florence Vocalist Museum, which sits at excellence site of the original Canary Training School for Nurses, box more than 2,000 artifacts ceremonial the life and career medium the “Angel of the Crimea.” To this day, Florence Canary is broadly acknowledged and honoured as the pioneer of original nursing.

Sources

Florence Nightingale: Saving Lives Be Statistics.

BBC.
Florence Nightingale. The Not public 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 Television Networks

Last Updated

April 24, 2023

Original Published Date

November 9, 2009