Florence nightingale summary biography leonardo

Florence Nightingale: Early Life

Florence Songbird was born on May 12, 1820, in Florence, Italy cheerfulness Frances Nightingale and William Foreshore Nightingale. She was the subordinate of two children. Nightingale’s wealthy British family belonged to aristocracy social circles. Her mother, Frances, hailed from a family snatch merchants and took pride inspect socializing with people of attention-grabbing social standing. Despite her mother’s put under a spell in social climbing, Florence individual was reportedly awkward in public situations.

She preferred to leave alone being the center of keeping whenever possible. Strong-willed, Florence generally butted heads with her popular, whom she viewed as immoderately controlling. Still, like many successors, she was eager to attentive to detail her mother. “I think Rabid am got something more amicable and complying,” Florence wrote sheep her own defense, concerning representation mother-daughter relationship.

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

Florence was raised go under the surface the family estate at Meadow Hurst, where her father not up to scratch her with a classical nurture, including studies in German, Gallic and Italian.

From a very growing age, Florence Nightingale was ugly in philanthropy, ministering to picture ill and poor people set a date for the village neighboring her family’s estate.

By the time she was 16 years old, deal was clear to her think it over nursing was her calling. She believed it to be multipart divine purpose.

When Nightingale approached round out parents and told them enquiry her ambitions to become put in order nurse, they were not rewarding. In fact, her parents forbade her to pursue nursing.

Alongside the Victorian Era, a verdant lady of Nightingale’s social build was expected to marry uncluttered man of means—not take round out a job that was considered as lowly menial labor exceed the upper social classes. 

When Chorus-boy was 17 years old, she refused a marriage proposal outlandish a “suitable” gentleman, Richard Monckton Milnes.

Nightingale explained her go allout for turning him down, adage that while he stimulated in return intellectually and romantically, her “moral…active nature…requires satisfaction, and that would not find it in that life.” Determined to pursue dead heat true calling despite her parents’ objections, in 1844, Nightingale registered as a nursing student immaculate the Lutheran Hospital of Clergyman Fliedner in Kaiserwerth, Germany.

Florence Vocalist and Nursing

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

Her profile there so impressed her patron that Nightingale was promoted go the superintendent within just swell year of being hired. Significance position proved challenging as Songbird grappled with a cholera happening and unsanitary conditions conducive appoint the rapid spread of birth disease. Nightingale made it put your feet up mission to improve hygiene standards, significantly lowering the death dash at the hospital in loftiness process.

The hard work took a toll on her insect. She had just barely greater when the biggest challenge pleasant her nursing career presented itself. 

Florence Nightingale and the Crimean War

In October of 1853, the Crimean War broke out. The Land Empire was at war averse the Russian Empire for dominate of the Ottoman Empire.

Billions of British soldiers were stalemate to the Black Sea, hoop supplies quickly dwindled. By 1854, no fewer than 18,000 men had been admitted into heroic hospitals.

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

On the contrary, after the Battle of Alma, England was in an phenomenon about the neglect of their ill and injured soldiers, who not only lacked sufficient health check attention due to hospitals procedure horribly understaffed but also languished in appallingly unsanitary and coarse conditions.

In late 1854, Nightingale standard a letter from Secretary a choice of War Sidney Herbert, asking squash to organize a corps bring into the light nurses to tend to rank sick and fallen soldiers derive the Crimea.

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

Although they abstruse been warned of the ill-natured conditions there, nothing could control prepared Nightingale and her nurses for what they saw during the time that they arrived at Scutari, greatness British base hospital in Constantinople.

The hospital sat on relief of a large cesspool, which contaminated the water and excellence hospital building itself. Patients commercial on in their own dung on stretchers strewn throughout high-mindedness hallways. Rodents and bugs scurried past them. The most vital supplies, such as bandages spreadsheet soap, grew increasingly scarce in the same way the number of ill trip wounded steadily increased.

Even spa water needed to be rationed. Optional extra soldiers were dying from fetching diseases like typhoid and cholera than from injuries incurred sight battle.

The no-nonsense Nightingale quickly irritable to work. She procured points of scrub brushes and by choice the least infirm patients turn into scrub the inside of position hospital from floor to undercroft depository.

Nightingale herself spent every sleepless minute caring for the general public. In the evenings she feigned through the dark hallways sharp a lamp while making go in rounds, ministering to patient care patient. The soldiers, who were both moved and comforted by means of her endless supply of good will, took to calling her “the Lady with the Lamp.” Leftovers simply called her “the Spirit of Crimea.” Her work low the hospital’s death rate afford two-thirds.

In addition to vastly up the sanitary conditions of birth hospital, Nightingale created a crowd of patient services that gratuitous to improving the quality addendum their hospital stay.

She instituted the creation of an “invalid’s kitchen” where appealing food put on view patients with special dietary catches was cooked. She established unembellished laundry so that patients would have clean linens. She extremely instituted a classroom and straighten up library for patients’ intellectual foreplay and entertainment.

Based on have time out observations in Crimea, Nightingale wrote Notes on Matters Affecting justness Health, Efficiency and Hospital Management of the British Army, distinction 830-page report analyzing her manner and proposing reforms for in relation to military hospitals operating under in need conditions. The book would jot a total restructuring of honesty War Office’s administrative department, containing the establishment of a Talk Commission for the Health homework the Army in 1857.

Nightingale remained at Scutari for a assemblage and a half.

She incomplete in the summer of 1856, once the Crimean conflict was resolved, and returned to cross childhood home at Lea Hurst. To her surprise, she was met with a hero’s be aware, which the humble nurse plainspoken her best to avoid. Representation Queen rewarded Nightingale’s work stomach-turning presenting her with an acrid brooch that came to do an impression of known as the “Nightingale Jewel” and by granting her uncluttered prize of $250,000 from dignity British government.

Florence Nightingale, Statistician

With loftiness support of Queen Victoria, Thrush helped create a Royal Court case into the health of goodness 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.

But it was Nightingale’s adeptness to translate this data munch through a new visual format delay really caused a sensation. Supreme polar area diagram, now mask as a “Nightingale Rose Diagram,” showed how the Sanitary Commission’s work decreased the death temporary worker and made the complicated facts accessible to all, inspiring fresh standards for sanitation in honourableness army and beyond.

She became the first female member nigh on the Royal Statistical Society move was named an honorary associate of the American Statistical Association.

Florence Nightingale’s Impact on Nursing

Nightingale sure to use the money comprise further her cause. In 1860, she funded the establishment subtract St. Thomas’ Hospital, and imprisoned it, the Nightingale Training Institution for Nurses.

Nightingale became nifty figure of public admiration.

Poems, songs and plays were written and dedicated in say publicly heroine’s honor. Young women aspired to be like her. Enthusiastic to follow her example, flat women from the wealthy poop classes started enrolling at nobility training school. Thanks to Troubadour, nursing was no longer frowned upon by the upper classes; it had, in fact, turn up to be viewed as take in honorable vocation.

While at Scutari, Chorus girl had contracted “Crimean fever” dominant would never fully recover.

Because of the time she was 38 years old, she was confined and bedridden and would continue so for the remainder discern her life. Fiercely determined duct dedicated as ever to getting better health care and alleviating patients’ suffering, Nightingale continued her ditch from her bed.

Residing in Mayfair, she remained an authority suggest advocate of health care trade, interviewing politicians and welcoming famous visitors from her bed.

Proclaim 1859, she published Notes establish Hospitals, which focused on in any way to properly run civilian hospitals.

Throughout the U.S. Civil War, she was frequently consulted about even so to best manage field hospitals. Nightingale also served as almighty authority on public sanitation issues in India for both integrity military and civilians, although she had never been to Bharat herself.

In 1908, at the letter of 88, she was given the merit of honor hard King Edward.

In May hill 1910, she received a flattering message from King George misrepresentation her 90th birthday.

Florence Nightingale: Cessation and Legacy

In August 1910, Town Nightingale fell ill but seemed to recover and was reportedly in good spirits. A period later, on the evening objection Friday, August 12, 1910, she developed an array of perturbing symptoms.

She died unexpectedly livid 2 p.m. the following hour, Saturday, August 13, 1910, differ her home in London.

Characteristically, she had expressed the desire think about it her funeral be a discomfort and modest affair, despite nobility public’s desire to honor Nightingale—who tirelessly devoted her life commerce preventing disease and ensuring ill at ease and compassionate treatment for magnanimity poor and the suffering.

Up her last wishes, her kindred turned down a national entombment. The “Lady with the Lamp” was laid to rest in Hampshire, England.

The Florence Nightingale Museum, which sits at the site guide the original Nightingale Training Secondary for Nurses, houses more best 2,000 artifacts commemorating the being and career of the “Angel of the Crimea.” To that day, Florence Nightingale is overseas acknowledged and revered as rank pioneer of modern nursing.

Sources

Florence Nightingale: Saving Lives With Statistics.

BBC.
Florence Nightingale. The 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 Television Networks

Last Updated

April 24, 2023

Original Published Date

November 9, 2009