EuropaWorld 9/2/2001Florence Nightingale 1820-1910

Considered the founder of modern nursing, Nightingale was a tireless campaigner for hospital reform whose work saved hundreds and has inspired millions.

The name of Florence Nightingale has become synonymous with the establishment of modern British nursing and with the Victorian feminine values of humility and service. It is therefore something of a surprise to learn that this woman was more of a stubborn and formidable foe than a meek and humble servant, and that she spent less than 3 of her 90 years actually working as a nurse.

Born in 1820 to wealthy parents on holiday in Italy, Florence was named after her birthplace. She received an entirely conventional upbringing but for one fortunate exception. Her father,a member of the British Academy of Sciences, displayed an unusually progressive attitude towards educating his daughters, tutoring them himself in Latin, Greek, German, Italian, French, philosophy, and history. The young Florence proved a quick and able scholar. Despite this, there was no question of her undertaking a career as anything other than an attractive, albeit intelligent, ornament.

At age 16 however, Florence received a summons from God to devote herself to some kind of service. It was not until 9 years later that she realized that this calling was to nursing. Although at the time, the lowly work of lay nurses was considered a profession only for women of questionable character and upbringing, Florence eventually won permission from her parents to study at the highly-respected Institution of Protestant Deaconesses in Kaiserwerth, Germany.

In the meantime, she had refused several suitors and had badgered her parents into letting her study mathematics - again considered an unsuitable female occupation but one at which she nonetheless excelled. She also made skilful use of her connections - in particular with parliamentarian Sidney Herbert - to procure reports on national health, through which she became a self-taught expert on hospitals and sanitation.

This knowledge was finally put to use in 1851 when, at age 31, she became superintendent of the Institution for Care of Sick Gentlewomen in Distressed Circumstances. A much greater challenge awaited her however with the outbreak of the Crimean War two years later.

In 1853 British troops had been sent to aid Turkey against the Russian invasion. There were soon reports of wounded soldiers languishing under-clothed and under-fed in filthy, vermin-infested hospitals. To make matters worse, it was reported that the French allies not only had better hospital conditions but 'Sisters of Mercy' to care for the sick. There was a public outcry that such support was lacking to the British. Nightingale immediately volunteered her services. Her friend Sidney Herbert - now Secretary of State for War - appointed her to lead a team of 38 nurses to Scutari,Turkey to remedy the situation.

Battling as much against bureaucracy and chauvinism as disease and filth, Nightingale strove to reorganize the military hospitals, introducing levels of hygiene, sanitation and patient care that decimated the mortality rates. Her nightly rounds by gas-lamp earned her the nickname of the Lady of the Lamp.

She returned to England a heroine. However, exhausted and weakened from a serious fever, she never again worked as a nurse. Her contribution to transforming hospitals, health-care administration, and sanitary conditions - both in Britain and the colonies - continued instead through the written word.

Using reports and statistics, Florence was a tireless campaigner for hospital reform. She also wrote articles and books; the most famous - Notes on Nursing - has been translated into 11 languages and is still in use today. In tribute to her reforms, the British government awarded her a grant with which to open a school to train other women to continue her work. The Nightingale Training School for Nurses, was opened at St. Thomas' Hospital in London in 1860. With the scientific approach to their training and a rigid scrutiny of applicants, the profession lost its former negative connotations and the school paved the way for nursing to become viewed as a respected and valued career - both in England and beyond.

A skilled lobbyist, Florence Nightingale continued her campaigning until she gradually lost her sight and health in her eighties. In 1907, Edward VII bestowed on her the Order of Merit in recognition of her work; it was the first time the honour had been given to a woman. On August 13, 1910, the heroine of the Crimea fell into a sleep from which she did not awaken. The inspiration that she has provided for generations of nurses and reformers alike, however, lives on.