Florence Nightingale

News and Events

Richard Brooks wrote in the Sunday Times on July 8:
"Another assault is about to take place on the reputation of one of Britain's most illustrious figures. According to a new BBC documentary, Florence Nightingale, who has long been thought of as the caring ‘lady with the lamp’, was in fact a manipulative, neurotic and sexually repressed woman. Under her nursing supervision during the Crimean war, hundreds of wounded soldiers died unnecessarily, claim the programme makers; 10 times more men perished at her Scutari hospital near Sebastopol from illness than from wounds. ‘You would have been far better off staying at the front in a tent than in the hospital,’ said Hugh Small, author of Avenging Angel, a biography of Nightingale. Nightingale's image as a maternal goddess is to be demolished in a BBC2 Reputations documentary on Tuesday week. ‘She was built up by the Victorians during the Crimean war partly because Britain needed a hero, having not had one since Nelson and Wellington,’ said Mark Bostridge, whose own biography of Nightingale will appear next year. It was not Nightingale's fault that so many died at Scutari. Only when she returned to England in 1857 did she begin to realise why so many soldiers had perished. After suffering a nervous breakdown, she set out to ensure that sanitary conditions in hospitals were improved.… Nightingale also had an unsatisfactory love life, claims the documentary. ‘She had been spurned as a youngish woman by a social climber who later became an MP and then, it seems, had just one passionate romance in the Crimea with a soldier,’ said Small…. Nightingale was not really a nurse, although she had some limited training before the Crimea. and while she failed to give the wounded soldiers proper medical care, she was attentive to their personal concerns.She would also write to bereaved parents saying their son had "died painlessly" even though this was more than likely untrue. ‘The legend has long been that Nightingale went to the Crimea and made things all right," said Bostridge. ‘She did not.’"

In July 2000, Florence Nightingale was commemorated by the Episcopal Church of the United States of American in the volume, Lesser Feasts and Fasts, an official publication of the church. The first annual service to honor Florence Nightingale and nursing will be held on August 12, 2001, at 4.PM. at the Washington National Cathedral, Massachusetts and Wisconsin Avenues, Washington, D.C. This service will also honor nurses and nursing as they continue Nightingale's mission of caring and healing. Guests are requested to be seated by 3:15 PM before the procession begins. Seating will be open. The service will last one hour.

On September 9 Kaiserswerth will hold a celebration of the 150th anniversary of Nightingale's study there in the Florence-Nightingale-Krankenhaus.

Annually around her birthday a commemorative service is held at St. Margaret's Church, East Wellow, Hampshire, on the Embley estate, and at Westminster Abbey in London. This year the Westminister Abbey event was on May 9. Read a report on the 2000 commemoration.

The United States Historical Society is offering a Clara Barton (Civil war nurse and founder of the American Red Cross) doll in addition to its Florence Nightingale doll.

The Commemoration of Florence Nightingale was authorized for trial use in the Episcopal Church at its General Convention in July, 2000. View the official resolution. There is more information and a brief biography here.

Broadcaster Anthony Sattin reports a new development in the strange case of FN’s diary in the National Trust Magazine, Autumn 2000:

One morning shortly before Christmas last year, the postman delivered a plain brown envelope to Claydon House. Inside was a small, maroon, leather-bound notebook, but no letter or delivery note. The notebook had been used as a diary from 1 November 1849 to 15 July 1850. It was obvious that this was the diary of a traveller. The names of the author's travelling companions suggested that the book belonged to Florence Nightingale. Later comparisons of handwriting and use of language confirmed the identification….

In early December last year, I broadcast a series of programmes about the journey on BBC Radio 4. It appears that this may have encouraged the anonymous sender to post the diary to Claydon. There is something strange about this, though, for we can assume the sender knew that Claydon was the family home of the Verneys, a family connected not to Florence but to her sister. Yet Claydon was misspelled on the envelope.

The Claydon notebook poses another puzzle, for the British Library holds a second diary that also covers parts of this journey. That diary is a small carnet de poche for the year 1850, so the two diaries overlap for the period 1 January to 15 July 1850. But although there are great similarities between the entries, they are not identical. Take Friday 4 January 1850. Claydon diary: 'Walk before breakfast in sight of this Edfoo propylon. Weather gloriously hot.' British Library diary: 'Walked before breakfast. Bunsen all day. Making an analysis of the dynasties. The hottest weather we have had.' There is also one striking difference, for only the British Library diary contains references to Florence's inner turmoil and the calls from God. One credible explanation is that the British Library diary was intended for her eyes only, while the Claydon diary was to be seen by family and friends on her return to England. Whatever the reason, the discovery throws new light on this misunderstood woman. Often seen as dull and difficult, there are glimpses of someone wild and witty, as in this entry for 22 March 1850, when she had returned to Cairo from the Nile: 'Our first day in a respectable inn, but we did not know how to sit or do long dinners or behave ourselves, but in memory of our boat, tried to catch fleas and go to bed.'

Country Joe has started an e-mail group for anyone interested in war nursing and/or Florence Nightingale.

London, April 15 (Reuters) - A diary written 150 years ago by the renowned nurse Florence Nightingale has been returned to her family by a mystery benefactor and went on display on Saturday.

The leather-bound diary was returned in a brown paper envelope to a National Trust property following a BBC radio broadcast about the Victorian nurse, who cared for British soldiers during the Crimean War. It is now going on display at Claydon House in Buckinghamshire, the world famous nurse's home.

"It was very strange. The envelope was just addressed to Claydon House and we didn't know who it was meant for," Claydon House custodian Ray Sandham told BBC Radio. The diary details the eight-month journey across Egypt, France, Greece, Italy and Austria that the "Lady of the Lamp" took in 1850.

Recent books about FN include The Friendship of Florence Nightingale and Mary Clare Moore edited by Mary C. Sullivan, Florence Nightingale: Mystic, Visionary, Reformer by Barbara Montgomery Dossey, and Florence Nightingale by Lucile Davis, for younger readers. Find more on the Suggested Reading page.

August 26 is Womens' Equality Day. Send someone an e-mail greeting card.

January 26 is School Nurses' Day. Send a school nurse an e-mail greeting card.

May 6 is Nurses' Day. Send a nurse an e-mail greeting card. Student Nurses' Day is May 8.

There are continually changing exhibits at the Florence Nightingale Museum, London. The Museum also maintains an events page.

The National Army Museum on Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, London, has one of the original lamps from the Barrack Hospital in Turkey that were used by Miss Nightingale and her nurses. The museum also has some of FN's jewelry and medals. They also have information on the Crimea and have a session for Primary School pupils (5-11 yrs old) on Florence Nightingale, Mary Seacole and the Crimea. The Museum opening hours are 10am-5:30 pm, 7 days per week. Admission is free and the nearest tube station is Sloane Square.

The Florence Nightingale Museum in the First Army HQ in Selimye is open daily 9-5. It's best to call ahead if you plan to visit.

1.Nci Ordu K.Ligi
Karargahl
Protokol Sube
Selimiye, Istanbul
Tel. and Fax: 00 90 216 333 10 09

If there is an event you think should be announced on this page, please e-mail us.


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