Home » Working Women » Women from History » Florence Nightingale Named after the city of her birth, Florence Nightingale was the daughter of William Edward Nightingale, a wealthy landowner and his wife Frances Smith, daughter of an abolitionist. From the very early age, Nightingale resented the enforced idleness of the upper class English women. She believed that she had a call from God to undertake a life of heroic service.

Despite her family's objection, she undertook the task of visiting hospitals. She came to recognise the need for professional nursing. She subsequently visited hospitals in London, Edinburgh, Dublin and Paris. In 1853, she was appointed to the unpaid post of Superintendent of the hospital for Invalid Gentle Women in London.

During the Crimean war, Florence Nightingale undertook the overall supervision of nursing. Her achievements in Crimea between 1854 and 1856 won her national recognition and royal admiration.

She gave her sanction to the founding of a school for nurses at St. Thomas Hospital in London. She was also instrumental in improving the nursing service in civilian hospitals and in remedying hospital provisions in India following the mutiny of 1857.

Much of Florence Nightingale's life after Crimea was spent as a semi- invalid, confined to her bedroom, where she wrote her reports and books. She was the first woman to have the Freedom of the City of London conferred on her in 1908.

Some of Florence Nightingale's best known works include notes on " Note on Nursing, what it is and what it is not " (1860), Notes on Hospitals (1859) and Suggestions for Thought (1860).

[ 1820 - 1910 ]