Florence Nightingale was born in 1820 and named after the city where she was born - Florence in Italy. Florence was born to a well-to-do family and she was brought up on the family estate, Lea Hurst, Derbyshire.
Normally, a young lady like Florence would become a part of high society, with dances, parties and so on. But Florence did not care for these. Instead, from a very early age she took a delight in helping to nurse those who were ill.
Florence was a very religious person. While on a tour of Egypt, she wrote in her diary: "God called me in the morning and asked me would I do good for Him alone without reputation."
So she went off to a famous hospital in Germany which, at the time, was at the forefront of nursing and which had, in part, been funded by British Quaker Elizabeth Fry. Later, when she went to set up hospitals in the Crimea during the Crimean War, she took Fry nurses with her.
The Crimean War began in 1854. It was a terrible time for all concerned. Reports came back from the front saying of the poor facilities for the wounded with staff not paying any attention to decency (privacy) or cleanliness. Water was polluted, so even when the wounded did come back from the front they were likely to die of disease.
These reports shocked Florence, who became determined to do something about it. However, at this time people did not believe that women were capable of working near the front, so she had to use her influence in high society, and she spoke to the Secretary of War. He wanted nurses, but didn't want Florence to go. And even when he backed down he insisted the hospital should be well out of harm's way, at a place called Scutari. It was not Florence's choice to be so far from the front - it was all she was offered.
But Florence could see that the building she was given was unsuitable, and it had no equipment, so she used her influence again to get a prefabricated building shipped in, together with medical equipment. As a result she was able to cut the death rate by 90%.
Florence got her title of The lady with the lamp, from a newspaper report published in the papers in Britain. The poet Longfellow made it unforgettable:
Lo! in that house of misery
A lady with a lamp I see
Pass through the
glimmering gloom
And flit from room to room.
