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Florence Nightingale was a famous nurse. She is best known for the work she did to care for the wounded soldiers during the Crimean War, but she also made a big contribution to changing the way in which hospitals were run. She was a celebrity in Victorian times and she has continued to be spoken and written about to this day.

We've put together some great Florence Nightingale facts for kids, teachers and parents - we hope you find this information both useful and interesting.

Key Florence Nightingale Facts - (Before the Crimean War)

Florence Nightingale was born in Florence (Italy) on 12th May 1820.

Her mother was called Fanny and her father was called William. Florence also had an older sister called Parthenope. They were a very wealthy family.

Florence grew up mingling with other rich children and spent much of her time visiting friends and attending parties.

On 7th February 1837, when she was 16 years, old Florence was convinced that she had heard the voice of God calling to her. She believed that God wanted her to carry out some special work.

When she was in her twenties Florence began to take an interest in how the sick people in the villages around her home (in Romsey, Hampshire) were taken care of. She started to believe that God wanted her to be a nurse.

Her parents were both shocked and angry when she told them that she wanted to learn more about nursing at a Salisbury hospital. At the time nearly all nurses came from poor families.

Florence and some of her friends visited Kaiserwerth (in what is now Germany). The town was home to a hospital famous for training nurses. One year later, in 1851, Florence Nightingale recieved three months training at the hospital in Kaiserwerth.

Florence returned home as a trained nurse. She put these skills to good use as from 1851 - 1853 she cared for her mother, father and sister who had all become ill.

In 1853, when she was 33, she took a job running a small private hospital in London's Harley Street.

Her father realised that Florence was really serious about helping the sick and injured and promised to pay her £500 a year. This was a massive sum of money in Victorian times.

In 1854 Florence helped to tend people suffering from cholera.

Florence Nightingale and the Crimean War

In 1854 the Crimean War started between the Turks (and the British and French) on one side and the Russians on the other.

William Russell, a journalist for The Times, reported that British troops were dying becasue there weren't enough doctors, nurses and medical supplies.

Sidney Herbert, a friend of Florence's and the member of the government in charge of the military, wrote to her and asked her to organise a group of nurses and head for the Crimea (in Turkey).

On 4th November 1854 Florence Nightingale and 38 other nurses arrived at Scutari, an area of the city of Constantiople. The main British hospital was located there and Florence was not impressed by the conditions. The hospital was dirty, the drains were blocked, rats and fleas were everywhere.

At first the doctors did not want the help of Florence Nightingale and her nurses, but they soon changed their minds when the number of wounded soldiers continued to grow.

Florence made lots of improvements to the hospital in Scutari. She had the drains cleaned, sorted out a supply of drinking water, filled the hospital stores with clean sheets and bandages, set up a nursing timetable and made sure that the soliders were well fed and cared for.

Florence became very popular. The soldiers used to call her the 'Lady with the Lamp' because she used to walk the hospital wards at night to check on her patients.

The Crimean War ended in 1856 and Florence returned to England. She was a national heroine and many Victorians bought ornaments of Florence Nightingale to display in their homes. Florence also received thousands of letters from the public thanking her for the work she had performed during the war.

Queen Victoria invited Florence to meet with her in Balmoral, Scotland. They discussed Florence's experiences and how military hospitals could be improved.

Life After the Lamp - Facts About the Second Half of Florence Nightingale's Life

In 1859 Florence Nightingale wrote a book about caring for the sick called Notes on Nursing.

Florence Nightingale was convinced that all nurses should be properly trained, and in 1860 she set up the Nightingale Training School (for nurses) at St Thomas's Hospital, London. The nurses who completed the training were known as Nightingale Nurses.

Florence carried on writing letters and reports about ways to improve health care. Her work became known in other countries and the Nightingale Nurses often went to work abroad, sharing Florence's methods and ideas.

From 1861 to 1865, Florence gave advice on how best to care for soldiers wounded in the American Civil War.

Florence Nightingale was awarded the Royal Red Cross (from Queen Victoria) and the Order of Merit in 1907 (from King Edward VII). This was the first time the Order of Merit had been awarded to a woman.

Florence Nightingale died in 1910, aged 90. She is buried in a Hampshire churchyard. Her simple tombstone bears only her initials and the years in which she was born and died.

Florence Nightingale wasn't the only women who made a name for herself by caring for the wounded troops of the Crimean War. Check out some facts about Mary Seacole, another Victorian lady who risked her life to tend the suffering soldiers, and read about some of the other famous Victorians.

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Facts About Florence Nightingale - Primary Facts

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Florence Nightingale was a famous nurse. She is best known for the work she did to care for the wounded soldiers during the Crimean War, but she also made a big contribution to changing the way in which hospitals were run. She was a celebrity in Victorian times and she has continued to be spoken ...

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Florence Nightingale was a truly inspirational nurse.

Why is Florence Nightingale Famous?

Florence Nightingale is famous for her nursing work during the Crimean War (1854 - 56). She changed the face of nursing from a mostly untrained profession to a highly skilled and well-respected medical profession with very important responsibilities.

When and where was Florence Nightingale born?

Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy on 12 May 1820. Her father was a wealthy landowner. She was brought up in Derbyshire (where she spent her summers) and Hampshire ( where she spent her winters).

Florence was named after the place of her birth

Education

Rich English girls such as Florence were expected to do - almost nothing.
.At the time when Florence was born, many girls did not receive any type of education. Florence was very lucky because her father, William Nightingale, believed that all women should receive an education. He taught Florence and her sister a variety of subjects ranging from science and mathematics to history and philosophy.

Teenage years

As Florence grew up she developed an interest in helping others. She cared for sick pets and servants whenever she had the chance.

Florence Nightingale felt called by God to become a nurse.
At seventeen years of age, she believed she was called into service by God "to do something toward lifting the load of suffering from the helpless and miserable."

At first her parents refused to allow her to become a nurse because, at that time, it was not thought to be a suitable profession for a well educated woman. But Florence did not give up. Eventually in 1851 her father gave his permission and Florence went to Germany to train as a nurse.

In 1853 was running a hospital in London.

Work Timeline

1849 - traveled to Europe to study the European hospital system.
1850 - traveled to Alexandria, Egypt and began studying nursing at the Institute of Saint Vincent de Paul.
1851 - aged thirty-one, went to Germany to train to become a nurse.
1853 - became superintendent of the Hospital for Gentlewomen in London.
1854 - the Crimean War broke out.

Crimean War

In 1854 Florence Nightingale was asked to go to Turkey to manage the nursing of British soldiers wounded in the Crimean War (1854 - 56). She traveled to Scutari (the location where the wounded and ill soldiers of the Crimean War were taken) to help the wounded soldiers.

She found the hospital conditions to be in a very poor state. Many of the wounded were unwashed and were sleeping in overcrowded, dirty rooms without blankets or decent food. In these conditions diseases such as typhus, cholera and dysentery spread quickly. As a result, the death rate amongst wounded soldiers was very high. Most soldiers died from infections and disease. (Only one in six died from their war wounds; the other five in six died from infections and disease.)

Florence and her nurses changed these conditions. They set up a kitchen, fed the wounded from their own supplies, dug latrines for sanitation, and asked for help from the wives of the wounded. They were then able to properly care for the ill and wounded and the death rate among the soldiers dropped.

Why was Florence Nightingale called 'The lady of the lamp' ?

Florence was very dedicated to her job. She would often visit the soldiers at night when every one was asleep just to make sure they were ok. She was then referred to as "The Lady of the Lamp" because she hardly took time off to sleep. Florence became a true hero to the soldiers and everyone back home in England.
Further information
BBC Florence Nightingale - An online story book about her life

Florence Nightingale (1820 - 1910 )

Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale was the daughter of a well-to-do family in England. During the Crimean War, she was put in charge of nursing. She carried a lamp as she walked the halls of the battlefield hospital and became known as the "lady with the lamp".

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Florence Nightingale was a truly inspirational nurse. Why is Florence Nightingale Famous? Florence Nightingale is famous for her nursing work during the Crimean War (1854 - 56). She changed the face of nursing from a mostly untrained profession to a highly skilled and well-respected medical profession with very important responsibilities.

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Depending on the focus of your lesson, you may wish to ask the following questions after the video, or pause the short film at certain points to check for understanding.

Why it was such a shock to her family what Florence Nightingale wanted to do?

How did Nightingale want to change the way nurses were trained?

Which event gave her the opportunity to be a nurse?

What were conditions like when Nightingale arrived at Scutari, and what changes took place?

How may she have been regarded differently by the nurses, and by the soldiers?

What happened when she returned to England?

Why is Florence Nightingale remembered today?

Does she deserve to be famous?

What lessons can we learn from the life of Florence Nightingale?

History is a subject which can lend itself to a wide range of cross-curricular links. As a teacher, you will have a greater awareness of how this topic may act as stimulus for learning in other subjects. However, the suggestions below relate solely to ways of developing the children's historical knowledge and understanding. As the Historical Association states, pupils should be "encouraged to evaluate the relevance of the contribution of different individuals or how an event came to affect future generations... It is vital that children identify what makes a person or event significant rather than just narrating an individual's life or reconstructing the event. It is also important to make the distinction between fame and significance. The focus is on effect rather than celebrity." Florence Nightingale provides a rich learning opportunity to explore this concept as her name is still used today when discussing nursing. For example, one way in which the country tried to deal with the Covid pandemic was to set up 'Nightingale Hospitals' . There are a wide range of resources available for study. In 2020, the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded a major project on Florence Nightingale, and one strand of this was educational. The project collated 131 online sources which can be used to study Florence Nightingale, and the learning resource guide for the KS2 classroom directs the teacher to the relevant sources for each lesson. The activities suggested are inter-disciplinary, covering Art, Computing, English, Geography, Mathematics, PSHE and Science. One of the history suggestions, 'What was the impact of Florence Nightingale's work?', links directly to the concept of significance. Once the pupils have a good background knowledge of Florence Nightingale from the video and have studied the range of sources, they should be able to make a valid judgement as to her historical significance. It is useful to have some criteria for assessing the significance of an individual. History educators have made many suggestions of what these could be, but the ones applicable for study in a primary classroom would be:

why the achievements of the person are still relevant today.

Remembered: why the name of the person is still known today.

Durability: the effects of the life of the person have lasted well beyond the time they were alive.

how many lives have been affected by this person.

Rather than tackling all of these criteria at the same time, as a teacher you may wish to choose one or two as a focus for discussion.

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Depending on the focus of your lesson, you may wish to ask the following questions after the video, or pause the short film at certain points to check for understanding. Why it was such a shock to her family what Florence Nightingale wanted to do?

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Florence Nightingale: Early Life

Florence Nightingale was born on May 12, 1820, in Florence, Italy to Frances Nightingale and William Shore Nightingale. She was the younger of two children. Nightingale's affluent British family belonged to elite social circles. Her mother, Frances, hailed from a family of merchants and took pride in socializing with people of prominent social standing. Despite her mother's interest in social climbing, Florence herself was reportedly awkward in social situations. She preferred to avoid being the center of attention whenever possible. Strong-willed, Florence often butted heads with her mother, whom she viewed as overly controlling. Still, like many daughters, she was eager to please her mother. "I think I am got something more good-natured and complying," Florence wrote in her own defense, concerning the mother-daughter relationship.

Florence's father was William Shore Nightingale, a wealthy landowner who had inherited two estates-one at Lea Hurst, Derbyshire, and the other in Hampshire, Embley Park-when Florence was five years old. Florence was raised on the family estate at Lea Hurst, where her father provided her with a classical education, including studies in German, French and Italian.

From a very young age, Florence Nightingale was active in philanthropy, ministering to the ill and poor people in the village neighboring her family's estate. By the time she was 16 years old, it was clear to her that nursing was her calling. She believed it to be her divine purpose.

When Nightingale approached her parents and told them about her ambitions to become a nurse, they were not pleased. In fact, her parents forbade her to pursue nursing. During the Victorian Era, a young lady of Nightingale's social stature was expected to marry a man of means-not take up a job that was viewed as lowly menial labor by the upper social classes.

When Nightingale was 17 years old, she refused a marriage proposal from a "suitable" gentleman, Richard Monckton Milnes. Nightingale explained her reason for turning him down, saying that while he stimulated her intellectually and romantically, her "moral...active nature...requires satisfaction, and that would not find it in this life." Determined to pursue her true calling despite her parents' objections, in 1844, Nightingale enrolled as a nursing student at the Lutheran Hospital of Pastor Fliedner in Kaiserwerth, Germany.

Florence Nightingale and Nursing

In the early 1850s, Nightingale returned to London, where she took a nursing job in a Middlesex hospital for ailing governesses. Her performance there so impressed her employer that Nightingale was promoted to the superintendent within just a year of being hired. The position proved challenging as Nightingale grappled with a cholera outbreak and unsanitary conditions conducive to the rapid spread of the disease. Nightingale made it her mission to improve hygiene practices, significantly lowering the death rate at the hospital in the process. The hard work took a toll on her health. She had just barely recovered when the biggest challenge of her nursing career presented itself.

Florence Nightingale and the Crimean War

In October of 1853, the Crimean War broke out. The British Empire was at war against the Russian Empire for control of the Ottoman Empire. Thousands of British soldiers were sent to the Black Sea, where supplies quickly dwindled. By 1854, no fewer than 18,000 soldiers had been admitted into military hospitals.

At the time, there were no female nurses stationed at hospitals in Crimea. The poor reputation of past female nurses had led the war office to avoid hiring more. But, after the Battle of Alma, England was in an uproar about the neglect of their ill and injured soldiers, who not only lacked sufficient medical attention due to hospitals being horribly understaffed but also languished in appallingly unsanitary and inhumane conditions.

In late 1854, Nightingale received a letter from Secretary of War Sidney Herbert, asking her to organize a corps of nurses to tend to the sick and fallen soldiers in the Crimea. Nightingale rose to her calling. She quickly assembled a team of 34 nurses from a variety of religious orders and sailed with them to the Crimea just a few days later.

Although they had been warned of the horrid conditions there, nothing could have prepared Nightingale and her nurses for what they saw when they arrived at Scutari, the British base hospital in Constantinople. The hospital sat on top of a large cesspool, which contaminated the water and the hospital building itself. Patients lay on in their own excrement on stretchers strewn throughout the hallways. Rodents and bugs scurried past them. The most basic supplies, such as bandages and soap, grew increasingly scarce as the number of ill and wounded steadily increased. Even water needed to be rationed. More soldiers were dying from infectious diseases like typhoid and cholera than from injuries incurred in battle.

The no-nonsense Nightingale quickly set to work. She procured hundreds of scrub brushes and asked the least infirm patients to scrub the inside of the hospital from floor to ceiling. Nightingale herself spent every waking minute caring for the soldiers. In the evenings she moved through the dark hallways carrying a lamp while making her rounds, ministering to patient after patient. The soldiers, who were both moved and comforted by her endless supply of compassion, took to calling her "the Lady with the Lamp." Others simply called her "the Angel of Crimea." Her work reduced the hospital's death rate by two-thirds.

In addition to vastly improving the sanitary conditions of the hospital, Nightingale created a number of patient services that contributed to improving the quality of their hospital stay. She instituted the creation of an "invalid's kitchen" where appealing food for patients with special dietary requirements was cooked. She established a laundry so that patients would have clean linens. She also instituted a classroom and a library for patients' intellectual stimulation and entertainment. Based on her observations in Crimea, Nightingale wrote Notes on Matters Affecting the Health, Efficiency and Hospital Administration of the British Army, an 830-page report analyzing her experience and proposing reforms for other military hospitals operating under poor conditions. The book would spark a total restructuring of the War Office's administrative department, including the establishment of a Royal Commission for the Health of the Army in 1857.

Nightingale remained at Scutari for a year and a half. She left in the summer of 1856, once the Crimean conflict was resolved, and returned to her childhood home at Lea Hurst. To her surprise, she was met with a hero's welcome, which the humble nurse did her best to avoid. The Queen rewarded Nightingale's work by presenting her with an engraved brooch that came to be known as the "Nightingale Jewel" and by granting her a prize of $250,000 from the British government.

Florence Nightingale, Statistician

With the support of Queen Victoria, Nightingale helped create a Royal Commission into the health of the army. It employed leading statisticians of the day, William Farr and John Sutherland, to analyze 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 ability to translate this data into a new visual format that really caused a sensation. Her polar area diagram, now known as a "Nightingale Rose Diagram," showed how the Sanitary Commission's work decreased the death rate and made the complicated data accessible to all, inspiring new standards for sanitation in the army and beyond. She became the first female member of the Royal Statistical Society and was named an honorary member of the American Statistical Association.

Florence Nightingale's Impact on Nursing

Nightingale decided to use the money to further her cause. In 1860, she funded the establishment of St. Thomas' Hospital, and within it, the Nightingale Training School for Nurses. Nightingale became a figure of public admiration. Poems, songs and plays were written and dedicated in the heroine's honor. Young women aspired to be like her. Eager to follow her example, even women from the wealthy upper classes started enrolling at the training school. Thanks to Nightingale, nursing was no longer frowned upon by the upper classes; it had, in fact, come to be viewed as an honorable vocation.

While at Scutari, Nightingale had contracted "Crimean fever" and would never fully recover. By the time she was 38 years old, she was homebound and bedridden and would be so for the remainder of her life. Fiercely determined and dedicated as ever to improving health care and alleviating patients' suffering, Nightingale continued her work from her bed.

Residing in Mayfair, she remained an authority and advocate of health care reform, interviewing politicians and welcoming distinguished visitors from her bed. In 1859, she published Notes on Hospitals, which focused on how to properly run civilian hospitals.

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

In 1908, at the age of 88, she was conferred the merit of honor by King Edward. In May of 1910, she received a congratulatory message from King George on her 90th birthday.

Florence Nightingale: Death and Legacy

In August 1910, Florence Nightingale fell ill but seemed to recover and was reportedly in good spirits. A week later, on the evening of Friday, August 12, 1910, she developed an array of troubling symptoms. She died unexpectedly at 2 p.m. the following day, Saturday, August 13, 1910, at her home in London.

Characteristically, she had expressed the desire that her funeral be a quiet and modest affair, despite the public's desire to honor Nightingale-who tirelessly devoted her life to preventing disease and ensuring safe and compassionate treatment for the poor and the suffering. Respecting her last wishes, her relatives turned down a national funeral. The "Lady with the Lamp" was laid to rest in Hampshire, England.

The Florence Nightingale Museum, which sits at the site of the original Nightingale Training School for Nurses, houses more than 2,000 artifacts commemorating the life and career of the "Angel of the Crimea." To this day, Florence Nightingale is broadly acknowledged and revered as the pioneer of modern nursing.

Sources

Florence Nightingale: Saving Lives With Statistics. BBC.
Florence Nightingale. The National Archives, UK.

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Florence Nightingale - Biography, Facts & Nursing

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Florence Nightingale (1829-1910) was an English social reformer who is considered the founder of modern nursing.