Florence Nightingale

Florence was born in Italy on May 12th She was named Florence after the town in which she was born.

The Young Florence When Florence was a child she did not go to school. Her father taught her at home. She learnt lots of things, but her favourite was maths.

Florence went to Kaiserwerth Florence always wanted to be a nurse. Her parents did not want her to be a nurse, as they thought that it was not a job for a woman. She went to Germany to train, unknown to her parents! It was hard work, she had to get up before 5 o’clock in the morning and she didn’t finish until 7 o’clock at night!

Florence went to Scutari In March 1854, Britain, France and Turkey declared war on Russia. Florence took 30 nurses to Scutari, which is near Turkey, to help in the hospitals there. The soldiers were fighting in the Crimean War. They were getting injured.

Florence worked in the hospital The hospitals were dirty. Florence and the nurses managed to clean them up. She was called the Lady with the Lamp because she went round the wards at night to see that the soldiers were all right.

Florence Nightingale Florence got a reputation for being an extremely caring nurse. The conditions in the hospitals were awful, but her caring nature really helped soldiers from both sides of the war.

Florence met Queen Victoria Everybody in England heard what she was doing. When she went home she met Queen Victoria. She must have felt very proud. She was also given £50,000 to open a new nursing school to teach new nurses her ways.

Florence’s last days Florence was ill for a long time. She hardly ever got out of bed. She wrote lots of letters to important people. She saw that nurses were trained properly.

Florence Nightingale Florence died at the age of 90, on 13th August Florence Nightingale was a heroine. She did more than any other one person to improve the care people received in hospital.