The Lady with the Lamp aka Florence Nightingale is such a British icon that, almost 110 years after her death, the mere mention of her name still conjures an instant image: the intense gaze, austere hair topped by a bonnet.
She might have been the first women to stand up to the patriarchal society when she defied expectations to follow a template of female life of the times.
Travel broadens the mind
Travel broadens the mind. It was certainly true for Nightingale. Her writings from abroad reveal her learning, literary skill and personal philosophy.
She first felt a calling to do something selfless in 1837.
In late summer 1853, she took the post of superintendent at the Institute for the Care of Sick Gentlewomen in London – thanks to her father giving her an annual income of £500.
Defined in Crimea
But her iconic status was well and truly defined in Crimea.
Nightingale and 38 women volunteers were sent under the authorisation of her friend and the then Secretary of War, Sidney Herbert, to the Ottoman Empire.
Upon arriving she found an overworked team caring for soldiers, with medicines running short, hygiene almost non-existent – and official indifference.
At her insistence, in March 1855 the government sent out the Sanitary Commission. It flushed the sewers and improved ventilation – moves that saw the death rate fall sharply.
The founder of modern nursing
She is known as the founder of modern nursing and her methods continued to have an impact today. But significantly, she also pioneered the art of presentations and the pie chart can be traced back to her.
It’s hard to imagine a more accomplished woman, what she managed to do, against a background of enormous restrictions on women was incredible and a breaker of barriers.
