Florence Nightingale
My name is Florence Nightingale and I was born in Florence, Italy on May 12, 1820. My father is William Nightingale of Embly Park, New
Hampshire. He’s a Unitarian and a Whig that is involved in the anti-slavery movement. My mother is Fanny Nightingale who also came from a Unitarian
family. I have one sister, that I love very much, whose name is Parthenope. At the time when I was born, many girls did not receive any type of education.
My sister and I were lucky to have a father that believed all girls should get an education. My sister and I were tutored by our father in various subjects
ranging from science, mathematics, languages, and history. As I grew up into a teenager I developed an interest in helping others. I cared for servants and
pets that were sick when I got the chance to.
When I was seventeen years old, I believed that I was called into service by God to do something toward lifting the load of suffering from the
helpless and miserable. When I first introduced the idea to my parents of becoming a nurse, they refused to allow it. They said that it was not a suitable
profession for a well educated woman. I did not give up and eventually in 1851 my father gave me his permission and I went to Kaiserwerth, Germany to
train for three months on becoming a nurse. In 1853, this training enabled me to become the superintendent of a hospital in Harley Street for
gentlewomen.
The year after the Crimean War broke out and reports were coming in the newspapers that there was a desperate lack of proper medical facilities
for wounded British soldiers at the front. The war minister, Sidney Herbert, knew me and asked if I would oversea a team of nurses in the military
hospitals of Turkey. In November of 1854 when I arrived in Scutari, Turkey, I 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
Hampshire. He’s a Unitarian and a Whig that is involved in the anti-slavery movement. My mother is Fanny Nightingale who also came from a Unitarian
family. I have one sister, that I love very much, whose name is Parthenope. At the time when I was born, many girls did not receive any type of education.
My sister and I were lucky to have a father that believed all girls should get an education. My sister and I were tutored by our father in various subjects
ranging from science, mathematics, languages, and history. As I grew up into a teenager I developed an interest in helping others. I cared for servants and
pets that were sick when I got the chance to.
When I was seventeen years old, I believed that I was called into service by God to do something toward lifting the load of suffering from the
helpless and miserable. When I first introduced the idea to my parents of becoming a nurse, they refused to allow it. They said that it was not a suitable
profession for a well educated woman. I did not give up and eventually in 1851 my father gave me his permission and I went to Kaiserwerth, Germany to
train for three months on becoming a nurse. In 1853, this training enabled me to become the superintendent of a hospital in Harley Street for
gentlewomen.
The year after the Crimean War broke out and reports were coming in the newspapers that there was a desperate lack of proper medical facilities
for wounded British soldiers at the front. The war minister, Sidney Herbert, knew me and asked if I would oversea a team of nurses in the military
hospitals of Turkey. In November of 1854 when I arrived in Scutari, Turkey, I 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