Florence Nightingale

Named after the city where she was born on May 12,1820. Florence unlike most Victorians grew up wealthy and knew everyone there was to know of importance. Her father inherited three estate, one where she was raised and provided with a classical education, including learning several different languages.Because she had been given the education she was expected to go into the world and pursue a certain status in life, however Florence was not happy with that idea. She in fact was disappointed at the fact that women were tied to the stereotype of being stuck in the house and not going outside of their bow. For many of years she suffered from depression wanting to commit suicide and considered herself a monster because she wanted things that other girls did not want. She believed that she heard God’s voice for a service.

Not only was she interested in men but She was very attracted to her cousin, Mary Ann. Now back then in the Victorian period there was a limit to what you were allowed to do and homosexuality was against the law.Richard Monckton Milnes, who was questionably bisexual,proposed to Florence three times, and after the third time that she realized that she could not marry him. She wrote about her life throughout her life and after her 7 year courtship she questioned wanting to be alive in a letter asking if she had made the right decision or not.

Florence announced that she was wanting to pursue nursing. “How dare she make us so unhappy? How could you want to be around all of those sick people? Those who are not in our social class?” Was the reaction from her family. Now remember times have dramatically changed in some areas but with woman of her background her family did not seem to understand why she would leave a wonderful life to surround herself around sick people who were in a different social class than them.

Sidney Herbert asked Florence to put together a group of nurses for the military hospital. With little to no training Florence knew that that was her moment to seize. She played the role of a spy in the hospital by writing to Herbert every night. Many staff members did not care for Florence or the nurses because they believed that a female nurse would more than likely end up in bed with a soldier.

Publicity of her grew quickly and children started being brought up to do things for the soldiers. Between November 1854 to March 1855 4,777 soldiers died her first winter at the hospital all from illness than from battle wounds. A sanitary commission was sent to clean out shortly after.

It was difficult for Florence after coming back from the Crimean unannounced. Her parents were excited about her popularity but she was unbothered and unhappy about the war. She was upset about the number of soldiers that died because of negligence. She prepared a report to expose the hospitals sanitation. Three months after presenting her report to the commission Florence Nightgale had a nervous breakdown and for the next eleven years she did not leave her home and if one was to visit they had to send a note and she would send a note back and like some of us now, if she did not want to see someone she would state that she was ill.