Florence Nightingale: The Making of an IconThe common soldier’s savior, the standard-bearer of modern nursing, a pioneering social reformer: Florence Nightingale belongs to that select band of historical characters who are instantly recognizable. Home-schooled, bound for the life of an educated Victorian lady, Nightingale scandalized her family when she found her calling as a nurse, a thoroughly unsuitable profession for a woman of her class. As the “Lady with the Lamp,” ministering to the wounded and dying of the Crimean War, she offers an enduring image of sentimental appeal. Few individuals in their own lifetime have reached the level of fame and adulation attained by Nightingale as a result of her efforts. Fewer still have the power of continuing to inspire controversy in the way she does almost a century after her death. In this remarkable book, the first major biography of Florence Nightingale in more than fifty years, Mark Bostridge draws on a wealth of unpublished material, including previously unseen family papers, to throw new light on this extraordinary woman’s life and character. Disentangling elements of myth from the reality, Bostridge has written a vivid and immensely readable account of one of the most iconic figures in modern history. |
Contents
PART ONE Daughter of England 182054 | 1 |
PART TWO Lady with the Lamp 18546 | 13 |
PART THREE Mother of the Army 185671 | 101 |
PART FOUR Queen of Nurses 18711910 | 441 |
PART FIVE Icon | 521 |
547 | |
Notes | 556 |
Acknowledgements | 616 |
619 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Army August Aunt British Charles Bracebridge Church Clare Moore Claydon Clough confirmed Crimea Crimean Crimean War daughter death December Diary difficult disease doctors Elizabeth Herbert Embley England Fanny Allen Fanny Nightingale Fanny’s father February figure final finally find finding first five Florence Nightingale Florence wrote Florence’s FN to FaN FN to PN FN to Sir Goldie Harriet Martineau Harry Verney Hilary Bonham Carter India Infirmary influence January jowett Kaiserswerth Lady later Lea Hurst letter London Lord March Miss Nightingale Mohl months mother never Notes on Nursing November October Office official Parthenope Parthenope’s patients Patty Smith poor probationers Quoted in Cook reform Richard Monckton Milnes sanitary Scutari Selina Bracebridge September Shore sick Sidney Herbert significant Sir Harry Verney sister Smith to FaN soldiers St Thomas’s Sutherland told Vaughan Nash wards Wellcome Wellcorne William Nightingale woman women workhouse writing