Florence Nightingale defied her wealthy family to become a nurse. In 1854 she led a team of nurses to the British army hospital at Scutari during the Crimean War, where far more soldiers were dying from disease than from wounds. She cleaned up the wards, organised supplies and checked on the men at night, becoming "the Lady with the Lamp". Back home she used statistics and her own diagrams to force through hospital reform, and in 1860 founded a nursing school at St Thomas' Hospital.
Florence Nightingale
The Lady with the Lamp
EXTRA-ORDINARY TRAIT
EMPATHY
JFDI PILLAR
J — JUDGMENT
COUNTRY & REGION
England (UK & Ireland)
LIFESPAN
1820 – 1910
GENDER
Woman
EDITION
No.023
✦ DEFINING MOMENT
Walking the wards at Scutari at night with her lamp, 1854.
✦ ARCHIVAL DOSSIER
The Story
✦ VERIFIED QUOTE
“I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse.”
✦ DID YOU KNOW?
In 1858 she became the first woman elected to the Royal Statistical Society.
✦ YOUR TURN
Who needs you to check on them tonight?