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Florence
Nightingale (18201910)
Letter to Mrs Jackson, from the Barracks
Hospital, Scutari, Turkey,
November 25 1855
Courtesy of the Auchincloss Florence Nightingale
Collection, Columbia University Health Sciences
Library
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Florence
Nightingale
18201910
During
the Crimean War of 18541856, reports of
the horrific hospital conditions facing the British
Army caused a public outcry in England. In response,
the Secretary-at-War asked Florence Nightingale
to lead a team of nurses to Scutari, in Turkey.
Upon her arrival, and faced with a high rate of
preventable deaths, Nightingale worked tirelessly
to treat wounded soldiers, instil nursing discipline
and improve hospital conditions. In this letter
written from the Barrack Hospital, she tells a
grieving mother about her son's last days.
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A.A.
Turner
Portrait of Florence Nightingale
1867
Courtesy of the Auchincloss Florence
Nightingale Collection, Columbia University
Health Sciences Library
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Nightingale
stayed at the Front until the last British soldier
left, her efforts making her a national heroine
in England. Upon her return from Turkey, Nightingale
immediately threw herself into the work of writing
reports about the war, nursing, sanitation and
hospital reform. But within two years she took
ill, and was an invalid for the remaining 53 years
of her life. She saw visitors one at a time by
appointment, and communicated mainly through letters,
of which nearly 14,000 survive.
Cartes-de-visite
were small, mass-produced cards which featured
photographic portraits of notable people. They
were very popular in the mid-nineteenth century
and were frequently kept as souvenirs. The publication
of cartes-de-visite featuring Nightingale's
portrait attests to her fame. The version on display,
though produced in New York and signed by Nightingale
in 1867, was most likely taken in London soon
after her return from the Crimea.
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