As I noted in an earlier post, William and Frances Nightingale, both from committed Unitarian families, married in 1818 and went on a long European tour. Their daughters Frances Parthenope and Florence were born in 1819 and 1820 respectively, while the parents were still travelling around on the Continent. Eventually the completed family returned to England in 1821 and settled down in William's inherited properties in Derbyshire. Here was an active lead smelter which William owned and managed. This was a very wealthy family!
Unitarians believed that social evils were humanly-created, not God-inflicted, and therefore could be remedied by human efforts. In early C19th, Unitarians were closely identified with the campaign for social and political reform i.e universal suffrage and parliamentary reform. The scholarly William educated his two daughters himself, teaching them Italian, Latin, Greek, history and especially maths.
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Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) became increasingly frustrated at the kind of life wealthy young women had to lead. God was calling her to His service, but God had not made it clear how she was to serve Him. In fact there were few chances for upper class girls to do much of anything, godly or otherwise. Florence wanted to be useful, but had no idea what a Protestant woman might do. Nursing was regarded a menial employment not requiring any qualifications, suitable only for prostitutes and female alcoholics.
Fortunately in 1846 she met Earl Shaftesbury, famous politician and reformer, who told Florence about government reports called Blue Books. She became a self-taught authority on hospitals and sanitation, although she had no experience. And another stroke of good luck occurred when she met and befriended Sidney Herbert, Secretary of War.
So she certainly had great contacts, but I was in some doubt about her practical nursing experience. While on a Nile trip in 1850, Florence dabbled in nursing training in Alexandria. She did not learn much nursing, but she DID learn the value of women’s discipline and organisation.
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Despite her mother and sister’s hysterical opposition, Florence went into residence in her first proper job from August 1853 until August 1854. She was the superintendent of a rundown Establishment for Invalid Gentlewomen, 1 Upper Harley St London. The new superintendent could not accept the conditions in the home and immediately set out to design a facility with many innovations. The board of governors did as she bid! Florence found she could utterly dominate people, regardless of whether their opinions were valuable or not. Plus she had clever insight into service needs, enabling her to become a successful reformer, if not a bedside nurse.
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Claydon House in Buckinghamshire, is important to us for two reasons. Firstly 2nd Baronet Sir Harry Verney married Parthenope Nightingale, Florence's sister, in June 1858. Since Florence Nightingale remained unmarried all her life, Lady Verney allowed her sister to move in whenever she wanted, spending many happy years at Claydon House. Verney was also happy with the arrangement - so great was her brother-in-law's regard for Florence, and so devoted was he to her causes, that he was known in Parliament as her major political supporter.
Secondly Claydon has always boasted a huge archive of family papers, dating back to the medieval centuries. In 1970, a later Harry Verney found all of Florence’s handwritten reports to the Governors of her Nursing Home in Upper Harley St London. The four detailed quarterly reports, dated 1853 and 1854, were a goldmine of information.
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There were two constant challenges for Superintendent Nightingale. One was to keep expenditure on patients down to an irreducible minimum. Each egg and potato was costed, as was every old sheet repaired. When the old carpets could no longer sustain human life, she asked the governors to bring bits of used carpet in from their own homes. Florence proudly reported that no needlewoman or night-nurse had been in the house, reducing the staff to three day nurses and a cook.
The second task was to define who would best be served by the Nursing Home. She wrote "A hospital is good for the seriously ill alone. Otherwise it becomes a lodging house where the nervous become more nervous, the foolish more foolish, the idle and selfish more so. The two essential elements are: a want of occupation and directing the attention to bodily health. The family tie is so strong as to induce the best families to keep their sick mothers at home. If nothing occupies a woman more than her dinner and her mucous membrane, these will become her sole object – to breakfast in bed and be pitied her sole solace. Unmitigated harm is done in such cases. What is to be done to save such patients from being spoiled?"
In August 1854, Florence wrote her 12 monthly report for the governors of the Establishment for Invalid Gentlewomen. Then she suddenly resigned.
Look at the timing - a distant war seemed to offer just the challenge that Florence was craving. Turkey declared war on Russia and in September 1854, the Crimean War was launched. Was the holiday job in Alexandria and the 3 month’s work experience in Kaiserswerth Institution of Protestant Deaconesses enough training for a nurse going out to the Crimea? We will never know, but we do know a great deal about the 12 months that she spent as superintendent of the London Establishment for Invalid Gentlewomen.
Florence wrote many letters, reports, recommendations and essays after Crimea, but I could not find much from the pre-Crimea years. So I warmly recommend the booklet Florence Nightingale at Harley Street: her reports to the Governors of her Nursing Home 1853-4, published by JM Dent and Sons in London, 1970.
Unitarians believed that social evils were humanly-created, not God-inflicted, and therefore could be remedied by human efforts. In early C19th, Unitarians were closely identified with the campaign for social and political reform i.e universal suffrage and parliamentary reform. The scholarly William educated his two daughters himself, teaching them Italian, Latin, Greek, history and especially maths.
young Florence
sketched by her sister Parthenope
Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) became increasingly frustrated at the kind of life wealthy young women had to lead. God was calling her to His service, but God had not made it clear how she was to serve Him. In fact there were few chances for upper class girls to do much of anything, godly or otherwise. Florence wanted to be useful, but had no idea what a Protestant woman might do. Nursing was regarded a menial employment not requiring any qualifications, suitable only for prostitutes and female alcoholics.
Fortunately in 1846 she met Earl Shaftesbury, famous politician and reformer, who told Florence about government reports called Blue Books. She became a self-taught authority on hospitals and sanitation, although she had no experience. And another stroke of good luck occurred when she met and befriended Sidney Herbert, Secretary of War.
So she certainly had great contacts, but I was in some doubt about her practical nursing experience. While on a Nile trip in 1850, Florence dabbled in nursing training in Alexandria. She did not learn much nursing, but she DID learn the value of women’s discipline and organisation.
In August-October 1851 Florence gained some experience as a trainee nurse in the Kaiserswerth Institute of Lutheran Deaconesses in Dusseldorf, where she was a probationer. During her stay at spartan Kaiserwerth, already in her 30s, Florence had to fend for herself without any staff to help her out. Her training at Kaiserwerth may have been brief, but: a] she discovered that Protestant women COULD serve and b] it was the only contact with hands-on nursing she had ever had. And she passed an exam.
Finally a more confidence Florence Nightingale then spent some years having a look at hospitals in London, Edinburgh, Dublin and Paris.
Finally a more confidence Florence Nightingale then spent some years having a look at hospitals in London, Edinburgh, Dublin and Paris.
Establishment for Invalid Gentlewomen, 1 Upper Harley St London.
Florence was superintendent from 1853-1854
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Claydon House in Buckinghamshire, is important to us for two reasons. Firstly 2nd Baronet Sir Harry Verney married Parthenope Nightingale, Florence's sister, in June 1858. Since Florence Nightingale remained unmarried all her life, Lady Verney allowed her sister to move in whenever she wanted, spending many happy years at Claydon House. Verney was also happy with the arrangement - so great was her brother-in-law's regard for Florence, and so devoted was he to her causes, that he was known in Parliament as her major political supporter.
Secondly Claydon has always boasted a huge archive of family papers, dating back to the medieval centuries. In 1970, a later Harry Verney found all of Florence’s handwritten reports to the Governors of her Nursing Home in Upper Harley St London. The four detailed quarterly reports, dated 1853 and 1854, were a goldmine of information.
Kaiserswerth Institute of Lutheran Deaconesses in Dusseldorf
Opened by Lutheran pastor Theodor Fliedner in 1836.
Florence worked there for 3 months in 1851
The second task was to define who would best be served by the Nursing Home. She wrote "A hospital is good for the seriously ill alone. Otherwise it becomes a lodging house where the nervous become more nervous, the foolish more foolish, the idle and selfish more so. The two essential elements are: a want of occupation and directing the attention to bodily health. The family tie is so strong as to induce the best families to keep their sick mothers at home. If nothing occupies a woman more than her dinner and her mucous membrane, these will become her sole object – to breakfast in bed and be pitied her sole solace. Unmitigated harm is done in such cases. What is to be done to save such patients from being spoiled?"
In August 1854, Florence wrote her 12 monthly report for the governors of the Establishment for Invalid Gentlewomen. Then she suddenly resigned.
Look at the timing - a distant war seemed to offer just the challenge that Florence was craving. Turkey declared war on Russia and in September 1854, the Crimean War was launched. Was the holiday job in Alexandria and the 3 month’s work experience in Kaiserswerth Institution of Protestant Deaconesses enough training for a nurse going out to the Crimea? We will never know, but we do know a great deal about the 12 months that she spent as superintendent of the London Establishment for Invalid Gentlewomen.
Florence wrote many letters, reports, recommendations and essays after Crimea, but I could not find much from the pre-Crimea years. So I warmly recommend the booklet Florence Nightingale at Harley Street: her reports to the Governors of her Nursing Home 1853-4, published by JM Dent and Sons in London, 1970.