"I craved for something worth doing instead of frittering time away on useless trifles." Florence Nightingale
It is often said that the most horrible experiences produce the most extraordinary changes in human condition.
The Florence Nightingale Museum at the heart of London attest to a remarkable story of a woman and people who tirelessly work to change the human condition.
Florence Nightingale's struggle as a young woman
Being a woman from a wealthy upper-middle-class background during the early 20th Century, Florence had to fight for her rights to become something more than just a suitable wife and mother. In fact, she never married, instead she felt that she had been called by God to become a nurse.
She often wrote about her frustration of the expectations of the society for a woman of her status. However, she had devoted friends who supported her aspirations, even if her family did not do so right from the beginning.
After much struggle, she got her initial training as a nurse in Germany. Her upper-class status put her into a position of influence and her eager interest in statistics backed up her claims for a total health reform in the British Army. She was most hailed for her work at establishing the English female nurses to Constantinople (Istanbul) during the Crimean War.
Crimean War (1854-56)
Initially the Crimean War experience in Turkey proved to be a medical disaster for the British Empire. More solders died from the wounds than from the battles.
Due to the new technology, it was the first time in history the public was able to follow a war through the daily reports in the major papers. The public opinion influenced the politicians to act as the horrors of the war were laid out in article after article.
Florence was asked to lead a group of female nurses (38) to the war hospital in Scutari. In there she displayed a great skill in diplomacy, in organisation and in managing the hospital resources.
She battled dare conditions, appealed to the public who answered through donating funds through the Times. The reluctant army officers were forced to act. Her image as 'the Lady with the Lamp' was established and served to draw attention to her and her appeals for reforms.
Through her principal work and publications, Florence was able to petition for nursing to become an established part of the hospital health system.
The Museum at the St Thomas Hospital in London
The Florence Nightingale Museum is a great little museum to visit. A compassionate world traveler is introduced to her life as a young woman and her struggles to became a nurse.
The visitor gets a comprehensive understanding of her work at the Crimean War Hospital and her life after the war. It was filled with research and writing. She published some 200 publications before she died at the age of 90 in 1910.
My thoughts on the visit
I have been interested in the Crimean War and it's relationship to philanthropy for a while. Many new charitable reforms were initiated after the experience of this war.
Being from the Finnish background I am aware of the Baltic battles as well and the effect they had on the Finnish economy then and during the famine not long after the war. I am also acquainted with the history of the Russian and Finnish nursing as well as the history of the founding of the Red Cross. The effects of industrialisation could be traced everywhere and it in it's turn brought a new kind of focus on charity and reveled the compassionate side of the humanity. To me the Florence Nightingale Museum proved to be a wonderful experience.
The aim of the museum is to demonstrate the way Florence Nightingale's ideas and influence relate to today and the set up of the museum succeeds in showing the relevance of her work for today's health care.
All around the museum walls the visitors can follow the development of nursing from it's beginnings to the highly respected profession it is today. This is her 'legacy'.
Other interesting things you get to be introduced to are:
- Florence Nightingale's temperamental pet owl Athena
- Alexis Soyer and his famous 'Soyer Field Stove'. The British Army used it for 120 years after the Crimean War
- Mary Seacole, a herbalist and a hotel keeper who set up a general store, canteen and an unofficial surgery on the way to the front line.
The Museum is also focused on giving children a good learning experience.Very enjoyable.
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