In 1853, she’d been given charge of what we would think of as a private clinic. She had pursued her calling against all odds. She even took it to Germany, leaving Athena with her sister Parthe while Florence studied nursing there. Still, God had been insistent in his call, once telling her during a trip to Egypt to “do good for him alone without the reputation.” Perhaps for want of people to nurse, she’d rescued other animals, including an owl she named Athena and kept in her pocket. Perhaps Florence could help.īy then, in that era, she would have been considered an old maid, 34 years of age and unmarried. The British were fighting the Russian Army on the Crimean peninsula, and a shocking number of soldiers were dying in barrack hospitals. He was Secretary at War in 1854, when England was caught in the Crimean War. Among her dearest friends was Sidney Herbert, a bright, passionate politician. Over the years, however, socializing in Victorian society paid off. Her heart was already claimed by God’s call to service. Men did come, flirting, pursuing and even boldly asking, “Will you marry me?” No, she said. By all accounts-and early photos-Florence was beautiful, charming and quick. It became easier to avoid disappointing her mother and instead just say no to all of the suitors who came calling instead. An opportunity for service would open, she would be eager to follow it-after all, wasn’t it God’s will?-only to face fierce opposition from her mother, provoking dreadful scenes. If this were indeed God’s calling, wasn’t she also called to obey her father and mother? She found herself caught in one of those guilt-inducing struggles that give a bad name to the Victorian era, torturing herself miserably at times.
She knew she was called to serve.įlorence was conflicted. The key word that she heard that day from God was service. The day that changed the course of her life has been marked in history. On February 7, 1837, before she was to be presented to society as a debutante, Florence heard God speak to her. She might very well have done so-if not for God’s intervention. It was considered unseemly for a woman of her stature to work-let alone in such a disreputable profession as nursing.Īccording to the mores of Victorian England, Florence would forgo a career, marry a suitable husband, settle in a country house somewhere and produce a large batch of children. Yet the circumstances into which she was born made it highly unlikely. What else would she have done? There’s account after account of her dashing off to care for some ailing relative or injured creature. It’s easy to read stories like these about her life and think, Of course, she’s going to become a nurse. Was it a penchant for cleanliness or a mystical prescience? However you look at it, Florence Nightingale was ahead of her time. Had Florence not offered to heal the dog’s injury with a warm compress and a bandage, the dog’s owner, a shepherd, would have had no choice but to put down the poor animal-it would’ve been a drain on his meager income.Įven back then, she boiled the water before using it to soak the bandage, ridding it of germs-decades before anyone knew what germs were or how they spread. Florence sprang into action once again when a sheepdog named Cap was attacked by ruffians and injured so badly it couldn’t put weight on its leg. When a nest of newborn mice was discovered in a mattress, 12-year-old Florence came to the rescue, feeding them with drops of milk and keeping them warm by the fire. She read voraciously, learned several foreign languages and had a good head for numbers, noting as early as age seven what dose of a certain popular medicine people should take: “16 grains for an old woman, 11 for a young woman and 7 for a child.”įlorence was an empathetic caretaker from a young age, nursing the ill back to health, beginning with four-legged creatures.
#WHO WAS FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE FREE#
They were free to read, to ride, to entertain and to travel.įrom the start, Florence’s native intelligence shone. Her revolutionary practices saved countless lives and paved the way for other women to pursue medicine.Īnd it might not have happened had Florence not heeded God’s call.įlorence came from a well-off English family, with a learned dilettante of a father and a socially ambitious mother. But Florence Nightingale (1820–1910), also known as the mother of modern nursing, was definitely one of them. How many historic figures made positive impacts because they answered God’s call? Perhaps a call they’d heard during a mysterious experience such as having a vision or dream or hearing a voice?
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