Florence Nightingale
(1820-1910)
People who have served the world

Florence Nightingale, the beautiful, kind, gentle, soft-hearted, graceful and extremely intelligent administrative genius, legend of her time, was born in a wealthy family of Europe in Florence, Italy on May 12, 1820. On February 7, 1837 at the age of seventeen, she had written in her private note- “God spoke to me and called me to His service.” She was sure that there was some special purpose for her life.

Florence Nightingale lived at a time when there was a great chasm between the rich and the poor. Florence did not shut her eyes to all this misery. During the summer at one of the Nightingale’s country homes, she had visited the poor with soup and money. Now she looked at the dinner tables of the well-to-do which were weighed down with food. She looked at wealthy woman frittering away their lives. They were wearing dresses that had been sewn by starving girls who stitched away all day and then by candlelight throughout the night.

Florence was one of the first women to break this vice-like mould. She said no to marriage and suffered greatly from the break with her family and with society. She paid a high personal price in order to have her own career. She was always fascinated with the job of helping others and working harder and harder to upthrust the needy.

When she mentioned her ideas to her family, they were shocked and outraged. She starting writing, writing and writing, begging friends for reports on Germany and French hospitals to obtain every scrap of information she could gather. No one suspected her hidden life of study. She joined an institution for Deaconesses at Kaiserswerth in Germany for a year, but due to a nervous breakdown her friend whisked her to Rome. At the age of 30, all she wanted was her parents’ permission to return to Kaiserswerth.

She realized she had to take decisive action if she was to accomplish her own mission. Her first step was accepting the fact that her family would never go along with her ambition. At the age of 31, she was finally doing what she really wanted to do. At the age of 33, in August 1853, Florence Nightingale entered into her true career as a superintendent of the Institution for the care of sick women at 1, Harley Street, London. In a very short time Florence was established as a specialist in her field. She was becoming more and more recognized as a leading authority. Her experience, intelligence, courage and determination were to be used to their fullest extent in the next few years.

Florence Nightingale has gone down in history as “The Lady with The Lamp”. The lady who walked among the wounded in the Crimean war of 1854. The wounded loved to see her because she so obviously cared for what was happing to them and fought for better condition for them. She was a tough, resourceful woman. Her calmness and her power to take action raised her to the position of a goddess. The injured felt a Comfort to see her even pass, she would speak to one and nod and smile to as many more; the wounded kissed her shadow on the walls as she passed. She had attained a wonderful calm. No irritation of temper, no hurry or confusion of manner ever appeared for a moment. Food, rest, temperature never interfered with her work. She worked tirelessly during the Crimean war time.

By the spring of 1855, Florence was exhausted. During war time she was on her knees for eight hours at a stretch dressing wounds. For two weeks she lay at the very edge of death, but even when she was delirious, she wrote and wrote and wrote … lists, orders, recommendations. Queen Victoria had a deep admiration for Florence’s achievement in the Crimean War. She presented her with a brooch inscribed with “Blessed are the Merciful”.

For the remaining fifty years of her life, Florence was handicapped and unable to walk. She refused to see visitors unless they were connected with her work. She knew that it was the only way she could have time and strength to continue working on her task. Although she seldom saw them personally, she received a constant flow of papers from various government officials. If a minister needed expert advice, he contacted Miss Nightingale. By now, she was an expert not only on questions of health and hospital, but on government legislation and department as well. She drew up warrants and regulations, drafted minutes, wrote memoranda and letters, and ofcourse composed instructions.

She continued to keep a close eye on the management of her household. There were always fresh flowers in every vase and the crispest linen on Miss Nightingale’s bed.

After her stormy life, Florence Nightingale’s old age was happy and peaceful. She was surrounded by people she loved and who loved her. Her rewards had come late but they had come at last.

On August 13, 1910, at the age of 90, she fell asleep and didn’t wake up again.

One of the secrets of her success was her perfectionist attitude. When the Lady with the Lamp took up a cause she was a force to be reckoned with. She was a strong-willed diplomat and she meant to get her own way. She had steely determination that helped her in her years of campaign. She was so excessively gentle in voice, manner and movement that one never felt the unbendableness of her character when one was near her. Her powers were astonishing. She combined in her personality the best of two qualities-firmness and kindness. She was always loved, almost worshiped.

Inspired by this great lady we have come to light the LAMP OF EDUCATION with knowledge, wisdom, love and peace in your children. We want to convey one simple thing to our children that different people or great people don’t do different things, instead they do thinks differently. There are thousands of nurses, then why only Florence; there were thousands of freedom fighters, then why only Mahatma Gandhi. Many presidents have come and gone, then why only Abraham Lincoln. It will take some time, but once this fact is engraved in the little minds, each child will strive to be a true and unique human being full of the sense of self-esteem and purpose of life.

I urge you all to give us your time, faith, trust and support. Our goal is to bring children out of the darkness of illiteracy and ignorance into the light of knowledge and wisdom.