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This is Florence Nightingale.

Florence Nightingale holding a lamp.
  • Florence was born in 1820 in a big city in Italy. It's called Florence and that's how she got her name.

  • She went to the Crimean War to nurse wounded soldiers.

  • She became known as 鈥楾he Lady with the Lamp鈥.

  • Florence Nightingale is remembered for showing people that nursing was a very important job.

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Watch: Florence Nightingale

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Medicine in the 1800s

Medical equipment with flies on them.
  • There was no medicine to stop infections killing people.

  • Not many people understood about how important it was to keep medical equipment and hospital beds clean to stop disease spreading.

Medical equipment with flies on them.
Florence Nightingale pouring fresh water into a bowl.
  • Florence Nightingale changed the way injured and sick people were treated.

  • In London, she started the first nursing training school in the world.

  • She was an educated woman. She made big changes to public life which focussed on men.

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Florence Nightingale's life

Black and white portrait of Florence Nightingale.
  • In 1853 Florence Nightingale was the head of a nursing group in London.
  • The next year she went with 38 trained nurses to the war in the Crimea. Britain was fighting there against Russia.
  • In the military hospital thousands of injured soldiers died of diseases and infections. This was because of the filthy conditions.
  • Nightingale said people should wash their hands in hospitals.
  • This helped bring the number of deaths down from 41% to 2%.
Black and white portrait of Florence Nightingale.
An image of Florence Nightingale feeding a patient.
  • In 1860 she set up a training school at St. Thomas鈥檚 Hospital in London. The hospital still exists today.
  • She wrote a famous book, Notes on Nursing which was used to train nurses.
  • Her trained nurses went on to work in hospitals around Britain and the world.
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Did you know?

Florence Nightingale with Queen Victoria.
  • Queen Victoria invited Florence Nightingale to meet her at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.
  • Florence liked cats for company and also had a pet owl called Athena.
Florence Nightingale with Queen Victoria.
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Activity 1 鈥 Sort the events in Florence Nightingale's life

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Activity 2 鈥 Florence Nightingale quiz

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