Born into a wealthy family, Florence got her first taste of nursing at a charitable hospital in Germany before becoming superintendent of a sanatorium for sickly gentlewomen in London. With the outbreak of the Crimean War in 1854, she became convinced that her nursing skills would be of use to wounded servicemen and persuaded the Secretary of War to send her and a small group of nurses to the front. On her arrival at Scutari, the hospital doctors were at first hostile towards her but they were soon stretching the new nursing staff to the limit.
Recently, Florence Nightingale's role in improving the lot of the soldiers has been questioned, but she undoubtedly raised the profile of nursing. On her return to England, she established the Nightingale School of Nursing, the first training school for nurses in Britain. She also instigated a Royal Commission into medical care in the army. In 1907, she became the first woman to be honoured with the Order of Merit.听
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