Our April talk

Florence Nightingale's London

The Lady With the Lamp? Well, not quite the lamp that we imagine… Florence Nightingale’s iconic night light was actually a nifty enclosed concertina lamp that packed flat when not in use. 

Blue Badge guide Julie Chandler’s lively talk took us through all sorts of fascinating stories:

A name that was half inheritance story, half birth in Florence on a two-year Italian honeymoon. 

A wealthy childhood, in London, Derbyshire and Hampshire, a father keen on educating his daughters, a young woman presented at court – and a rebel, it turned out, against what she called her ‘gilded cage’. Florence Nightingale’s family despaired of her ever marrying, there was a succession of suitors, a religious calling and a then-shocking decision to become a nurse, at a time when nurses were thought to be blasphemous and notorious for drinking.

A leader, taking on her first hospital job only on condition that she could change things, recruiting a cohort of nurses for the Crimea and getting them there across Europe.

An innovator, using graphics to convince decision-makers that more soldiers were dying of preventable diseases than in action and introducing an influential ‘pavilion’ design of hospital, some of the design still visible at St Thomas’ Hospital. She was the first woman to be elected to the Royal Statistical Society.

A pioneer, recognising the importance of the hand-washing and ventilation we’ve come to know so well in the pandemic and setting up the first secular school of nursing, at St Thomas’ Hospital, now based at King’s.

A reformer, including the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act, which punished any woman even suspected to be a prostitute.

A writer, her book Notes on Nursing aimed at carers as well as nurses, priced affordably and never out of print.

We discovered Florence Nightingale’s London places, including the German Hospital, Floris, Fortnum & Mason, the Burlington Hotel, The London Hospital, South Street, Mayfair and despite her insistence on a no-fuss funeral, the massive London turnout at and around St Paul’s, where there was a memorial service to mark the day when she was buried quietly on the family estate in Hampshire. 

And we heard of her important legacy of turning nursing into a respectable profession.

Florence Nightingale’s London, an A-Z of the Lady with the Lamp began as a lockdown project by Julie Chandler and Debbie Pearson, when walking tours and Florence Nightingale bicentenary events were cancelled. The book is available from the Florence Nightingale Museum. 

Our lovely venue

Spring – it’s a joy to be catching up in person. There was a beautiful walk to be had to our April meeting too. Pictured here, Victoria Park and the courtyard garden of St Margaret’s House.

Our next meeting, on 19 May, will be our AGM, with important votes for the next year and some celebrations. 

Our next coffee morning: 

29 April, 10.30 at the Beehive Café, Bethnal Green, E2 9LH

The Beehive café is on the opposite side of Cambridge Heath Road to the Museum of Childhood. 

Look out for our May update with details of our May meeting, May walk, coffee morning and other news.