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Florence Nightingale

by Kelly from Fredericksburg


A hero in my eyes is someone who is willing to take on anything, for whatever reason. They are brave and courageous, and they have a goal in their lives. To achieve their goal is great, but I don’t necessarily think of a hero as definitely achieving their goal. I care that they tried as hard as they could, and even if it didn’t work, they put all they could into it. They also aren’t perfect, they made some mistakes, but what makes them even more of a hero is that they learned from them and got better the next time.

Florence Nightingale was born on May 12, 1980 in Italy into a wealthy family who was very high in the social circle. Her father taught her while in her youth because he wanted her and her sister to be educated women. She loved being educated and was very interested in all of her studies. At age seventeen, she felt that she was called by God to do some kind of work for him, although she didn’t know what. Her family wanted her to have a family and get married; yet she declined all proposals. Finally, at age twenty-five she told her parents that she wanted to become a nurse. In those times, being a nurse was not a respectable job for a woman, and her family highly rejected her choice.


Florence had the chance to meet Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female doctor who also went through prejudice against women being doctors. Elizabeth encouraged her and told her to keep trying, and finally in 1851 Florence’s father accepted her decision of becoming a nurse. This was great for Florence. Even though she had already begun nursing, she felt better that her family approved of what she was doing.

In 1854 the Crimean war started. There were many reports about the horrible disasters and conditions that the British soldiers were in. Nightingale volunteered as soon as possible and was given permission to take thirty-eight nurses along with her. When Florence showed up in the army hospital she was appalled. The soldiers were left without blankets, or decent food. There were diseases such as typhus, cholera and dysentery. Florence opted for reforming the military hospitals, yet they wouldn’t listen. They said that she was making an unfair comment about their professionalism and was made to feel unwelcome. Finally, John Delane (editor of the Times), agreed with her, and she was given the task of cleaning up the hospital and improving the quality of the sanitation, thus dramatically reducing the death rate of soldiers by two-thirds. With improvement though, the improvement led to hostility. The people who were in charge of conditions were defensive and hostile towards Florence, and they thought that she was insulting them.


In 1856 she came back to England as a heroine. Women were now viewed differently if they were nurses. Because Florence was shocked by the condition that the soldiers were in, she started a campaign to improve the quality of nursing in military hospitals in England. She even got to speak to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert about the situation. The following year she opened the 1857 Sanitary Commission which eventually led to the Army Medical College. Florence wanted to spread her opinions, and get people to actually work to make the conditions better for those in the army. She wrote books including Notes on Nursing and Notes on Hospital hoping that she could get people’s attention.

Florence also had opinions about women’s rights. She wanted a removal of restrictions of what careers women could hold. Coming from her background, she realized that all jobs are perfectly fine for women to do. She wrote the book Suggestions for Thought to Searchers after Religious Truths. It talked about which jobs that she thought were fine for women, and she emphasized the fact that women were suitable for any job.

Later in life though, Florence started going slow, and realizing that everything was getting harder for her. In 1895 she went blind, and for about 15 years needed special nursing before her death in 1910.

Florence showed that she was willing to do whatever she needed to in order to get her point across. She was determined when her family denied her the right, yet she kept doing what she knew she had to. She was very brave to have gone into the Crimean war and help all those soldiers – when she herself could have been hurt. She also showed courage by going through all the stuff that the people gave her when they didn’t want her being a nurse. So, Florence worked her hardest to do what she could, and she got her point across – that’s what makes her a hero.

Page created on 8/30/2011 3:24:33 PM

Last edited 8/30/2011 3:24:33 PM

The beliefs, viewpoints and opinions expressed in this hero submission on the website are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs, viewpoints and opinions of The MY HERO Project and its staff.

Related Links

Florence Nightingale - Brief Biography of Nightingale
Nightingale, Florence (Lady of the Lamp) - Detailed Biography
Essential Facts - Quick Facts