Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) was a pioneer in the field of nursing and a reformer of medical sanitation practices. She developed a model of statistical gathering and reporting for medical data, distinguishing herself as a professional statistician. She authored several books on the topics of medical practices and women's rights, and effected legislation related to medical practices and military medicine. She was born in 1820 in Florence, Italy, to a wealthy British family. Her father believed strongly in education, and as a result both she and her sister were well educated in a variety of subjects. Throughout her early adulthood, Florence disappointed her mother by rejecting various suitors and at 25 declared an interest in nursing. After training in Germany, she was recruited for service in an army hospital in Scutari in 1854 during the Crimean War. It was there that she became horrified with sanitary practices and began to campaign for improvement. She returned to England in 1856 as a national heroine for her efforts on the soldiers' behalf. Back in England, she established the Nightingale Training School for Nurses at St Thomas' Hospital. She continued to advocate for a wide variety of social reform issues until her death in 1910.
From the description of Florence Nightingale letters collection, 1855-1881. (University of Illinois-Chicago Library). WorldCat record id: 58973675
