Florence Nightingale: Life and Times in the 19th Century

Florence Nightingale (1820–1910) lived almost the entire 19th century, spanning the Victorian era and into the modern age.

Key Life Milestones

• Born: May 12, 1820, Florence, Italy (named for birthplace)
• Calling: 1837 — felt divine call to service
• Training: 1850–51 — Kaiserswerth, Germany; Paris hospitals
• Crimean War: 1854–56 — Scutari Barracks Hospital; "Lady with the Lamp"
• Nightingale School: 1860 — St. Thomas' Hospital, London (first secular nursing school)
• Publications: Notes on Nursing (1859), Notes on Hospitals (1863), statistical reports
• Honors: Royal Red Cross (1883), OM (1907 — first woman)
• Died: August 13, 1910, London, age 90

19th Century Context

• Industrial Revolution, urbanization, sanitation crises
• Women's roles rigidly domestic; nursing not a profession
• Germ theory emerging (Pasteur, Lister, Koch)
• British Empire, Crimean War, colonial conflicts

Nightingale transformed nursing from domestic service to evidence-based profession—her 19th-century work shapes 21st-century healthcare.