Remembering Florence Nightingale on her Birth Anniversary

Florence Nightingale’s birthday is also celebrated as International Nurses Day.

Belonging to an upper-class British family, Florence pursued nursing much against the wishes of her family 

Florence Nightingale, the woman who introduced nursing to the world, was a renowned English social worker, author and statistician. She was born on 12 May 1820 to an upper-class British family in Florence (after which she was named). 12 May is also celebrated as International Nurses Day in her honour across the world.

(Design: The Quint/Rahul Gupta)

Nightingale’s most regarded contribution was during the Crimean War, where she and 38 other woman volunteers, trained by her, nursed the wounded soldiers. She was also the founder of the world’s first secular nursing school in London in 1860 – now a part of the King’s College London.

Furthermore, her social reforms include the improving of healthcare for the British people, supporting hunger relief in India, attempting to abolish prostitution laws and to get women involved in the workforce.

Nightingale was also a versatile writer and she published plenty of works in the fields of medicine, statistics, religion and mysticism.