Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale is rightly seen as the founder of modern nursing. She was often described as the Lady with the Lamp because of her care for wounded and sick prisoners during the Crimean War. The truth is, however, that many men died under care for whom she later felt responsible. She learned much from her experience in the hospital at Scutari. At the same time, a coloured lady from Jamaica volunteered to nurse soldiers at the battlefront during the same campaign, and she did it very successfully. Mary Seacole is unknown to most of us, but she deserves her place in the sun alongside Florence Nightingale.