Nightingale as a Nursing Celebrity

Medicine Through Time – Nightingale and the Development of British Nursing, 1820-1910

In this course, Dr Richard Bates (University of Nottingham) explores the impact of Florence Nightingale in reforming nineteenth century British nursing. In the first module, we consider Nightingale as a nursing celebrity, looking at her legacy and the origin of her popular identity; the lady with the lamp. In the second module, we look more broadly at healthcare in early 19th century Britain, before in the third module looking at the state of nursing in Britain before Nightingale. In the fourth module, we think about Nightingale’s background and how her ideas about nursing developed, focusing in particular upon the impact of the early women’s movement and her time on the Continent. In the fifth and final module, we then turn to look at Nightingale’s legacy, in the form of the Nightingale School and the development of nurse training after 1860.

Nightingale as a Nursing Celebrity

In this module, we look at Florence Nightingale as a nursing celebrity, focusing in particular on: (i) the impact that Nightingale’s legacy has on our ability to assess her contribution to the development of nursing; (ii) the role that Nightingale played at Scutari hospital during the Crimean War (1853-56); (iii) the heroic image of Nightingale that emerged in the press during the aftermath of the Crimean War; (iv) the modern legacy of Nightingale in British nursing; and (v) the extent to which Nightingale’s legacy accurately represents her contribution to British nursing.