The Angel Of The Trenches, 1899

June 04, 1899. "Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy, in May, 1820. She was the younger daughter of William Edward Shore, a banker of Sheffield, England, who inherited the estates of Peter Nightingale and assumed that surname. After special training she went to the army in the Crimea in 1854 as superintendent of a corps of volunteer female nurses, and organized a hospital at Scutari. Within three weeks three thousand soldiers were being cared for. In the face of great discouragements she made her hospital a model institution, and all the other hospitals on the Bosphorus were placed under her charge as lady in chief. She suffered a severe attack of fever and returned to England in 1856 with broken health which was never fully restored. The Queen sent her a jewel and a letter of thanks, a fund of $250,000 was raised to found a school for nurses under her direction, and the soldiers of the Crimean War made a penny contribution to raise a statue in her honor, which she would not permit. She has published books on nursing, hospital notes, and observations on the sanitary state of the army in India. Florence Nightingale, the angel of the trenches, is alive today, having celebrated her 79th birthday during the month just passed, at her residence 5 Hyde Park sq., London, W."