AN ORIGINAL letter from Florence Nightingale unearthed from a university archive is going on display for the first time.
The handwritten note from 1872, which was discovered in near pristine condition at the University of Chichester, describes the pioneering nurse’s ill health after returning from the Crimean War.
In the letter, a 62-year-old Nightingale gives her full support for a campaign by Suffragettes and activist Louisa Hubbard to establish a female teacher training college on the south coast – now the University of Chichester.
The letter, which bears Nightingale’s distinctive signature, is to be displayed at the university’s School of Nursing and Allied Health, which opened last year.
The school’s principal, Dr Nita Muir, herself an experienced registered nurse, said Nightingale’s legacy could be felt across the world more than ever.
She said: “The letter embodies everything Nightingale stood for – boundless compassion for good causes and the promotion of social reform.
“It is a remarkable find and completely preserved, despite the last 140 years spent in an old album that once belonged to the famous women’s rights activist Louisa Hubbard.”
Nightingale, born in 1820, is known as the mother of modern nursing with her revolutionary reforms that made hospitals more organized and cleaner.
The Lady of the Lamp writes in the uncovered letter sent to Mrs Hubbard: “In the crushing and hustle and bustle of ever-increasing and pressing business and ever-increasing disease (I am entirely a prisoner of my room) – excuse yourselves a response too much for your questions?
“To give to some of our schoolmistresses among the poor ladies the object of instilling in rustic maidens and town and village children better family habits as an example in one of the most useful plans that I know – and will be of inconceivable advantage, if judiciously carried out, not only to schools, but to ladies, I hope, trust and believe that it will succeed.
“I wish you God quicken with all my heart and soul – and pray, believe me, Lady, (though business and sickness be hurried), always your faithful servant, Florence Nightingale.”
The letter will be unveiled at an event marking International Nursing Day on Thursday.
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Source: www.theargus.co.uk
This notice was published: 2022-05-09 14:27:55