3-056-998 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Letter from Florence Nightingale, c1854-c1856. Florence Nightingale arrived at Scutari in 1854 to organise nursing services for British troops in the Crimean War. This letter to Sidney Herbert, her principal supporter in London, deals with her opinions on the status of female nurses and the difficulties caused by the claims of various religious groups to send in parties of women. '...spiritual [?] flirtation between the ladies & the soldiers. I saw enough of that here - it [?] the particular man - it gets nothing done in the General. My [?] a Civil Hospital with ladies & men - [?] you will soon find what I mean. The ladies all quarrel among themselves. The Medical Men all laugh at their helplessness but like to have them about for the sake of a little female society, which is natural, but not our object...'