If you cross the Bosphorus to Üsküdar, you will find a huge barracks above the shore. This is Selimiye. In 1854 part of it became a British military hospital. Florence Nightingale started work there. Many people say modern nursing was born in those wards. The truth is a little more careful, and more interesting.
Florence Nightingale story: who was she?
Florence Nightingale was a British nurse, statistician and social reformer. She led nurses during the Crimean War. Today she is regarded as the founder of modern nursing.
Her path was not smooth. Her family opposed her plans. She still completed a nursing training course in Germany in 1851.
Florence Nightingale: where was she born and where is she from?
She was British, but she was not born in Britain. Nightingale was born on 12 May 1820 in Florence, in present-day Italy. At the time the city lay inside the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
Her first name comes from the city. Her parents were on a European trip when she was born, and they named her after the city’s English name.
Why Selimiye Barracks in Istanbul?
The Crimean War sent British soldiers to the Ottoman capital. Selimiye Barracks stands on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, around Harem in Üsküdar. During the war it was turned into a British military hospital. The British called the area Scutari.
In 1854 Nightingale began caring for wounded British soldiers in the hospital sections of the barracks. According to the Florence Nightingale Museum’s nurse register, she first set out for this duty with 38 nurses.
What she found at Scutari
The picture was grim. The National Army Museum says most of the patients suffered from disease rather than battle wounds. The hospital also lacked basic supplies.
The army doctors did not want the nurses’ help at first. That changed in November 1854. Casualties from the Battle of Inkerman arrived, and the workload grew too heavy. The doctors accepted the help.
Then the work became practical and daily. Nightingale and her nurses:
- set up kitchens to cook food for the men,
- washed the laundry,
- wrote letters to families on the soldiers’ behalf,
- created reading rooms.
None of this sounds heroic. That is the point. Care was organised work.
The Lady with the Lamp
Nightingale walked the wards at night with a light in her hand, checking the wounded. The British press named her “the Lady with the Lamp”.
The lamp in popular pictures often looks like a genie’s lamp. The real object was different. The museum in London keeps one of the lanterns she used at Scutari. It is a “fanoos”, a Turkish candle lantern.
Did Nightingale cut the death rate alone?
Not by herself. The numbers were terrible. The National Army Museum reports that the death rate at the Scutari hospital rose to 42 percent in February 1855. Nightingale first blamed the high deaths on poor nutrition.
The museum also answers the popular claim. It says the fall in deaths came after the sanitary commission repaired the sewers and improved ventilation. The commission was sent in 1855.
Nightingale herself saw it as shared work. A 2020 history review in The Lancet says she credited the improvements to herself, the nurses, the doctors and the sanitary commission together.
So the fair summary is this. She did not work a miracle alone. She was part of the team that fixed Scutari, and she learned from what she saw.
Florence Nightingale theory: what did she teach?
In 1859 she published Notes on Nursing, a book on nursing and patient care. Her ideas centre on the patient’s surroundings.
A 2010 academic article by Louise C. Selanders in PubMed examined her environmental approach. It says the assumptions and values in her writing can be turned into a conceptual model for nursing practice.
There is a twist. The Lancet review notes that Nightingale accepted germ theory late. Even so, she argued for ventilation and strict hygiene, and she based this on her own observations.
She also used numbers. To show the causes of soldier deaths, she used a statistical chart known today as the “Nightingale rose”, or polar area diagram. According to the Florence Nightingale Museum, she published more than 200 books, reports and pamphlets on hospital planning, organisation and health standards.
The school was in London, not Istanbul
Here is the detail most headlines skip. The Nightingale nursing school did not open at Selimiye. It opened in 1860 within St Thomas’ Hospital in London.
King’s College London says the school was funded by public donations. People gave the money to thank Nightingale for her Crimean War service. She wanted her graduates to found new training schools in Britain and in other parts of the world.
So Selimiye was the testing ground. London was where training became an institution.
Florence Nightingale museum: London and Istanbul
There are two museums to know about.
In London, the Florence Nightingale Museum opened in 1989 on the site of the original Nightingale nursing school. Its collection includes the nurse register and the fanoos lantern mentioned above.
In Istanbul, the TDV Islamic Encyclopedia says the tower section of Selimiye Barracks where Nightingale lived, on the Selimiye Mosque side, was later preserved as the Florence Nightingale Museum. If you plan a visit to Üsküdar, check the current opening conditions first.
Florence Nightingale Pledge: did she write it?
No. The Nightingale Pledge carries her name, but it did not come from her pen. According to the South African Nursing Council, Lystra Gretta adapted it from the Hippocratic Oath in 1893.
Florence Nightingale death
Nightingale died in London on 13 August 1910, aged 90. She was buried in the churchyard of St Margaret’s Church in East Wellow, Hampshire.
Her honours had come earlier. In 1907 she became the first woman to receive Britain’s Order of Merit.
Timeline
- 12 May 1820: Born in Florence.
- 1851: Completes nursing training in Germany.
- 1854: Sets out for the Crimean War with a first group of 38 nurses and begins work at Selimiye Barracks.
- February 1855: The death rate at the Scutari hospital rises to 42 percent.
- 1855: The sanitary commission’s sewer and ventilation work helps improve hospital conditions.
- 1859: Notes on Nursing is published.
- 1860: The nursing school opens within St Thomas’ Hospital, London.
- 1893: The Nightingale Pledge is prepared.
- 1907: Becomes the first woman to receive the Order of Merit.
- 13 August 1910: Dies in London, aged 90.
- 1989: The Florence Nightingale Museum opens in London.
Details you won’t find in guidebooks
- Her name is a city. She was named after Florence, where her parents happened to be travelling when she was born.
- The lantern was Turkish. The “fanoos” in the London museum is a candle lantern, not the genie-style lamp in many pictures.
- A pet owl called Athena. Nightingale rescued a little owl from children in Greece and named it Athena. After the bird died, her family had it preserved, and it entered the London museum’s collection.
- The nurse register has 200+ names. The Crimean War register records each nurse’s age, previous job, reference and an assessment of her work.
- The pledge is not hers. See above: Lystra Gretta, 1893.
Why it matters in your daily life
The next time you visit a clinic or a hospital ward, look at who is there. Nurses check the patient, keep the room clean and clear, and write things down. That is the practical habit Nightingale pushed. Every 12 May, her birthday, the world marks International Nurses’ Day.
FAQ
Where was Florence Nightingale born?
She was born on 12 May 1820 in Florence, in present-day Italy. At the time the city belonged to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
Was Nightingale’s nursing school in Istanbul?
No. Her school opened in 1860 inside St Thomas’ Hospital in London. Selimiye is where she worked during the Crimean War.
Did Nightingale write the Nightingale Pledge?
No. Lystra Gretta adapted it from the Hippocratic Oath in 1893. It carries Nightingale’s name but not her pen.
Can you visit Nightingale’s rooms in Istanbul?
The tower section of Selimiye Barracks where she lived, on the Selimiye Mosque side, was preserved as the Florence Nightingale Museum, according to the TDV Islamic Encyclopedia. Check current opening conditions before you go.
When and where did Florence Nightingale die?
She died in London on 13 August 1910, aged 90. She was buried in the churchyard of St Margaret’s Church in East Wellow, Hampshire.
Sources
- Vikipedi — Florence Nightingale tr.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia — Florence Nightingale en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia — Selimiye Barracks en.wikipedia.org
- National Army Museum — Florence Nightingale: The Lady with the Lamp nam.ac.uk
- Florence Nightingale Museum — Highlights of the Collection florence-nightingale.co.uk
- Florence Nightingale Museum — Florence Nightingale florence-nightingale.co.uk
- Florence Nightingale Museum — Our Collections florence-nightingale.co.uk
- The Lancet — Celebrating Florence Nightingale’s bicentenary pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- King’s College London — Florence Nightingale kcl.ac.uk
- PubMed — The power of environmental adaptation: Florence Nightingale’s original theory for nursing practice pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi — Selimiye Kışlası islamansiklopedisi.org.tr
Image: Florence Nightingale. Coloured lithograph. Wellcome V0006579.jpg — After Henrietta Rae, Public domain
