MISS FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE’S HOME.
At the residence of Sir Harry Verney, Claydon House, Buckinghamshire, a deputation from the Working Men’s Club of Whatstandwell, Derbyshire, recently waited on Miss Florence Nightingale, for the purpose of presenting to her an oil painting, by Mr. E. Crosland, of her late home, Lea Hurst, as a token of their esteem, and in recognition of the great interest taken by her in that institution. The deputation, consisting of Mr. F. C. Iveson, Mr. Crosland, the artist, and Mr. W. Peacock, assured Miss Nightingale of the love felt for her by all classes of people at Whatstandwell and in that district, and of their gratitude for her kindness and help in every good work. Miss Nightingale, in thanking them for the present, which she admired very much, expressed her continued great interest in the institution and its members, and assured them of her hopes for its welfare. The deputation were entertained at Claydon House by Sir Harry and Lady Verney. We are permitted to copy the picture of Lea Hurst in our engraving, using a photograph taken by Mr. J. Schmidt, of Belper.
LEA HURST, DERBYSHIRE, THE HOME OF MISS FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE.
Miss Florence Nightingale is a lady whose name has been deservedly honored in England since the Crimean war and has become the symbol of a particular type of personal efforts in the service of afflicted humanity. She was born at Florence, in May, 1820, youngest daughter and coheiress of W. E. Nightingale, Esq., of Lea Hurst, Derbyshire, and Embley Park, Hampshire. She devoted her attention to the working of schools for the poor, juvenile reformatories, and hospitals, inspecting many such institutions on the Continent, and residing, in 1851, with the Protestant Sisters of Mercy at Kaiserswerth, on the Rhine. She next bestowed her care and gifts of her money on the London Governesses’ Sanatorium in Harley street. During the Crimean war, in 1854, when the inefficient state of our military hospitals in the East demanded instant reform, the hospital at Scutari, opposite Constantinople, was established for the relief of sick and wounded British soldiers and prisoners. It was resolved to form a select band of volunteer lady superintendents and female nurses for this and other army hospitals. At the request of the Secretary of State for the War Department, Mr. Sidney Herbert, afterward Lord Herbert of Lea, Miss Nightingale undertook the task of organizing and directing this service, which she performed in a manner universally admired, and which earned her the personal friendship of the Queen, with many public and private expressions of gratitude and esteem. A testimonial fund amounting to $250,000 was subscribed in recognition of her patriotic and benevolent work, and was, at her special desire, applied to create and maintain an institution for the training of nurses. Miss Nightingale’s impaired health, for many years past, has debarred her from active public exertions but she has continued to study the plans and operations of those charitable agencies on which she is a high authority, and has written brief treatises on subjects of much practical importance. Her “Notes on Hospitals,” printed in 1859; “Notes on Nursing,” in 1860; and “Notes on Lying‐in Institutions,” and on the training of midwives and midwifery nurses, in 1871, were of considerable utility. She also wrote, in 1863, valuable observations on the sanitary condition of the army in India, and has furnished to the War Office useful reports and suggestions concerning the army medical department.—Illustrated London News.