“Exposed as I am to be misinterpreted and misunderstood, in a field of action in which the work is new, complicated, and distant from many who sit in judgment on it, it is indeed an abiding support to have such sympathy and such appreciation brought home to me in the midst of labours and difficulties all but overpowering. I must add, however, that my present work is such I would never desert for any other, so long as I see room to believe that which I may do here is unfinished. May I then beg you to express to the Committee that I accept their proposals, provided I may do so on their understanding of this great uncertainty as to when it will be possible for me to carry it out?”

The gift, indeed, gave Florence Nightingale a further task to perform on her return home, but as Mr. Sidney Herbert said: “Miss Nightingale looks to her reward from this country in having a fresh field for her labours, and means of extending the good that she has already begun. A compliment cannot be paid dearer to her heart than in giving her more work to do.”

A public meeting was held at Willis’s Rooms on November 29th, 1855, to inaugurate the scheme. It was presided over by the Duke of Cambridge and addressed by the venerable Lord Lansdowne, Sir John Pakington (Lord Hampton), Monckton-Milnes (Lord Houghton), Lord Stanley (Earl of Derby), the Lord Mayor, the Marquis of Ripon, Rev. Dr. Cumming, and Dr. Gleig, the Chaplain-General. All paid eloquent tributes to the work accomplished by Miss Nightingale, but the most touching incident of the meeting was when Mr. Sidney Herbert read a letter from a friend who said: “I have just heard a pretty account from a soldier describing the comfort it was even to see Florence pass. ‘She would speak to one and another,’ he said, ‘and nod and smile to many more, but she could not do it to all, you know, for we lay there by hundreds; but we could kiss her shadow as it fell, and lay our heads on the pillow again content.’” That story brought £10,000 to the Nightingale Fund, and the soldier who had related it out of the fulness of his heart must have felt a proud man.

Public meetings in aid of the scheme were held during the ensuing months in all the principal cities and towns throughout the kingdom, and also in all parts of the Empire, including India and the colony in China. Never, I believe, has the work of any British subject been so honoured and recognised in every part of our vast dominions as that of Florence Nightingale.

Collections were made for the ‘fund’ in churches and chapels of varying creeds in all parts of the country, and concerts and sales of work were got up by enthusiastic ladies to help the subscriptions. As in the dark winter of 1854–5 everybody was doing their part to strengthen Miss Nightingale’s hands by supplying her with comforts and necessaries for the soldiers, so in the joyous winter of 1855–6 people gave of their time and money to present the heroine with means for inaugurating a scheme which should revolutionise the nursing methods of the civil and military hospitals, and render impossible the suffering and misery among the sick soldiers which had characterised the late war.

There were no more enthusiastic and grateful supporters of the Nightingale Fund than the brave “boys” of the Services. The officers and men of nearly every regiment and many of the vessels contributed a day’s pay.

Books were opened by the principal bankers throughout the kingdom, and a very handsome gift to the fund came from M. and Madame Goldschmidt (Jenny Lind), who gave a concert at Exeter Hall on March 11th, 1856, which realised nearly £2,000. M. and Madame Goldschmidt defrayed all the expenses of the concert, amounting to upwards of £500, and gave the gross receipts to the Committee. In recognition of their generosity a gift was made to M and Madame Goldschmidt of a marble bust of Queen Victoria, the result of a private subscription.

In course of time the Nightingale fund reached £44,000, and in evidence of the widespread interest which it evoked the detailed statement of the honorary secretaries may be quoted:—

General Abstract of Subscriptions to the Nightingale Fund

£ s. d.
From Troops or all arms in various parts of the world, including the Militia 8,952 1 7
From the officers and men of sixty-one ships of Her Majesty’s Navy 75819 8
From the officers and men of the Coastguard service, thirty-nine stations 155 9 0
From the officers and men of Her Majesty’s Dockyards at Woolwich and Pembroke 29 6 4
From East and West Indies, Australia, North America, and other British possessions 4,49515 6
From British residents in foreign countries, transmitted through their respective ambassadors, consuls, etc 1,6471610
From provincial cities and towns, collected and forwarded by local committees 5,68315 4
From church or parish collections in other towns and villages, transmitted by the clergy and ministers of various denominations 1,162 4 9
From merchants, bankers, etc, connected with the City of London 3,51113 6
Carried forward 26,397 2 6
Brought forward 26,397 2 6
From other general subscriptions not included under the above heads, made up of separate sums from one penny to five hundred pounds 15,6971410
The contribution of M. and Madame Goldschmidt, being the gross proceeds of a concert given by them at Exeter Hall 1,872 6 0
Proceeds of sale of the “Nightingale Address” (a lithographic print and poem published at one shilling), received from Mrs. F. P. B. Martin 53 0 0
Proceeds of a series of “Twelve Photographic Views in the Interior of Sebastopol,” by G. Shaw-Lefevre, Esq. 1818 0
Total£44,039 1 4