Introduction
The Museum holds a unique collection of artefacts and is the only place where you can learn the full story of this remarkable woman.
The Museum is independent and opened in 1989. It has over 2000 artefacts and aims to show the extraordinary life and world-changing achievements of Florence Nightingale, and the impact her legacy has on us all today through developments in nursing and healthcare.
It holds items owned and associated with Florence Nightingale, the Crimean War, nursing and Florence Nightingales legacy. It is located on the site of the original Nightingale Training School for Nurses, at St Thomas’ Hospital on London’s vibrant South Bank. Some of the collection may be traced back to the gifts from Florence Nightingale to the nurses at St Thomas’ Hospital in the late 1800s and were kept and displayed at the Hospital until the Museum was opened. Last year the Museum welcomed over 33,000 visitors from all over the world.
Florence Nightingale is famous for being the 'Lady with the Lamp' who nursed soldiers during the Crimean War, but this was just one of her many great achievements.
Florence Nightingale was born in Italy on 12th May 1820. Despite opposition from her family she decided to devote her life to nursing and campaigning for better health care and sanitation for all. It was her work during the Crimean War that created the legend of the Lady with the Lamp and it was her experience here that drove her to continue, researching, writing and tirelessly campaigning.
After the Crimean War she demanded a Royal Commission into the Military Hospitals and the health of the Army, she began investigating the health and sanitation in the British Army in India, and the local population. Money which had been sent by the general public to thank her for her work in the Crimea was used to establish the first organised, training school for nurses, the Nightingale Training School at St Thomas’ Hospital.
Her greatest achievement was to make nursing a respectable profession for women. Florence's writings on hospital planning and organization had a profound effect in England and across the world, publishing over 200 books, reports and pamphlets.
Florence died at the age of 90, on 13th August 1910, she had become one of the most famous and influential women of the 19th century. Her writings continue to be a resource for nurses, health managers and planners to this day. | 
