The Royal Commission
When Florence Nightingale returned from the Crimean War in August 1856, she was consumed with anger about the number of men she saw die. She did not want to face the public who had made her a heroine and she hid herself away from public attention. In November 1856 Florence took a hotel room in London which became the centre for the campaign for a Royal Commission to investigate the health of the British Army. When Sidney Herbert was appointed chairman, she continued as a driving force behind the scenes.
In her report Notes on Matters Affecting the Health of the British Army (1858), Florence created statistical charts to show the number of men who died from the conditions in the hospitals compared to those who died from their wounds. Florence invented what we would now call the pie chart. In 1860 Florence became the first woman elected as a fellow of the Statistical Society, for her contribution to Army and hospital statistics. The Royal Commission led to medical care reforms throughout the army.
Soon Florence’s attention turned to the army in India. There was a high mortality rate from sickness among British troops. Although Florence never visited India she gathered information and statistics from questionnaires sent to barrack stations. The statistics showed that the high death rate was due to causes similar to those in the Crimea, bad drainage, contaminated water, overcrowding and poor ventilation. The conclusion Florence drew was that the health of the army and the people of India had to go hand in hand, raising the sanitary conditions for the country as a whole.
For over thirty years she worked tirelessly for the cause of Indian public health and was considered an expert on the subject by successive Viceroys.
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