The Crimean War
In March 1854 Britain, France and Turkey declared war on Russia. Reports on the conditions the soldiers had to endure in the military hospitals flooded back to Britain. Sidney Herbert, the Minister at War, who knew Florence Nightingale socially and through her work at Harley Street, asked her to oversee the introduction of female nurses into the military hospitals in Turkey. Florence had already begun organising her own expedition to help, but instead began recruiting a group of experienced nurses to take with her.
This proved difficult but on the 4th November 1854, Florence arrived with the party of 38 nurses at the Barrack Hospital in Scutari, Turkey. Initially the doctors did not want the nurses there and did not ask for their help, but within ten days the hospital was swamped with casualties from the battle of Inkermann. The nurses were asked to assist and they swung into action.
Florence’s role in Scutari Hospital soon became mostly administrative. She set about improving supplies and the general conditions. She wrote letters for the soldiers and sent their wages home to their families. She insisted that no man should be allowed to die alone and she was the only woman allowed on the ward at night. It was the comforting sight of her checking all was well at night that gained her the name ‘the Lady of the Lamp’ and the undying respect of the British soldiers.
Florence’s fame grew at home and in November 1855 a public subscription was organised to show the nation's gratitude for her hard work. The introduction of female nurses to the military hospitals was an outstanding success and the money collected, which became the Nightingale Fund, was to enable Florence Nightingale to continue her reform of nursing in the civil hospitals of Britain. | 
