Florence Nightingale is famously known as lady with the lamp. But why is she called so?

Florence Nightingale was an Englishwoman who was born in 1820 in Italy to exceptionally rich parents. She was named after ‘Florence’. That is almost 200 years ago. In those times, only poor people did cleaning, caring and nursing chores. But Florence was different from other rich people. She truly believed that life was not just about having fun. She wanted to contribute to the society in some way. She was extremely caring person and decided she wanted to be a nurse.

In 1854, Britain, France and Turkey went to war with Russia. This war is known as Crimean war. Every day many  army men got injured , but there were hardly any nurses to take  care in the army hospitals. Florence was saddened by the whole situation. When given a chance to tend to wounded soldiers, Florence traveled to Scutari, Turkey.

In Turkey,  she was shocked to see overcrowded dirty hospital. She cleaned every nook and corner of the hospital, washed the laundry, cooked clean food and even wrote letters for men who could not write. Florence hardly slept and worked all the time. During the night, she carried a lamp to see if the patients were doing alright. The people then started calling her ‘Lady with the Lamp’.

Later she opened a training school for nurses in London. She is also known as the founder of modern nursing. Hospitals got cleaner than before, and the profession of nursing became very respectable and organised. Thanks to her we have such wonderfully trained nurses in today’s times !!