Florence Nightingale: Major new study will look at her life in Derbyshire

"The greatest heroes are those who do their duty in the daily grind of domestic affairs whilst the world whirls as a maddening dreidel". Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale - Nursing/Medical Pioneer and Statistician. She is also Barbara Bodichon's cousin (whose mother Anne Longdon was born in Alfreton Derbyshire - See listing for Anne Longdon in Derbyshire 200 women list). Although famously born in Florence, Italy, Florence moved as a baby with her family to Derbyshire where the family maintained a home at Lea, in 1821. Nightingale continued to invest in the region, most prominently advising Dr William Ogle in the 1860s on the redevelopment and management of the then the Derby Royal Infirmary (now closed and demolished). The new hospital opened in 1869 with a wing named in Nightingale’s honour. Florence's statue, (above now cleaned and restored) still stands outside the former hospital site.

Blue plaque for Nightingale in South Street, Mayfair, London

Littleover based Professor Paul Crawford, University of Nottingham along with colleagues at The University of Derby and Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is set to lead a new study digging deeper into Florence Nightingale's life in Derbyshire to uncover more about the notable nurse, and statistician.

The aim of the project is to increase awareness of Florence Nightingale's contribution to the practise, professionalisation and history of nursing and her life and time Derbyshire and across the East Midlands. One of Nightingale's signal achievements was the introduction of trained nurses into the workhouse system in Britain from the 1860s onwards.