Florence Nightingale, English nurse and hospital reformer, 1855.

Plate taken from 'The Illustrated London News', 24 February 1855. Named after the place of her birth in Italy, Nightingale (1820-1910) devoted her life to the sick and suffering. She volunteered for duty in the Crimean War (1854-1856) and whilst at the hospital barracks at Scutari, she drastically reduced the mortality rate by imposing a strict discipline and high standards of sanitation. In 1859, she wrote 'Notes on Nursing', and in 1861 she founded St Thomas' School of Nursing in London.