Nightingale as a Nursing Celebrity

About the lecture

In this module, we look at Florence Nightingale as a nursing celebrity, focusing in particular on: (i) the impact that Nightingale’s legacy has on our ability to assess her contribution to the development of nursing; (ii) the role that Nightingale played at Scutari hospital during the Crimean War (1853-56); (iii) the heroic image of Nightingale that emerged in the press during the aftermath of the Crimean War; (iv) the modern legacy of Nightingale in British nursing; and (v) the extent to which Nightingale’s legacy accurately represents her contribution to British nursing.

About the lecturer

Dr Richard Bates is a Teaching Associate in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Nottingham. His research interests lie in nineteenth-century British history, in particular the history of nursing and the history of medicine. From 2018-21 he worked as a postdoctoral research fellow on the AHRC project on Florence Nightingale, which resulted in the co-authored book Florence Nightingale at Home (2020). His other recent publications include ‘Florence Nightingale and Responsibility for Healthcare in the Home’, European Journal for the History of Medicine and Health ( 2021), and ‘Florence on Film: Representations of Nightingale in Cinema and on Television’ in The Nurse in Popular Media: Critical Essays (2021) pp. 8-24.