Book Review — Nightingales: The Extraordinary Upbringing and Curious Life of Miss Florence Nightingale
Nightingales: The Extraordinary Upbringing and Curious Life of Miss Florence Nightingale: by Gillian Gill, Ballantine Books, published by The Random House Publishing Group, 2004. 535 pages: text, illustrations, footnotes and index.
I love the little serendipitous events that occasionally happen in life. Nightingales is such an event for me. My local public library does fundraising with used books that have been donated to the library for this purpose. A couple of months ago I made one of my routine visits and happened to see this hardcover book on their shelf for $3.00. I don't believe the original owner of the book had ever read it. Possibly had never opened it. As a retired nurse, I could not leave it on the shelf and it's now been opened, and read.
I recently saw the movie Downton Abbey, The Grand Finale. I had watched every PBS episode of each season and loved it. After reading Nightingales, the lives of the Downton Abbey characters came more alive to me. I'll explain. But Downton Abbey has nothing to do with why Gillian Gill's book is important.
Nightingales is not just a biography of Florence Nightingale—many of those have been written—but while Florence is at the center of Gill's book, she writes with the understanding that one cannot know Florence Nightingale without knowing her family. Gill begins with the lives of Florence Nightingale's parents—of the Smith and Shore families—and how the start of their lives took shape in the world of their time. Frances Smith was born in 1788 and William Edward Shore in 1794. To give some literary context to this, Jane Austen, arguably England's most famous author ever, was born in 1775. Her first novel, Sense and Sensibility, was published in 1811.
Frances Smith had ten siblings and William Shore had two, a sister and a brother. Frances was called Fanny and was the fifth child and her upbringing seems to have been wild and free. William's, by contrast, seems to have had a more sedate and intellectual upbringing starting with his childhood education all the way up to being a Cambridge man. This foundation would carried him through life. Frances came from the midlands of England and William from Yorkshire and both from wealth that was earned from England's Industrial Revolution. Both families were from separatist religions collectively called the Dissenters. The religious values of the Dissenters would be at the heart of Florence's and her older sister, Parthenope's, upbringing. Understanding this religious group, the Dissenters, requires separate reading that is interesting on its own. What was more surprising to me was that those in non-conformist religious groups could become so wealthy. But the relationship to wealth was tied to the Industrial Revolution. It's a far cry from Henry the VIII's time.
William Edward Shore, in 1815, takes the surname of his great-uncle Peter Nightingale after he inherits his uncle's estate. This inheritance was not free and clear, but had an entailment written into the inheritance stipulating that after William Edward's death, the estate must then be inherited be a male relative. This is how Florence came to be a Nightingale—the name to which her family and personal glory is so richly associated. Throughout her book, Gill refers to Florence's father as WEN for William Edward Nightingale. Of note, Jane Austen, born 45 years earlier than Florence Nightingale, writes an entailment dilemma into her masterpiece, Pride and Prejudice, written when the author was 20 or 21 years old and published in 1813, seven years before Florence Nightingale's birth. Unless one of the five Bennett girls marries into money the Bennett family are at risk of losing their house when their elderly father dies.
WEN meets and becomes infatuated with Fanny and they marry in 1818. They go off to live in Italy where they remain for over the next two years. Frances Parthenope is born May 19, 1819 and hers was a difficult birth. Gill describes it as a horror story (p. 55). After getting over the difficult birth (as we know, not guaranteed in 1819) Fanny's milk would not flow to feed her frail infant. Gill describes the, unusual for the time, and often humiliating, efforts Fanny took to produce milk for her infant. This trying went on for too long and in language we use today, Gill describes Parthenope as failing to thrive. Finally, a wet nurse is hired to feed Parthenope. The wet nurse had a child of her own, Antonio. Parthenope, being nutritionally compromised and near death, took the majority of the wet nurse's milk and she was unable to feed her own child adequately. In a gripping passage we know that Antonio ultimately dies (p. 57). I had to read this passage more than once. Gill writes: "When the wet nurse takes on a stranger's baby, she makes a devil's bargain, and Fanny Nightingale knows it" (p. 57). The Nightingales were wealthy and the wet nurse was poor.
Fanny becomes pregnant again, and the Nightingale's move to Florence where their second child, another daughter, is born on May 12, 1820 and is named for the city of Florence. Fortunately, Florence is a robust and healthy infant. But Fanny became ill following Florence's birth. A wet nurse was hired and signed a three year contract to be Florence's wet nurse. Fanny was discouraged from having more children. The Nightingales could not continue to try for a son and so the problem of the entailment on WEN's inheritance would continue to be a cloud over their wealth. This would ultimately be resolved in a complicated way when WEN's sister, Florence's Aunt Mai, gives birth to a son. Early death of children, even wealthy and upper middle-class children, was common and Florence took on the role of caring for her young nephew as if the child's life and their lives depended on it—which they did.
I write all of the above as an introduction to the early 19th century and what we can imagine things may have been like. So much detail cannot command the rest of the review, but my intention is to pull the reader in. Interestingly, another prominent individual would be born just before the Nightingale children; Victoria, later Queen Victoria, was born May 24, 1819 and she took up her reign in 1837. The Victorian period would influence heavily the values of the British people and place enormous, often unrealistic, constraints on girls, young women and, finally, on married women and all women. As Dissenters, Parthenope's and Florence's parents were more liberal and enlightened than most and the girls had a relatively free and happy childhood. Fanny and WEN also believed that their girls, and girls in general, should be educated—something that definitely went against the Victorian value system.
Just under the first two-thirds of the book centers around the upbringing of Parthenope and Florence, how close they were as sisters and, yet, how different they were in personality. Both girls had significant challenges, but they both thrived with full lives. Throughout this time it is becoming more and more evident that Florence is an extraordinarily bright child. Following an unfortunate period under the tutelage of an inexperienced governess, and Fanny's flawed directions to guide the governess, WEN understands that Florence should be educated well beyond what was common for girls at the time and he takes over the education of his daughter. Florence thrives under his extensive teaching and there is no looking back.
Socially, neither Nightingale girl fared well on the marriage scene; Parthenope, because she was sickly, too attached to her mother and because she was described as not as pretty or as clever as Florence; Florence, because she steadfastly refused to be married. In both cases, but especially with Florence, the girls' parents were dismayed over and over. Gill takes us through the family's lifestyle, the girls upbringing from childhood to adolescence to young womanhood in great detail. Overhanging all of it were the numerous constraints placed upon girls during this period. Florence has to fight, especially her mother, to search for and achieve a life that will interest and challenge her.
Just when you think that you cannot read about another family squabble or another jilted suitor, the final third of the book starting with Britain Goes to War (p. 297) reveals the Florence Nightingale we think we all know. But it is so much more. By the time the Crimean war has started, around the mid 19th century, Florence has had successes in the improvement and organization of health care—such as it was and as squalid as it was, if you can even call it health care, in mid-19th century England. She is making a name and reputation for herself. England, the world's largest colonial power, enters the war in Crimea and it is an immediate disaster. To understand the depth and degree of how disastrous it was for England, one must read Gill's detailed, descriptive and unforgiving account. Arrogant leadership, poor planning, poorly equipped soldiers, inadequate soldier training and more becomes apparent at the outset. News of how disastrous the war was going for England got back to England and there was hand-wringing about how to deal with it. Soldiers were dying in alarming numbers daily, not from injury, although there was that, but of disease and starvation. They were poorly outfitted, suffered from frostbite and covered with lice. The hospital where the soldiers who still survived were carried was a cesspool. The soldiers did not receive care or attention as it was expected that they would soon die anyway; and they did die, of disease and starvation. Those who died were buried in mass graves. Gill is unsparing and to read of it makes the unbearable palpable.
Thanks to a diligent journalist and muckraker, the news of this spreads to the ordinary citizens back in England, many of whom had sent their fathers and sons to the war. By this time, Florence Nightingale's reputation was well known, especially amongst England's governmental leadership - the prime minister, members of parliament, military leadership and, even, Royalty—Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. This is how Florence Nightingale is called to go to Crimea. She takes a motley crew of poorly educated and impoverished nurses with her, because these were the only kind of nurses in existence at the time. It's astonishing what she achieves despite the forces against her (amongst others, military doctors who realize that her work is revealing their incompetence), and the forces which helped her. It was an uphill battle the whole time, yet she turned things around. News of her work spread first amongst and from the soldiers who wrote letters home telling their families about her work and of the improvements in their care. Even as she struggled in Crimea with one obstacle after another, she was becoming very famous in England and worldwide. The accurate and carefully footnoted account Gill provides must be read to fully appreciate and understand.
Illustration, page 382.
The war ends and Florence returns home a hero. Yet, to avoid all of the planned fanfare, of which there was plenty, she essentially sneaks back into the country and returns to her family's estate on foot. She is noticed by the family's longstanding housemaid walking, unaccompanied, up the path. One might think that Florence's story could end here. But she is only in her late 30s when the war ends and she lives into the early 20th century, dying at the ago of 90 in August, 1910. I found her post wartime life both surprising and confusing and it is nearly as fascinating as her war years. A separate book of Nightingale's life following the war could easily be written. With Gill, who is both truthful and generous, Florence's story is in good hands. We also learn about Fanny, WEN and Parthenope, who, surprisingly comes to life in the final chapters. In addition to helping her sister's efforts in Crimea, she finally marries, to her parents' delight, a wealthy, much older man and goes on to become a successful writer. Throughout the book, it is always apparent how much Gill likes the whole Nightingale family—but especially Florence. She does not skate past Florence's flaws, but she provides good reasons for those flaws. It is clear that she is writing about a real person, not a historical deity, for whom she has deep admiration.
In this review, unfortunately, my summary of the life of Florence Nightingale does not really scratch the surface. Gill's Nightingales deserves a full reading. Readers will not be disappointed.
I thought I knew about Victorian England, but in this book it is on display in a very real way. Queen Victoria also had a long life, dying on January 22, 1901 at age 81. Even after her death, Victorian values persisted in England for much longer. While Florence was still alive and nearly blind at the end of her life, the reader senses how the world is changing and modernizing. For this reason, at the opening of my review I mention the new movie Downton Abbey, The Grand Finale. The seven season series begins just as World War I is about to happen and the Victorian period still hangs over the characters. As the series progresses it's apparent that the Victorian age is slowly slipping away. The movie, made to close out the story and satisfy its dedicated viewers, starts and ends as the depression is ending.
It is instructive to remember that Jane Austen published all six of her novels between 1811 and 1818, just before the Nightingale sisters were born. George Eliot published Middlemarch in two parts in 1871 and 1872. Did Florence Nightingale, possibly the best read woman of her time, read Jane Austen's novels? Did she read Middlemarch in her later years? This is the period of time she lived in.
While the Victorian period and what it stood for was recognized during Victoria's reign, it seems unlikely that Florence Nightingale would blame the constraints and restrictions she experienced in life on Victorian values. Florence Nightingale was a force of nature and way ahead of her time. She is an individual of great historical importance who might easily have had her significant contributions dumbed down, or worse, forgotten altogether. Why? I would suggest because she is a woman, because she is known as a nurse, i.e. not a doctor, and because we are going back two centuries to remember her. So I thank Gillian Gill for telling Florence Nightingale's story in such honest, revealing and riveting prose. As I write this, October is soon upon us. I can say with certainty that Nightingales will be the best book I read all year, and the best $3.00 I have ever spent.
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Side note: Something that struck me, and I think will strike modern readers, is the amount of letter writing that everyone partakes in. This was their way to communicate and they certainly made good on its use. Author Gill makes good use of this treasure trove of information, so it is easy to read the truth in the words she writes. In a couple of passages, she interjects to dispel any current day ideology that might be attributed to Florence Nightingale. One example of 21st century ideology is that Florence was a lesbian. She had small and sometimes signifiant infatuations with girls her age or young women who were slightly older. Florence's own letters and the letters she received from others often contained proclamations of love for the other girl or young woman. She never married despite many opportunities. In a passage to address this issue, Gill completely dismisses the ideology that Florence was a lesbian, steadfastly explaining that there is no concrete evidence or any other information to support this assertion. Indeed, in Victorian times, girls and young women, after a certain age, would not be allowed to have intimate relationships with boys or young men and so it makes sense that their intimate feelings and sentiments of love would be directed toward the young women in their lives. Applying 21st century ideology to 19th century sexual mores and 19th century lives is not a good fit. Gill's assessment comes from the voluminous letter writing that she was able to study. I often wonder what events occurring today will be remembered accurately by history. Emails, texts, social media ... none of this will reveal the same depth of truth for inhabitants of the future. We are already deep into the throes of impoverished communication. We can be grateful for the writers, historians and journalists who are working in real time to ameliorate this impoverishment. Just one well-known example is historian, Heather Cox Richardson, writing and publishing on-line, her daily Letter from an American.
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