Florence Nightingale was a nurse who saved many lives in the 19th century. 

She was born in 1820, in Italy. And named after the city of  Florence , where her parents went after they got married in 1818. 

Her family returned back to London when Florence was a young  girl.

Her family was rich and they had two homes in Britain as well as servants. 

Florence was an unusual young woman for her time because she didn’t want to go to parties and get married. 

She wanted to be a nurse and help people. In 1845 she decided to become a nurse.

Her family didn’t want her to become a nurse because hospitals back then were dirty, horrible places. They were worried about her. 

In 1851, Florence went to Germany and learned all about nursing. It was hard work, but she loved it. 

In 1854, lots of British soldiers went to fight in the Crimean War. Army hospitals were filled with injured soldiers, but there were no nurses and many men died. 

Florence and a team of nurses went to help. She worked 20 hours a day to make the army hospital a cleaner and safer place. 

She brought the men fresh food, she cleaned the hospital beds and she used clean bandages on the wounded soldiers. Soon, fewer men were dying.