{"id":861,"date":"2019-03-30T09:12:04","date_gmt":"2019-03-30T08:12:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.florence-nightingale-avenging-angel.co.uk\/blog\/?p=861"},"modified":"2025-01-20T19:11:19","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T18:11:19","slug":"how-florence-nightingale-saved-lives","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.florence-nightingale-avenging-angel.co.uk\/blog\/how-florence-nightingale-saved-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"Florence Nightingale and Her Real Legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/dp\/1472140281\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"Click to see inside book noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.florence-nightingale-avenging-angel.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Jacket-BHOFN-135w.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3071\" width=\"182\" height=\"284\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.florence-nightingale-avenging-angel.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Jacket-BHOFN-135w.jpg 135w, https:\/\/www.florence-nightingale-avenging-angel.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Jacket-BHOFN-135w-96x150.jpg 96w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 182px) 85vw, 182px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) is best known as a reformer of hospital nursing during and after the Crimean War. &nbsp;Hugh Small&#8217;s <em>Florence Nightingale, Avenging Angel<\/em>&nbsp;(published by Constable in 1998) first revealed the true story of the disaster in her wartime hospital and why it caused her to change course and campaign for wider public health reform. Medical historian James Le Fanu, in a&nbsp;<em>Daily Telegraph&nbsp;<\/em>review, called it<strong> &#8216;a masterly&nbsp;piece of historical detective work&#8217;<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Hugh Small&#8217;s&nbsp;new biography of Nightingale, published in August 2017 by the Robinson imprint of Little, Brown Book Group, adds the dramatic&nbsp;sequel to her&nbsp;journey from tragedy to triumph. It reveals that Nightingale created the public health legislation of 1875 which historians now agree caused&nbsp;the astonishing increase in national life expectancy over the period 1875-1935, before medicine could make any contribution. This achievement is unrelated to&nbsp;the hospital reforms&nbsp;with which Nightingale is usually associated. It establishes her reputation as one of the most important social reformers in modern history, whether male or female, elected or unelected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-1 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"170\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/u6XqiDccroM\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<p>The diagram that persuaded politicians to change the law (YouTube, 4 mins)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Please share, like, and subscribe if you find it interesting  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Click <a href=\"http:\/\/www.florence-nightingale-avenging-angel.co.uk\/blog\/?page_id=2690\">here<\/a> to see how she explained her diagram  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-2 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"170\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wxMC6U6YU50\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<p>Florence Nightingale&#8217;s war experience teaches her how to save lives <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">outside<\/span> hospital (YouTube, 9 mins)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Please share, like, and subscribe if you find it interesting<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-3 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"170\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lxipM-YCtjE\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<p>She changes the law to save millions of people from fatal epidemic disease (YouTube, 6 mins) <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Please share, like, and subscribe if you find it interesting <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.florence-nightingale-avenging-angel.co.uk\/blog\">Home<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-size:20px\">Hugh Small&#8217;s biography of Nightingale is the first to reveal her huge achievement after the Crimean War in leading the campaign for public health legislation. Her Public Health Act of 1875 ensured that working class homes would be healthy. It increased average life expectancy for everyone in the country from 40 years to 60 before medical technology was able to make any contribution. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-861","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Florence Nightingale and Her Real Legacy - Florence Nightingale&#039;s forgotten legacy: Public Health laws<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.florence-nightingale-avenging-angel.co.uk\/blog\/how-florence-nightingale-saved-lives\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Florence Nightingale and Her Real Legacy - Florence Nightingale&#039;s forgotten legacy: Public Health laws\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hugh Small&#039;s biography of Nightingale is the first to reveal her huge achievement after the Crimean War in leading the campaign for public health legislation. 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