Well Known Historical Figure

1.  I was born on 12 May 1820 and named after the Italian city where I was born.  My parents were English, but on a tour of Europe when I was born.

2.  In 1837 I felt God was calling me to serve others, but I wasn't sure what that work should be.  My parents objected feeling that a profession was inappropriate to a woman of my class and background


3.  After 9 years I finally rejected the politician and poet Richard Monckton Milnes, the 1st Baron Houghton because I felt that marriage would interfere with my calling



4.  After a long trip to Greece, Rome and Egypt I spent 4 months on nursing training in Germany in 1850 as well as publishing, anonymously, my first report



5.  In 1853 I took the post of superintendent at the Institute for the Care of Sick Gentlewomen in Upper Harley Street, London

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6.  In 1854 I led an expedition of 38 women to take over the management of the barrack hospital at Scutari (in modern day Istanbul) where I observed the disastrous sanitary conditions.


7.  I sent many reports of the conditions back to the government and papers in London and used newly developed tools such as pie charts to illustrate the effects.


8.  My work in the Crimea was described in the following poem by  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

A lady with a lamp I see
Pass through the glimmering gloom,
And flit from room to room.

 9.  I returned to England in 1856 and in 1860 I published 'Notes on Nursing' which was hugely influential and my concerns for sanitation, military health and hospital planning established practices which are still in existence today



10.  In 1860 I established a training school for nurses at St Thomas' Hospital in London.

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References:

Wikipedia
BBC.co.uk/History