Florence Nightingale, OM (12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910), who came to be known as The Lady with the Lamp, was a pioneer of modern nursing, and a noted statistician.
Wikipedia – Florence Nightingale
Local legend has long perpetuated the thought that Florence Nightingale has had some link with Atherstone, many believe it to be that Nightingale spent a number of nights sleeping in the Old Swan next to Welcome street. The ties though appear to much stronger.
The Bracebridges & Florence
Florence met Selina Bracebridge when she was 26 in the autumn of 1846. Selina Bracebridge was the wife of Charles Holte Bracebridge, of Atherstone Hall.
Florences mother Fanny Nightingale encouraged the relationship between the ladies as she thought Selina would be a good influence on her daughter; she was rich, loved to entertain (like herself) and importantly happily married.
Florence and her mother were not particularly close and Nightingale’s recent attraction to the vocation of nursing was not approved off. Perhaps it was hoped the influence of Selina Bracebridge would turn Florence away from nursing, this did not prove to be the case.
The relationship between the two of them proved to be highly influencial on Nightingale, her life, and her work.
He and she have been the creators of my life….And when I think Of Atherstone, of Athens, of all the places I have been in with them, of the immense influence they had in shaping my own life – more than earthly mother and father to me – I cannot doubt that they leave behind them, having shaped many lives as they did mine, their mark on the century.
The Bracebridges loved to travel and Florence had traveled over much of Europe earlier in her life with her family.
Florence and the Bracebridges first travelled abroad together in 1847 when the party visited Rome.
Florence and the Bracebridges also visited Egypt in the winter of 1849-50. Florence was entertained by governors, chief consuls and ambassadors as she travelled with the Bracebridges as they were very well known; it was certainly an adventure for her. Florence though was not happy, lost in her own thoughts. Selina noticed this and suggested they travel home through Prague and Berlin. She and her husband could stay a fortnight in Dusseldorf, while Florence visited Kaiserwerth, a place where she could practice her nursing. A place her mother hoped Selina would help Florence forget.
It was Selina’s intervention and sensitivity that enable Nightingale to nurse as she longed to, it was not for this who knows what would have become of Florence’s nursing future.
The Bracebridges also travelled with Florence in the Crimea during the Russian war.
Welcome Street was built and given to the townsfolk of Atherstone in 1855 by Charles Holte Bracebridge. This was in thanks for the warm reception the towns people gave the Bracebridges and Florence Nightingale’s sister on their return from the Crimea. Perhaps this is where the Florence Nightingale / Old Swan connection originates from.
In Atherstone today there exists a Florence Close and a Nightingale Clsoe located in the 1960′s housing estate that replaced the home of the Bracebridge family, Atherstone Hall.
Will you take some notice of a Captain Mills, nephew of Mrs Bracebridge, who brings you a parcel of papers from me, and who is to be with his regiment, the 57th, at Portsmouth. You must not expect a luminary, far from it. But he is a goodboy, very devoted son to his mother, that widow whom we once met at Atherstone.
A small mention of the Bracebridges and Atherstone it self in one of Nightingale’s personal letters. Lyon, Monday 1st November 1847.
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Thank you for the information on this site – it has been useful as I am trying to trace a great great grandmother that is believed to have gone to the Crimean War with Florence Nightingale. She was born in the Atherstone area I believe, as Mary Peake during the 1820′s. She married Joseph Alcock sometime between census 1841 and 1851 and didn’t have any children until 1862 when she was then resident in Oldbury.The only nurse that I feel could be linked to this woman from the Florence Nightingale Museum records is a Magdeline Alcock. Can anyone give me further information about this? Many thanks.
thank you im just trying to trace my great great grandmother florence nightingale and at last i found it im just wondering if you could make a family tree for me please
My Aunt Gertrude, born circa 1898, told me as a small boy that Florence Nightingale used to stay at Bracebridge Hall. Also that Mr Compton Bracebridge visited her in the Crimea. Regarding Welcome Street, Mr John Cope, photographer,told me that it was so named on a visit to Atherstone by King Edward VII during his reign, and that he took pictures of the occasion.
According to the current Landlord, Florence Nightingale also stayed in The Old Swan during her time in Atherstone.