a British nurse who set up a hospital for soldiers in Turkey during the Crimean War. She was called the 'Lady with the Lamp', because she walked around the hospital in the evenings with a lamp to check that everything was in order. She set up a school for nurses, making nursing (=the job of being a nurse) into a real profession (1820-1910). born May 12, 1820, Florence, Italy died Aug. 13, 1910, London, Eng. Italian-born British nurse, founder of trained nursing as a profession. As a volunteer nurse, she was put in charge of nursing the military in Turkey during the Crimean War. Her first concern was sanitation: patients' quarters were infested with rats and fleas, and the water allowance was one pint per head per day for all purposes. She used her own finances to purchase supplies. She also spent many hours in the wards; her night rounds giving personal care to the wounded established her image as the "Lady with the Lamp." Her efforts to improve soldiers' welfare led to the Army Medical School and a Sanitary Department in India. She started the first scientifically based nursing school, was instrumental in setting up training for midwives and nurses in workhouse infirmaries, and helped reform workhouses. She was the first woman awarded the Order of Merit (1907)
{i} birth name of Elizabeth Arden (1891-1966), Canadian-born woman who became famous for building a large cosmetics corporation in the United States and marketed her cosmetics products internationally