Nightingale letter found in Midlands set for auction sale
ALETTER penned by Florence Nightingale and unearthed in Lichfield has been dubbed ‘one of the best ever finds’ by excited antiques experts.
The letter – a friendly note to a Mrs Battersby – was penned on May 26, 1894, and bears the address 10, South Street, Park Lane.
It was uncovered during a valuation session at the Hedgehog Inn, in Lichfield – a regular venue for Hansons Auctioneers.
The missive will now feature in the July 2 Fine Art Library auction at Hansons’ Etwall, Derbyshire, base.
Adrian Rathbone, the company’s associate director, said: “I was astonished to see this letter penned by one of the most famous women in British history at a free valuation day.
“It has to be one of my best finds ever.
“The writing paper features a printed address: ‘10 South Street, Park Lane’.
“We know Florence spent the final years of her life in South Street, London. She died at the age of 90 in 1910, so this letter would have been written when she was 74 years old.”
Deciphering all the scrawled text is near impossible, but the letter appears to refer to a member of Flor- ence’s staff who was for confirmation.
The woman in question “has had a great deal more responsibility than I like in the kitchen”.
She insists: “I am hurrying a new cook in to prevent a reoccurrence of this.”
Mr Rathbone says: letter’s importance derived from the fact that Florence Nightingale was the founder of modern nursing – The Lady with the Lamp, a Victorian icon.”
Born on May 12, preparing “The is 1820, Nightingale came to promischool in the world and is now part of nence while training fellow King’s College, London. In recogninurses and tending to wounded tion of her pioneering work, the soldiers during the Crimean Nightingale Pledge taken by new War. nurses, and the Florence Nightingale Images of her holding a lamp Medal, the highest international disas she walked through the tinction a nurse can achieve, were wards have become iconic. named in her honour, and InternaIn 1860, she laid the foundational Nurses Day is celebrated tion of professional nursing around the world on her birthday. with the establishment The Florence Nightingale letter will of her nursing be sold at Hansons Auctioneers, school at St ThomHeage Lane, Etwall, Derbyshire, on as’ Hospital in July 2. No reserve price has yet been set.London. It was the first Hansons experts offer free valuasecular nursing tions every Monday at the Hedgehog Inn, Stafford Road, Lichfield, WS13 8JB, from 10.30am to 12.30pm.