Florence nightingale video biography business

Florence Nightingale tells the story of her life and work, and shows how she grew up to become a nurse during the Crimean War. The story is told in the first person, and brought to life with a mix of drama, movement, music and animation.

We see Florence as a child and follow her determination to become a nurse. She trains nurses to go to the Crimean war. They make the hospital clean, and care for wounded soldiers. Florence describes how she worked at night with her lamp. Finally, Florence tells us how this changed nursing forever.

Teaching History?

Pupils could discuss whether or not Florence was a typical girl. Why was it such a shock that she wanted to be a nurse? Which event gave her the opportunity to be a nurse? And how were her beliefs different to other nurses at the time? How successful was she in the hospital at Scutari? Pupils might like to research what they think was the long-term impact of Florence's work. Does she deserve to be famous? What lessons can we learn from the life of Florence Nightingale?

This film would be relevant for teaching history at Key Stage 1 and 2 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and First and Second Level in Scotland.

Florence Nightingale: Early Life

Florence Nightingale was born on May 12, 1820, in Florence, Italy to Frances Nightingale and William Shore Nightingale. She was the younger of two children. Nightingale’s affluent British family belonged to elite social circles. Her mother, Frances, hailed from a family of merchants and took pride in socializing with people of prominent social standing. Despite her mother’s interest in social climbing, Florence herself was reportedly awkward in social situations. She preferred to avoid being the center of attention whenever possible. Strong-willed, Florence often butted heads with her mother, whom she viewed as overly controlling. Still, like many daughters, she was eager to please her mother. “I think I am got something more good-natured and complying,” Florence wrote in her own defense, concerning the mother-daughter relationship.

Florence’s father was William Shore Nightingale, a wealthy landowner who had inherited two estates—one at Lea Hurst, Derbyshire, and the other in Hampshire, Embley Park—when Florence was five years old. Florence was raised on the family estate at Lea Hurst, where her father provided her with a classical education, including studies in German, French and Italian.

From a very young age, Florence Nightingale was active in philanthropy, ministering to the ill and poor people in the village neighboring her family’s estate. By the time she was 16 years old, it was clear to her that nursing was her calling. She believed it to be her divine purpose.

When Nightingale approached her parents and told them about her ambitions to become a nurse, they were not pleased. In fact, her parents forbade her to pursue nursing. During the Victorian Era, a young lady of Nightingale’s social stature was expected to marry a man of means—not take up a job that was viewed as lowly menial labor by the upper social classes. 

When Nightingale was 17 years old, she refused a marriage proposal from a “suitable” gentle