Important Florence Nightingale letters found near Colchester
19 letters have been found in a house dated between 1875 and 1880
Interesting letters written by Florence Nightingale have been found in a house near Colchester.
There have been 19 letters found, which are said to be very personal and important letters dated between 1875 and 1880.
The collection of letters were written by Florence to her friend and one time colleague Miss Leslie Gardiner.
The letters offer a valuable insight into Florence Nightingale’s opinions on traditional nursing method.
One letter dated March 15 1878 reads: ‘I have sent, sorely against the grain, her choice of a 'Midwifery' book, fit only for medical students and to make nurses into pig-ignorant'.
This previously unseen collection of letters was consigned to Colchester auctioneers Reeman Dansie Auctions, by a descendent of Miss Leslie Gardiner.
Associate Director and Auctioneer from Colchester, Daniel Wright said: “It is a particularly important collection of letters.”
Daniel will be auctioning them on Wednesday 14 July at Reeman Dansie Auction Rooms.
“Whilst Florence Nightingale letters do turn up from time to time, it’s rare that they’re as personal as this, and as poignant.”
“The content is a mixture of personal moments. Florence Nightingale is questioning traditional nursing, and particularly midwifery methods. We have got 19 in total spanning from 1875 to 1880, which were all written by Florence Nightingale.
“One of my colleagues was shown this important collection of letters during a routine house visit near Colchester. The collection had been stored for some decades in a safe and housed in a very old linen pouch.
“The family that owned the collection were direct descendants of one of the ladies featured in the letters Miss Leslie Gardener, who was a fellow medical practitioner with Nightingale and I think the two worked together.
Florence Nightingale, who died in 1910, was an English reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing.
Her most famous contribution came during the Crimean War, which became her central focus when reports got back to Britain about the conditions at the military hospital on the Asiatic side of the Bosporus.
A poignant letter of 1877 which relates the death of Florence Nightingale’s mother reads: ‘The reason I have been unable to write is this, your note reached me here. I had been summoned down here to take charge of my Mother, a widow and infirm. A few hours after my arrival, a case of infectious disease, not contracted here, declared itself in a new corner, which is spite of Nursing and Medical care, proved fatal. I could summon no one to help me and I am scarcely able to write even this...God help us. God speed our work for we need his love.'
This previously unseen collection of letters was consigned to Colchester auctioneers Reeman Dansie Auctions.
The letters are expected to achieve £5,000-7,000 when offered in their auction on Wednesday 14 July.