An original letter by Florence Nightingale unearthed in the archives at the University of Chichester is to be displayed for the first time.
The hand-written note from 1872, which was discovered in near-pristine condition in the depths of its archives, describes the nursing pioneer’s poor health following her return from the Crimean War.
In the letter, a 62-year-old Nightingale gives her full support to a campaign led by the Suffragettes and activist Louisa Hubbard to create a female teacher-training college on the south coast – now the University of Chichester.
The missive, which bears the heroine’s distinctive signature, is to be displayed in the University’s new School of Nursing and Allied Health, which opened last year.
Second page of the letter which supports the foundation of what is now the University of Chichester
Head of the School Dr Nita Muir, said:
“The letter epitomises all that Nightingale stood for – boundless compassion for the right causes and championing social reform.
"It is a remarkable find and completely unspoiled despite spending the last 140 years in an old scrapbook which belonged to the famed women’s rights campaigner Louisa Hubbard.”
The University of Chichester first opened to students in 1840, then named Bishop Otter college after its founder, but subsequently changed to training women in 1873 after the success of the campaign by Ms Hubbard and the Suffragettes.
The West Sussex institution still retains some purple colour in its academic dress code to reference the movement.
Nightingale, who was born in 1820, is known as the mother of modern nursing with her revolutionary reforms which made hospitals more organised and cleaner.
Nightingale’s letter will be displayed at the University of Chichester’s new School of Nursing and Allied Health. It will be unveiled at an event marking International Nursing Day on Thursday (12 May).
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