Original Florence Nightingale letter made available online.

This week, Assistant Archivist, Rosie Baillie tells us about LHSA's prized volume of Florence Nightingale letters.


The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh's Lady Superintendent of Nurses, Angelique Lucille Pringle was a regular correspondent of Florence Nightingale in the late 19th Century.  This friendship resulted in a series of motivational letters addressed to the Infirmary's nursing staff written to inspire them to keep up their good work!

Angelique Lucille Pringle, LHSA Photographic Collection


One of the treasures of LHSA's Archive collection is a bound volume of letters written by Florence Nightingale collected by Miss Pringle.  We have recently made the first letter in this volume available to view online using http://www.issuu.com/.  This website provides online 'page-turner' technology, as shown below.


The letter, dated 6 December 1878 begins:


'My dear friends: our good nurses

Often I do wish that I could go amongst you all, at least twice in the year.  I feel as if I were always with you in the work, and indeed I am always with you in prayer'.

Florence Nightingale, LHSA Object Collection, P4


We have a small selection of other LHSA records available to consult via www.issuu.com/lhsa