A letter from Florence Nightingale to Mr I Scott Robertson, ...

Hammer

£850

A letter from Florence Nightingale to Mr I Scott Robertson, dated 22nd November 1869, commending to him Mrs Deeble and the recently trained Nurses appointed with her supervision. Mrs Jane Deeble replaced Mrs Shaw Stewart as the Lady Superintendent at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley on the 1st November 1869. The four sided letter together with original envelope reads as follows:
"Mr dear Sir, I am always glad to have the opportunity of recalling myself to your recollections. Enclosed is my answer to your question. Will you allow me to commend to you the new Netley Nursing Staff? We were asked by I of S to train a complete staff for the hospital. We trust we have succeeded very well and have great hopes that the ... and nurses will be useful in every respect. Mrs Deeble, the Supt, Dr Deeble who died of dysentery in the Abyssinian Campaign, is an able, devoted and courageous woman. Some of the "listers" are superior women. All are good. I am sure that you will kindly feel disposed to give them all the help in your power, especially at first starting as to, e.g. the forms to be used in the .... also in accounting for all money received by the Supt and for rations etc (I do not myself know what forms are now used, as ...some change has been made ... to the recent Warrant. And it is well that our people have come in first at the moment of the change, if it has to be.) I am sure that you will kindly make them as comfortable as possible e.g. in any little matters of furnishing they may require etc. Pray believe me my dear Sir, ever your faithful servant, Florence Nightingale."
Florence Nightingale was a pioneer for the employment of women as nurses in military hospitals. Her own devotion to the service helped to persuade public opinion of the valuable nature of the work undertaken by female nurses to the sick and wounded soldiers. In this letter she is praising the nurses of the Royal Victoria Hospital at Netley together with the character of Mrs Deeble