NIGHTINGALE, Florence (1820-1910). A single leaf, headed "Morning [?]Slate", [c.1853-56], listing the numbers in various hospitals, with "Deaths in past week, 14," "201 Invalids sailed for England", "244 Convalescents sailed for Krimea" [etc], 122 x 81mm.

NIGHTINGALE, Florence (1820-1910).  A small single leaf, possibly extracted from a diary or notebook, each side headed "Morning Slate" [or possibly "state"], [undated but probably c.1853-56], listing the numbers of sick and wounded officers and soldiers under the headings, "Gen. Hosp.", "Barrack [Hosp.]", "Palace [Hosp.]", and "Koulale [Hosp.]", with notes added beneath, "Deaths in past week, 14," "201 Invalids sailed for England, 244 Convalescents [sailed] for Krimea, 223 sick landed from Krimea [sic] at Scutari, 74 at Koulale", with similar annotation on the verso (some light spotting), contained in a narrow black metal frame, glazed on both sides, 122 x 81mm., with a later note pasted onto the glass, reading, "A Page from the Diary of Florence Nightingale." The handwriting and numerals bear a close resemblance to those of Florence Nightingale, but may be the work of an assistant working at Scutari under Nightingale's orders. The note is believed to date from the time of Florence Nightingale's work at Scutari Hospital during the Crimean War of 1853-56. The former barracks was converted into a British military hospital but it was not designed to cope with the sheer numbers of sick and injured soldiers. When Florence Nightingale arrived with her party of nurses in 1854 she was shocked by the conditions and suffering she encountered and so began her pioneering work to improve the efficacy of nursing, the work for which she would become famous. Provenance: The vendor was given the document by her great aunt Helen Josephine Chance (1888-1973), a Red Cross nurse in the First World War who spent time in a military hospital in Salonica in northern Greece. A photograph of her working there, with three other nurses, is included in the lot - please see the illustration. She received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal for her service in 1914-18, but it is not known how she acquired the present document.