Letter from Florence Nightingale to a Derbyshire doctor, CB Dunn

Florence Nightingale’s letters to Crich surgeon C B N Dunn are a fascinating read, for their social history content as well as for the insights they can provide into the life of their author. In this example Nightingale tells Dunn of candidates for membership of the local Women’s Club – not a recreational club, but a benefit society, which provided a form of insurance against sickness and death. It was hoped that Dunn could “pass” people as being in good health on joining the club.

Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) is regarded as the founder of modern nursing. She was born in Florence in 1820, the daughter of William Edward Nightingale, born Shore (1794-1874) and Frances Nightingale nee Smith (1789-1880). The family was wealthy, and owned properties including Derbyshire estates, and a home at Lea Hurst in Derbyshire where they regularly spent the summer.

In 1854, during the Crimean War, Nightingale began working at a British military hospital in Scutari (now Uskudar, Istanbul), where she excelled in improving working practices. She went on to found the Nightingale Training School at St Thomas's Hospital in 1860. Thereafter, she was a prolific writer and social reformer. She suffered from chronic ill-health and did much of her work during the next decades from her bed. In addition to their house, Lea Hust, the Nightingales were also associated with the Lea Mills, a knitting factory established by Florence’s great-uncle, Peter Nightingale and John Smedley. She maintained an interest in the people of Lea and it’s environs, particularly with regard to their health care.

Christopher Blencowe Noble Dunn was born in Cumberworth, Yorkshire, in 1836. His father, also Christopher Dunn, was a clergyman, who brought his family to Crich, Derbyshire, when he became curate there. Dunn qualified as a doctor and was a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1861. He died in 1892.