On July 30th 1890, Florence Nightingale made this voice recording to help raise money for the impoverished veterans of the Charge of the Light Brigade from the Battle of Balaclava in 1854.
Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) dedicated her life to nursing. She is famous for her work as a nurse during the Crimean War (1853-6) which won her the name of the Lady with the Lamp, but her greatest contribution to nursing began on her return when, with the backing of Queen Victoria, she helped establish a Royal Commission into soldiers’ health. Through her innovative use of diagrams she showed that almost 90% of deaths were due not to battle wounds, but to poor sanitation. In 1859 she published her two most influential books, ‘Notes on Nursing’ and ‘Notes on Hospitals’.
For this historical video animation, I colorized a black and white photograph of Florence Nightingale from the Wellcome Library dated to c.1890, and animated the colorized photo to match the 1890 voice recording. The original recording engineer was Colonel Gouraud, Thomas Edison’s British representative.

Transcription:
At Florence Nightingale’s house, London, July the 30th, 1890.
When I am no longer even a memory, just a name, I hope my voice may perpetuate the great work of my life.
God bless my dear old comrades of Balaclava and bring them safe to shore.
Florence Nightingale

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