She was a daughter of a well-heeled father. When she was born, there were cooks, butlers and maids in the house that spoke of the wealthy family. Her land owner father educated her at home and she learnt Greek, Latin, French, German, Italian and also history and music.
When she was barely 17, her parents broached the idea of marriage. But she turned a rebel and turned down every suitor. This fight lasted for several years until her father relented. Her heart was in nursing the sick poor. From her young age, Nightingale practised philanthropy, ministering to the ill and the poor in the village neighbouring her family’s estate. She then felt strongly that nursing only was her calling.
In the year 1849, she even turned down the marital proposal from a gentleman saying her moral and active nature called for something beyond a domestic life. She then enrolled herself as a nursing student at an institution in Germany.....
