Working from Home

Abstract

Florence Nightingale returned from the Crimea as a national heroine, although disappointed with the amount of change achieved there compared to what she felt needed to be done. She was also suffering from an illness which was to plague her, on and off, for the rest of her life. Forced to adjust to a new state of invalidism, Nightingale developed different routines and working methods. She relied on letters more than ever to lobby for change, and fashioned her London home as ‘The Little War Office’, using her rooms as a base to receive important visitors and influence reform. It was during this period that Nightingale’s attentions moved to India. Spurred by the emergency created by the violent 1857 Indian Rebellion, she initially worked to extend her Crimean military reforms to the Indian subcontinent. Over time, however, her interests in India expanded and Nightingale became involved with social reform more generally: campaigning for village health schemes, agricultural improvements, women’s education, and Indian independence. Although liberal and progressive for the time, Nightingale’s Indian interests nevertheless tacitly accepted pervasive rhetorical conceptions of empire as part of the national home and recognised imperial responsibility as integral to Britishness.