St. Paul's Cathedral. Memorial Service for Miss Florence Nightingale, O.M., on Saturday, 20th August, 1910, at 12 o'clock. [Drop title].

[London]: 1910. 3-1/2 x 4-1/2 inches. Small card, printed recto only. White stock printed in black. Creased and lightly soiled, with a small tear to the top edge; seemingly unrelated blue wax pencil notations, "Review order" and "A.2" to recto, not affecting text. Good. A rare ticket to Florence Nightingale's memorial service, held at St. Paul's Cathedral a week after her death on August 13, 1910. Although burial in Westminster Abbey was offered to her family, Nightingale's wish to be buried at Wellow in Hampshire was honored; the simple funeral, bereft, as Nightingale requested, of the pomp and circumstance that marked the memorial service, was held the same day as the latter. Nightingale (1820-1910) rose to prominence during the Crimean War for her success in organizing care for wounded soldiers, and has had numerous nursing awards named after her since. She helped to professionalize the nursing profession, establishing the first secular nursing school at St. Thomas' Hospital in London in 1860 and challenging notions of what constituted acceptable forms of women's work. She also advocated for important social reforms, including more widespread access to healthcare in the UK, hunger relief in India, and the abolition of prostitution laws that harmed women. The Nurses Memorial Chapel in Westminster Abbey is dedicated to her.