title: The Life of Florence Nightingale
abstract: Florence Nightingale (1820–1910) was one of the era’s leading reformers. In her childhood and youth, she was exposed to ‘progressive social causes such as abolition and labor reform’ through her grandparents’ Unitarian faith. 1 Although her parents converted to Anglicanism, the humanistic ideals of Unitarianism made a powerful impression on Florence. At Lea Hall, the family’s ancestral home in Matlock, Derbyshire, where Florence stayed on occasion, she developed a concern with rural poverty. Thi