Florence Nightingale: How the lady with the lamp was guided by father’s advice

Letters reveal that the 19th-century pioneer's radical approach to healthcare was inspired by a strict family regime

She was the 19th-century pioneer of modern nursing, dubbed the lady with the lamp" for her continuous care of wounded soldiers in the Crimean war. In an earlier age of contagion, she was far ahead of her time in realising that cleanliness, fresh air and open-air exercise helped patients recover from injury and disease.

Now a previously unpublished letter that Florence Nightingale received as a teenager from her father reveals that he was a major inspiration in shaping her radical approach to a healthy mind and body.