Florence Nightingale plaque for Derby Cathedral

Florence Nightingale was brought up in Derbyshire

A plaque in commemoration of nursing reformer Florence Nightingale has been dedicated at Derby Cathedral to mark International Nurses Day.

Although born in Florence, Italy, in 1820 she was brought up at her family's homes in Hampshire and Derbyshire.

Her family's Derbyshire home was at Lea Hurst, near Matlock.

Nurses took part in a parade earlier from St Peter's Church to the cathedral dressed in 19th Century uniforms to mark the occasion.

There is already a stained glass window dedicated to Nightingale at St Peter's Church in Derby, and there are three statues of her in the city.

Florence's father, William Shore, had inherited the Lea Hurst estate from his wife's uncle, Peter Nightingale, along with the right to assume the family's arms and the Nightingale name.

Florence Nightingale claimed to have heard God's voice

'Heard God's voice'

During the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale became known as The Lady with the Lamp because of the late hours she worked as she tended to the ill and wounded.

She later established the Nightingale Training School for nurses at St Thomas' Hospital in London.

Her nurses were sent to hospitals throughout Britain and introduced the ideas and practices they had learnt.

The nurse claimed to have heard God's voice, calling her to do his work, and a service in her honour is held at Derby Cathedral every year.

Nightingale's theories, published in Notes on Nursing in 1860, were hugely influential and her advice on sanitation, military health and hospital planning established practices which are still in existence today.