Florence Nightingale was never called “The Lady with the Lamp” but ”The Lady with the Hammer”, an image deftly readjusted by the war reporter of the Times since it was far too coarse for the folks back home. Far from gliding about the hospital with her lamp aloft, Nightingale earned her nickname through a ferocious attack on a locked storeroom when a military commander refused to give her the medical supplies she needed.

“Who cooked the Last Supper?: The Women’s History of the World”- Rosalind Miles (via fyeahnursingthings)

Fuck, now I really want some fanart. Think of all the passive, prim-looking, saintly portraits we’ve seen of Florence Nightingale! I want to see her with a hammer.

(via cimness)