Volume 1
The life of Florence Nightingale. Vol. II (1862-1910) / Sir Edward Cook.
- Cook, Sir Edward Tyas, 1857-1919.
- Date:
- 1913
Licence: In copyright
Credit: The life of Florence Nightingale. Vol. II (1862-1910) / Sir Edward Cook. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
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![question of the General Hospital to be built at Woolwich. The Commander-in-Chief was opposed to the scheme, and asked Sir George Lewis to cancel it. Economy was, perhaps, behind the Minister tempting him. But Lord de Grey, who was present at the interview, stood firm. Sir, he said, it is impossible. Lord Herbert decided it, and the House of Commons voted it. 1 In the end, the Horse Guards and the War Office accepted the inevitable with a good grace ; the order was given for the building to pro- ceed, and Miss Nightingale's suggestion was adopted that it should be christened The Herbert Hospital. Lord de Grey was also influential in securing a redefini- tion of Captain Galton's duties at the War Office. Lady Herbert told Lord de Grey that this was one of the last official matters on which she had heard her husband speak. Miss Nightingale again supplied the details, and to her ally was committed responsibility (under the Secretary of State) for new barrack works. On some other questions Miss Night- ingale had the bitterness of seeing projects abandoned which she and Lord Herbert had almost matured. It is really melancholy now, wrote Captain Gait on to her (Aug. 19). to see the attempts made on all hands to pull down all that Sidney Herbert laboured to build up. She recounted some of the disappointments in a letter to Harriet Martineau, and that lady, whose genuine sympathy in the cause was perhaps heightened by a journalist's scent for copy, was eager to go on the war-path. No harm can come, she wrote to Miss Nightingale (Oct. 4), of an attempt to shame the Horse Guards. I have consulted my editor [of the Daily News], and if I can obtain a sufficiency of clear facts, I will gladly harass the Commander-in-Chief as he was never harassed before—that is, I will write a leader against him every Saturday for as many weeks as there are heads of accusation against him and his Department. We don't want to mince matters. Miss Nightingale was to supply the powder and shot; Miss Martineau was to fire the guns. The partnership was declined by Miss Nightingale. The reason she gave was that she was no longer in the way of 1 Miss Nightingale related this incident in two letters—to Dr. Farr (Sept. 10), and to Harriet Martineau (Sept. 24).](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21352173_002_0032.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
