Florence Nightingale Museum

The Florence Nightingale Museum, on the grounds of St Thomas' Hospital on the south bank of the Thames, tells the story of the founder of modern Western nursing. Opened in 1989, it displays personal objects, letters and her famous Turkish lamp from the Crimean War, where she transformed the chaotic field hospital at Scutari. Three thematic pavilions trace her wealthy Italian childhood, the war years and her later statistical work, which made her one of the first women elected to the Royal Statistical Society. Today the small, tightly focused museum opposite the Palace of Westminster is a surprisingly moving stop, especially for anyone interested in social and women's history.