Rare Signed Letter by Florence Nightingale

Here we have a rare surviving piece of history in the form of an original signed letter by Florence Nightingale OM LGStJ (1820-1910)

The affectionate and touching autograph letter in ink, written one side of a folded double sheet 8 x 10in (20.3 x 25.4cm) laid paper dated January 3rd 1878 from Florence Nightingale, London, to Mrs. Wildgoose: My dear Mrs. Wildgoose, I have not forgotten your wish for a Photograph of my dear father: & I send you one, the only one he would ever allow to be taken, standing in the little Ante-room Verandah at Embley. My sister sat with him. the other photograph contains them both. They were taken in the year before her death. Will you be so good as to Have them framed if you would like it, & let me know the amount, which I will gratefully forward to you. The day after tomorrow /Jan 5 he will have been gone 4 years. I have his watch, which stopped at the hour of his death, always by me, just as it stopped: & his spectacles with a white hair sticking in them; & his little(Greek) Testament: but he is always with me. May the best blessings of a happy New Year be showered upon you: & upon the dear place & people round about. And if you and I should See our next New Year in eternity, may it be in the joy of God – is the prayer of your ever affectionate friend [signed] Florence Nightingale London Jan 3/78

***Nightingale’s father, William Edward, formerly Shore (1794-1874) inherited through his wife’s uncle, lead trader Peter Nightingale, an estate at Lea, Derbyshire, where he erected a substantial seat, Lea Hurst, and later purchased the Embley Park estate in Hampshire. Both houses were built largely to Nightingale’s own design. The recipient of the letter, is believed to have been Robert Wildgoose, manager of the Mills at Lea, who acted in an informal capacity on behalf of the Nightingales from time to time and who responded to Miss Nightingale’s concerns over the welfare of some local estate employees and others in the village. Wildgoose’s wife wis attested as having been on friendly terms with Florence Nightingale. The letter was probably written from the family town house at 10, South Street, Mayfair, London W1, where she died 32 years later, being buried at East Wellow, Hants., in which parish the other family home, Embley Park lies. The letter is clear, with two horizontal slight folds, paper slightly marked by handling, over all in good condition.

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