Left: The statue of Florence Nightingale in place, on the south extension of the Cardiff Royal Infirmary, as it is now. Right: Historic photograph of the finished statue in the workshop.
Florence Nightingale, from the firm of William Clarke, after Sir William Goscombe John. According to the firm's year-book entry, Taylor (William Willingale Taylor) and Durnell (Henry Durnell) both did some of of the final work on the statue. The entry also tells us the stone used was Hollington stone, from Staffordshire. Completed in 1910, the statue was donated by Sir John Lynne-Thomas C.B., a surgeon at the Cardiff Royal Infirmary (see "A Type of Heroic Womanhood"). Originally erected in the grounds of the hospital, it was later placed in a specially created niche on the top of the façade of the Outpatients' Department. [Click on the images to enlarge them.
The statue is somewhat weather-worn now, and minus most of both arms and lamp. But the main figure and facial features give an idea of its original quality. It must have been much admired, because it was shown at a local exhibition in aid of the funds of the Military Hospital at Netley, on 13-18 December 1915. (Despite the fact this Military Hospital was in Southampton, it was known as the "Welsh Hospital" because of the generous support given to it by the people of Wales.) On that occasion the statue was lent by the architect Colonel Bruce-Vaughan, presumably before being placed in its niche.
Links to Related Material
- Picture of the statue in the Western Mail
- Florence Nightingale by Sir John Steell, 1862
- Florence Nightingale by Arthur George Walker, 1910
- Florence Nightingale by Walter Merrett, 1912
- Memorial to Florence Nightingale in Santa Croce, Florence, Italy
- Biographical materials about Florence Nightingale
Colour photograph and text by the author, and historic photograph and paper-cutting, with thanks to Mike Clarke, from the archive of W. Clarke of Llandaff, for whom William Taylor worked on many such projects. You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and W. Clarke of Llandaff as appropriate, and (2) link your document to this URL or cite it in a print document. Formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee.
Bibliography
"Florence Nightingale." Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011. Web. 26 November 2022. Note: This gives the date of the exhibition rather than the production date, and ascribes the work to Clarke himself. [https://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/mapping/public/view/object.php?id=msib1_1203517633]
"A Type of Heroic Womanhood." Western Mail. 16 August 1910: 4.
Created 26 November 2022
Last modified 2 January 2023