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Report of the Royal Commission on the Sanitary State of the Army

Royal Commission on the Sanitary State of the Army (chaired by Sidney Herbert) · 1858

An 1858 official government report on army health in which Nightingale supplied much of the evidence and shaped its conclusions.

Nightingale supplied much of the evidence behind this official report, turning her Crimean experience into government policy.

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Front cover of a bound volume with dark brown leather spine on the left and marbled paper boards in yellow, red, black and grey covering the rest. Faint white pencil marks are visible on the cover.
Royal Commission on the Sanitary State of the Army, Report, 1858. Evidence by Miss Nightingale.

About this source

What it is

This is the official 1858 Report of the Royal Commission on the Sanitary State of the Army, chaired by Sidney Herbert. It was presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Queen Victoria, and includes an appendix of evidence given by Florence Nightingale.

Why it matters

Although the Commission itself was led by Sidney Herbert, Nightingale shaped the report heavily, supplying much of its statistical evidence from her time at Scutari during the Crimean War. It turned her personal observations into official government policy on army health, and shows how reformers like Nightingale worked behind the scenes with officials to produce lasting change.

Look closer

  • Why would a report include an appendix of evidence from someone who was not an official commissioner?
  • What does the formal presentation to Parliament suggest about the report's intended audience and purpose?
  • Whose voices might be missing from an official report written by commissioners rather than the soldiers themselves?

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Polar area diagram titled 'Diagram of the Causes of Mortality in the Army in the East' with two rose charts of blue, red, and black wedges for April 1854 to March 1856, with explanatory notes below.Document

Primary source

Diagram of the Causes of Mortality in the Army in the East

Florence Nightingale · 1858

Pen and ink sketch of a large multi-gabled Tudor-style country house with tall chimneys, surrounded by trees and shrubs. Handwritten caption at bottom reads 'Embley, Hampshire' and 'Sketched by Florence Nightingale'.Painting

Primary source

Embley Park, Hampshire

Florence Nightingale · 1854

Artifact

Primary source

Recording of the voice of Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale · 1890

Pen-and-ink sketch of a hospital ward. A woman in a long dark dress stands at right beside a wounded man seated on a bed. Other patients lie in beds along the left, and more beds are visible through a doorway at right. Handwritten numbers appear at upper left.Painting

Primary source

Lithograph of Florence Nightingale, 1854

1854

Painting of a hospital hall at Scutari with a tall arched doorway opening onto a city view. A woman in a grey dress stands center-left among soldiers, Turkish-dressed figures, and officers. A wounded soldier lies on a stretcher while a kneeling man tends him. A soldier in red points toward the doorway.Painting

Secondary source

The Mission of Mercy: Florence Nightingale receiving the Wounded at Scutari

Jerry Barrett · 1857

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