Florence Nightingale on Social Change in India: Volume 10 of Collected Works of Florence Nightingale (review)

This book is the latest in the planned sixteen-volume set, under General Editor Lynn McDonald, of the Collected Works of Florence Nightingale. This volume of Nightingale’s writings on social change in India is divided into six main topics: implementing sanitary reform; village and town sanitation; land tenure and reform; reform in credit, co-operatives, education, and agriculture; the condition of women; and social and political evolution. Within these topics there are a number of themes, most notably the well-documented shift in Nightingale’s concern, which was initially for the British army in India but moved to encompass all Indians. In contrast to volume 9, also edited by Gérard Vallée (Florence Nightingale on Health in India, Wilfrid Laurier University Press 2006), this volume focuses on bottom-up reforms.

Vallée provides an editorial overview as well as a concluding evaluation of Florence Nightingale’s contribution, ‘in light of the objectives she set for herself.’ He labels Jharna Gourlay’s conclusions (Florence Nightingale and the Health of the Raj, Ashgate 2003) as ‘highly positive,’ implying in a number of places that he is less sanguine. He points out that, ironically, Nightingale largely failed in her attempts to reform nursing in India. Vallée is wisely cautious in his overall assessment of Nightingale’s impact, as much of it was indirect, as a researcher and advocate. He concludes that her key contribution was that she helped ‘awakened energies’ that ultimately contributed to the reform of public health in India. That the problem of famine was solved only with ‘independence and democracy’ points to the limited impact of this reclusive English reformer who never visited India and only gradually and partially accepted the need for Indian independence.

Three sources provided by Nightingale in her self-evaluation provide an apt conclusion to the primary source material in this volume. At heart Nightingale appears a romantic, with her imagination accepting the popular image of India as an exotic jewel of the empire, even if peopled with agricultural scientists as much as rajahs. All that is needed, she appears to assume, is to locate people of goodwill (British administrators and ten or so Indians in each village) and then India would be transformed into a model civilization. That imperialism created essential conflicts of interest, and that imperialists’ interests dominated, does not appear to have struck home, even in the face of the new, devastating famines.

As Vallée points out, the material in this volume also illustrates a consistent aspect of Nightingale’s method, that of working with an able collaborator. Many of these are men who, in an ironic twist to the gendered norm, have been overshadowed by Nightingale’s celebrity. This volume will allow us better to appreciate the role of these collaborators, notably Dr John Sutherland who drafted so much of her material, about nursing as well as Indian affairs. This volume also provides a fascinating insight into an array of characters such as the pioneering doctor Mary Scharlieb, whose husband was a civil servant in India.

The main limitation of this volume is the paucity of personal correspondence to Indians. We are told that Nightingale had ‘native friends at all the presidency towns’; sent ‘encouraging letters’ to ‘Indian nationals’; and that she ‘collaborated notably with Runchorelal Chotalall, Behramji Malabari, Dhadabai Naoroji and Manmohun Ghose.’ The evidence for such assertions rests largely on claims in Nightingale’s letters to Europeans. No explanation is considered necessary for including just a total of five letters (all them extracts only) to the four named main Indian collaborators.

Like the other volumes, this one is well produced, with the text easy to read. Most readers will find something to enjoy, as Florence Nightingale frequently writes with wit, energy, and warmth. While its cost will limit sales to individuals, it is an essential reference book for any library with readers interested in Nightingale...