Heroes of Nursing in the Visual Arts, Sculpture and Souvenirs from Florence Nightingale to Mary Seacole

Why did Florence Nightingale become Britian’s greatest female hero after the Crimean War? This lecture will reveal how painters and illustrators, sculptors and film-makers portrayed a saintly ‘Lady with the Lamp’. Nightingale was obstinate and determined, but most artists softened her image to present an icon of caring femininity, providing a model for nursing heroes from Sister Dora to Edith Cavell. More recently, celebrations of the remarkable Jamaican ‘doctress’ Mary Seacole pulled Nightingale into a ‘culture war’, but she remains Britain’s most celebrated woman.

Max Jones

Max teaches History at the University of Manchester and has won a Distinguished Achievement Medal as the University’s Teacher of the Year. His book The Last Great Quest: Captain Scott's Antarctic Sacrifice (Oxford, 2003) and new edition of Captain Scott’s last Journals (Oxford, 2005) established his reputation as a leading expert on Scott of the Antarctic, polar exploration and national heroes. He's collaborated on a number of projects about these topics, including The London Natural History Museum’s exhibition on ‘Scott’s Last Expedition’; ‘The Secrets of Scott’s Hut’ with Ben Fogle (BBC TV); 'Titanic with Len Goodman' (BBC TV); ‘Alexander Armstrong's Real Ripping Yarns’ (BBC TV); and 'Conquest and Calamity: The Timewatch Guide to Explorers' (BBC TV).

Public lecturing is his passion. He has spoken about his research to public audiences throughout the UK and beyond, from the Isles of Scilly through Zurich to Tasmania.