She was the first female to receive the Order of Merit, one of the highest honours awarded by the British monarch. As a nurse she was given the name 'The Lady with the Lamp' because at night, she checked on the wounded soldiers and always carried 'The Lamp' with her. Florence Nightingale was a wonderful woman who fought the odds of not living a life expected by her family. She helped make modern nursing possible. Nightingale was a prodigious and versatile writer, and lived to be 90 years old.