Mark Bostridge at the erection of a statue to Mary Seacole at St Thomas' Hospital in London. In interviews Bostridge explained that he was not opposed to a statue to Seacole but to the siting of it at the hospital where Florence Nightingale founded her nurse training school in 1860, influencing the development of nursing throughout the world. Bostridge argues that Seacole was not a "pioneer nurse" as some of the statue campaigners maintain. He also points to the way in which Nightingale's enormous contributions to public health are now commonly and mistakenly attributed to Seacole by a wide range of British
Florence Nightingale Foundation Florence Nightingale Memorial Committee proposed that the memorial foundation for Florence Nightingale should focus on the post-graduate education of nurses. In 1934 The Florence Nightingale Foundation developed as an independent Foundation based upon the same principles as the Memorial Committee and the Florence Nightingale International Foundation. The Florence Nightingale Foundation has since been a living memorial to her life by providing scholarships to post-graduate nurses, midwives and other health professionals in the United Kingdom. The Foundation is a voice for nursing across the UK. It works to improve patient care in the UK by extending scholars skills and knowledge and