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 Medal spirit in the areas of public health or nursing education". It was initially set up to be awarded to six nurses annually, although the first 42 awards were only made in 1920 due to the disruption of the First World War. The medal was restricted to female nurses until regulation changes in 1991. Under the new regulations it is open to both women and men, and is awarded every two years to a maximum number of fifty recipients worldwide. The vesica piscis-shaped medal is composed of gold and silver-gilt and bears a portrait of Florence Nightingale surrounded by the words