Florence Nightingale
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, coming from a wealthy family. She refused the aristocrat lifestyle her family expected from her and instead focused on helping the poor, the injured, and the sick. She helped make modern nursing possible. Nightingale was a prodigious and versatile writer, and lived to be 90 years old.