Westminster Abbey Commemoration Service for Florence Nightingale
The Florence Nightingale Commemoration Service is held annually at Westminster Abbey.
Important update: Due to coronavirus pandemic, the service this year has been postponed. A new date will be confirmed soon. If you have any questions, please email us at [email protected]
It is an opportunity for us to not only commemorate Florence Nightingale on her birthday (12th May) but also to celebrate all that is good about nursing and midwifery on International Nurses’ Day.
The Lamp
During the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale was known for carrying a lamp at night around the wards to visit wounded soldiers. The soldiers would see her lamp and feel that they had been given hope for survival. The Lamp has since become an international symbol of nursing.
Central to the memorial service is the Lamp which was given to the Foundation by Sir Dan Mason OBE in 1968 in memory of his mother Kathleen Dampier-Bennett, a Trustee and supporter of the Foundation. It was agreed the Lamp will be carried by a Florence Nightingale Foundation scholar during the ceremony and is housed within the Florence Nightingale Chapel at Westminster Abbey.
