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Florence Nightingale Commemoration Service

The 2026 Florence Nightingale Commemoration Service will be held at Westminster Abbey on Tuesday 12 May 2026. We will be sending invitations by email by the end of February 2026, limited public tickets will be available in March. Please keep an eye on our website and newsletter for further details.

The Florence Nightingale Commemoration Service has been held annually at Westminster Abbey since 1965.  It is a very important day in the annual FNF calendar and, indeed, for nursing and midwifery communities worldwide, as we come together to give thanks and to celebrate nurses and midwives everywhere who continue Florence Nightingale’s legacy today.

Highlights from the 2025 Service

Central to the commemoration service is the Lamp. Florence Nightingale was known as ‘The Lady with The Lamp’ as she made her rounds at night tending to the soldiers wounded in the Crimean War.

The Lamp used in the service today was purchased in memory of Mrs Kathleen Dampier-Bennett, a committee member of the Foundation from 1951-1968. The Lamp is inscribed in her memory and was dedicated by the Dean of Westminster at the service on 12 May 1970, the 150th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth. It has been used at every service since.

Thanks to this year's sponsor HCA Healthcare UK

The Service

A scholar of the Foundation carries the Lamp with two escorts as it is processed in the Abbey. Student nurses follow, signifying the transfer of knowledge to future generations of nurses and midwives.

A procession of the Nurses’ Roll of Honour is carried and escorted by the Military Matrons in Chief. It was compiled by the British Commonwealth Nurses War Memorial Fund to honour Commonwealth Nurses killed during the Second World War.  Between services it is kept in the Florence Nightingale and Nurses Chapel in the Abbey.

In 2022, an additional Roll of Honour was processed to remember nurses, midwives, nursing associates and healthcare support workers who died during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2025,a third Roll of Honour was introduced to remember the 162 nurses who lost their lives in the First World War 1941-1918.

The previous Florence Nightingale Commemoration Service took place on 12 May 2025 at Westminster Abbey. Read more about it in our news story here.

(Pictures by: The Dean and Chapter of Westminster/Picture Partnership)

Florence Nightingale Commemoration Services in 2024 and 2025

Three women in nurses uniform, standing in Westminster Abbey. The person in the middle is wearing a white uniform and dark trousers, the women to the sides are wearing dark nacy blue uniforms. The woman in the middle is holding a lamp.
A large group of students in nursing uniform from Anglia Ruskin University. Standing in a group smiling at the camera.
Image of the three people in Westminster Abbey. The person in the centre is holding a the Florence Nightingale Commemorative lamp.
Students from Chichester University in nursing uniform standing the Florence Nightingale Lamp in Westminster Abbey
A group of people in the sunshine walking and talking.
Parade in Westminster Abbey
Lamp bearers and nurses and midwifes parade in Westminster Abbey.
Group of three women holding programmes and smiling.

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