The story of her last great humanitarian campaign; to improve the health and well-being in Imperial India

Between 1858 and 1947, twenty British men ruled millions of some of the most remarkable people of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. From the Indian Mutiny to the cruel religious partition of India and the newly formed and named Pakistan, the Viceroy had absolute power, more than the monarch who had sent him. Selected from that exclusive class of English, Scottish and Irish breeding, the aristocracy, the Viceroys were plumed, rode elephants, shot tigers. Even their wives stood when they entered the room. Nevertheless, many of them gave everything for India. The first Viceroy, Canning, exhausted by the Mutiny, buried his wife in Calcutta before he left the subcontinent to die shortly afterwards. The average Viceroy lasted five years and was granted an earldom but rarely a sense of triumph. Did these Viceroys behave as badly as twenty-first century moralists would have us believe? When the Raj was over, the legacy of Empire continued, as the new rulers slipped easily into the offices and styles of the British who had gone. Being 'British' was now a caste. Viceroys is the tale of the British Raj, the last fling of British aristocracy. It is the supreme view of the British in India, portraying the sort of people who went out and the sort of people they were on their return. It is the story of utter power and what men did with it. Moreover, it is also the story of how modern British identity was established and in part the answer to how it was that such a small offshore European island people believed themselves to have the right to sit at the highest institutional tables and judge what was right and unacceptable in other nations and institutions.

This volume shows the shift of focus that occurred during Florence Nightingale's 40-plus years of work on public health in India. It documents her concrete proposals for self-government, especially at the municipal level, and the encouragement of leading Indian nationals themselves.

Florence Nightingale on Society and Politics, Philosophy, Science, Education and Literature, Volume 5 in the Collected Works of Florence Nightingale, is the main source of Nightingale’s work on the methodology of social science and her views on social reform. Here we see how she took her “call to service” into practice: by first learning how the laws of God’s world operate, one can then determine how to intervene for good. There is material on medical statistics, the census, pauperism and Poor Law reform, the need for income security measures and better housing, on crime, gender and the family. Her comments on a new edition of The Dialogues of Plato are given, with their impact on the revision of the next edition. We see Nightingale’s condemnation of Plato’s “community of wives,” with her stirring approval of love (even outside marriage!), marriage and the family. In this volume also her views on natural science, education and literature are reported. Nightingale was an astute behind-the-scenes political activist. Society and Politics publishes (much of it for the first time) her correspondence with such leading political figures as Queen Victoria, W.E. Gladstone and J.S. Mill. There are notes and essays on public administration and personal observations on various members of royalty, prime ministers and ministers, and Indian viceroys. Nightingale’s support of the vote for women (contrary to much in the secondary literature) is here shown. Correspondence and notes on British general elections from 1834 to 1900 is reported, with letters to and for (Liberal) political candidates and fierce condemnations of Conservatives. Currently, Volumes 1 to 11 are available in e-book version by subscription or from university and college libraries through the following vendors: Canadian Electronic Library, Ebrary, MyiLibrary, and Netlibrary.

In May of 2019, it was a hundred years since the remains of Edith Cavell were brought back to England from Belgium to be given a proper burial—one deserving of a war heroine. Edith Cavell was unique in many ways. She was a Victorian girl raised in a strictly devout Christian family who lived their lives according to the Scriptures. They cared for the welfare of others and regularly gave alms to the poor. Nursing, therefore, became a natural career choice for her and her sisters. An excellent nurse, she was invited to Belgium to modernize the nursing system. But then World War I broke out and a brutal martial law was imposed on the land, which severely interfered with her project. But in Edith Cavell all it did was to bring out her innate humanitarian instincts. Righteous and fearless, she defied the ruthless German military and joined an underground movement, and used her hospital to nurse and hide Allied soldiers who were wounded or had become detached from their regiments, men who would have been shot if caught. Eventually, she was arrested, incarcerated, court-martialled, and then executed by a firing squad; but not before helping hundreds of men escape to neutral Holland. Katie Pickles, in her book, Transnational Outrage: The Death and Commemoration of Edith Cavell, describes her killing as ‘one of the most famous atrocities of the Great War.’

In 'The Life of Florence Nightingale (Vol. 1&2)' by Edward Tyas Cook, readers are taken on an insightful journey into the life of the iconic nurse and healthcare reformer. Cook's meticulous attention to detail and engaging narrative style provide a comprehensive look at Nightingale's struggles, triumphs, and lasting impact on the field of nursing. Set against the backdrop of Victorian England, the book delves into Nightingale's pioneering work in healthcare and her relentless dedication to improving sanitary conditions in hospitals. Cook's writing is both informative and engaging, offering readers a captivating account of Nightingale's life and legacy. As a renowned biographer and historian, Cook brings a scholarly perspective to the narrative, offering readers a well-researched and compelling portrayal of Nightingale's life and work. Through his thorough examination of Nightingale's contributions to nursing and public health, Cook sheds light on the enduring influence of this remarkable woman. 'The Life of Florence Nightingale (Vol. 1&2)' is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of nursing, healthcare reform, or the extraordinary life of Florence Nightingale.

South Asia is famous for its monuments, past and present. Monuments have been created, destroyed and rescued by competing communities and incoming empires in the making and re-making of history, identity and memory. This collection brings together an international cohort of senior scholars and younger researchers to examine the vast diversity of monuments (and conceptions of monuments) in South Asia from the 1850s to the present. The chapters investigate what constitutes a monument, and interrogate the conditions for its survival, demise or recycling. To explore the afterlives of monuments is to investigate how, where, when, and why monuments have been remodelled, re-sited, destroyed, defaced, or abandoned. It is to investigate the theories of memory, history and community, as well as new forms of artistic practice and global media. As different South-Asian communities claim a stake in the making of national, religious, cultural and local identities and histories, the status of monuments and debates about cultural memory have become increasingly urgent. This book was published as a special issue of South Asian Studies.