Nightingale
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Nightingale Surname Genealogy
The cuckoo and the nightingale are the songbirds that are heralded in England. No one has ever been called a cuckoo (at least as a compliment). It is the nightingale that has passed into a name for someone who sings with a sweet voice.
A nightingale once sang in Berkeley Square. But the incidence of the Nightingale name around England is something of a mystery. If the nightingale nests and is heard in the south, how come then that Nightingale as a surname only appears north of a line from the Midlands to East Anglia? Were the bird's migratory patterns different in the Middle Ages? Or was there some other reason?
England. We have found three clusters of Nightingales, in Bolton in Lancashire, in Huntingdonshire and later in Cambridgeshire, and in Derbyshire.
The Bolton Nightingales seem to have originated from the village of Rivington. John Nightingale was born there in the 1630's. Another John Nightingale was a yeoman in the 1730's. And the Nightingale name is still current in the Bolton area today.
Samuel Pepys refers in his diary to a visit to his cozen Nightingale in Huntingdonshire "who hath a pretty house in Yelling." Geoffrey Nightingale was a lawyer who had managed to parlay his business into such a money-making enterprise that he was able tp purchase Kneesworth Hall in Cambridgeshire and become local gentry. Thomas Nightingale took over the estate soon after 1600 and it remained in the family until 1831.
Also on the way up was Thomas Nightingale, a local farmer in Lea in Derbyshire. He proved very skilled in prospecting for lead and within a short space of time owned the local smelting works and much of the land in the area. Over the eighteenth century this family became, as a result of his enterprise, one of the richest in Derbyshire.
From this family came Florence Nightingale (so named because she happened to be born in Florence). In her twenties she decided to take up nursing even though nursing was not then considered to be a suitable profession for a well-educated woman. Her time came with the Crimean War when she exposed and dealt with the unsanitary hospital conditions that she found. Her campaign touched the public mood and she became known as "the lady with the lamp."
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Florence Nightingale was the nursing superintendant at British military hospitals in the Crimean War and by her efforts became known as "the lady with the lamp."
Earl Nightingale from Los Angeles was an American motivational speaker best known for his 1956 work The Strangest Secret.
Annie Nightingale was the first female presenter on BBC Radio 1.
Select Nightingales Today
The cuckoo and the nightingale are the songbirds that are heralded in England. No one has ever been called a cuckoo (at least as a compliment). It is the nightingale that has passed into a name for someone who sings with a sweet voice.
A nightingale once sang in Berkeley Square. But the incidence of the Nightingale name around England is something of a mystery. If the nightingale nests and is heard in the south, how come then that Nightingale as a surname only appears north of a line from the Midlands to East Anglia? Were the bird's migratory patterns different in the Middle Ages? Or was there some other reason?
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Nightingale
Resources on
The
Internet
- Florence Nightingale Museum. Website about Florence Nightingale.
England. We have found three clusters of Nightingales, in Bolton in Lancashire, in Huntingdonshire and later in Cambridgeshire, and in Derbyshire.
The Bolton Nightingales seem to have originated from the village of Rivington. John Nightingale was born there in the 1630's. Another John Nightingale was a yeoman in the 1730's. And the Nightingale name is still current in the Bolton area today.
Samuel Pepys refers in his diary to a visit to his cozen Nightingale in Huntingdonshire "who hath a pretty house in Yelling." Geoffrey Nightingale was a lawyer who had managed to parlay his business into such a money-making enterprise that he was able tp purchase Kneesworth Hall in Cambridgeshire and become local gentry. Thomas Nightingale took over the estate soon after 1600 and it remained in the family until 1831.
Also on the way up was Thomas Nightingale, a local farmer in Lea in Derbyshire. He proved very skilled in prospecting for lead and within a short space of time owned the local smelting works and much of the land in the area. Over the eighteenth century this family became, as a result of his enterprise, one of the richest in Derbyshire.
From this family came Florence Nightingale (so named because she happened to be born in Florence). In her twenties she decided to take up nursing even though nursing was not then considered to be a suitable profession for a well-educated woman. Her time came with the Crimean War when she exposed and dealt with the unsanitary hospital conditions that she found. Her campaign touched the public mood and she became known as "the lady with the lamp."
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If you would like to read more, click on the miscellany page for
further stories and accounts:
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Florence Nightingale was the nursing superintendant at British military hospitals in the Crimean War and by her efforts became known as "the lady with the lamp."
Earl Nightingale from Los Angeles was an American motivational speaker best known for his 1956 work The Strangest Secret.
Annie Nightingale was the first female presenter on BBC Radio 1.
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PS. You might want to check out the surnames page on this website. It covers surname genealogy in this and companion websites for more than 500 surnames.
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