NIGHTINGALE, Florence.

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Four autograph letters signed to Amelia de Laney. A group of encouraging letters to a younger nurse and mentee. De Laney trained at Nightingale's school for nurses and afterwards held senior positions in hospitals around the country. Nightingale's letters came at critical points of her career, offering considered advice, support, and sympathy. They are accompanied by documents from de Laney's second occupation as housekeeper for the House of Lords. Amelia de Laney (1848-1940) attended the Nightingale Training School at St Thomas's Hospital between 1883 and 1886. Nightingale sent the first letter in 1891, when de Laney was considering leaving the Birmingham Workhouse Infirmary for a more senior role at the Royal Hospital for Consumption in Ventnor. Nightingale was cautiously supportive of the move. She wrote that de Laney "should have the promotion which you have well earned" but observed that the role came with a long list of duties: in addition to managing the care of patients and supervising her staff, she would need to hire and train nurses, look after the ten buildings, and oversee the washing and cooking. Regardless, Nightingale affirmed that "I do not for a moment doubt that you will master (or mistress) the situation if you are appointed". Nightingale provided Ventnor with an excellent reference for de Laney, but the board rejected her for being insufficiently well-born. Instead, de Laney moved in 1894 to a position as matron at the newly founded Epileptic Colony in Ch

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