Florence Nightingale in rare photo

A rare photograph of Florence Nightingale went on display in London Monday to mark the 150th anniversary of the famous nurse’s return to Britain from the Crimean War.

The faded black-and-white photo, taken in May 1858, shows Nightingale reading on the grounds of her family home in Hampshire, southwest of London.

It is one of only eight known photographs of one of nursing’s most important figures. She shunned publicity, believing it would detract from her efforts to improve conditions in British hospitals.

The photograph, which is going on show at the Florence Nightingale Museum in London, was taken by a Hampshire pharmacist whom Nightingale had met years earlier when she was putting together medical supplies for her trip to the Crimea. It was rediscovered among three albums of photographs found recently in the area.