HEROES WITH FEET OF CLAY: CLIVE OF INDIA & FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE
The phenomena of knocking 'heroes' off their plinths and exposing their failings seems a very modern one.
Two such are Clive of India and Florence Nightingale. But as always history is complex; Clive was attacked in his own lifetime and only raised to true hero status in the high age of Victorian Imperialism, then to be knocked back again in our day.
The criticisms of Miss Nightingale were not raised in her lifetime, perhaps because after the Crimean War she became a virtual recluse. Today her image as the founder of modern nursing has taken knocks. In her case she has also suffered in comparison to the black nurse of The Crimea, Mary Seacole. Mary was largely ignored during her life only to be discovered as a hero as Black History has been taken far more seriously. However even she has faced criticism.
Perhaps, all in all this lecture tells us how much we 'enjoy' seeing the mighty fall.
Clive by Robert Harvey
Florence Nightingale by Mark Bostridge
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