Florence Farmborough facts for kids
Florence Farmborough (born April 15, 1887, in Aylesbury, England – died August 18, 1978, in Marple, England) was an amazing woman who was an author, photographer, nurse, teacher, and university lecturer. She was also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, which means she was recognized for her contributions to geography.
Early Life and Adventures
Florence Farmborough grew up in Buckinghamshire, England, as one of six children. In 1908, when she was 21, she moved to Kiev, which was then part of Russia. She worked there as a governess, teaching children in their home. Two years later, she moved to Moscow and became an English tutor for the two daughters of a famous heart surgeon.
When World War I started in 1914, Florence decided to become a Red Cross nurse. She worked with the Imperial Russian army on the battlefronts in Galicia and Romania. During this time, she kept a detailed diary and always carried a large camera with her. She even developed her photos while living with the soldiers!
Her diaries later became the basis for her book, Nurse at the Russian Front, published in 1974. She also worked as a reporter for The Times newspaper and for BBC Radio, sharing what she saw and experienced. After the October Revolution in Russia, her Red Cross unit was disbanded. In 1918, she traveled all the way back to England by going through Siberia, Vladivostok, and the United States, crossing the Pacific Ocean. She even shared a ship with another famous woman, Maria Bochkareva. Florence wrote many articles for The Times about her journey and what she saw in Russia after the big changes there.
Life After Russia
After returning to Britain, Florence was honored by being elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. In 1926, she became a university lecturer, teaching English in Valencia, Spain.
During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), Florence had strong beliefs against communism and supported the Nationalists. She worked as a newsreader on Spanish National Radio, broadcasting daily news in English.
Later, she returned to England and worked for the Women's Voluntary Service during the Battle of Britain. She helped Spanish-speaking people from Gibraltar who needed support. She then spent four years in Jamaica, working as a government censor, which meant she checked letters and messages to and from South America.
Florence lived in different places in England, including Sompting and Newton Abbot. She even taught Russian lessons from her home. She made a return visit to Russia in 1962 and visited the Holy Land in 1966. In 1974, the same year her World War I diaries were published, she was featured in a BBC Television documentary called English Nurse with the Tsar's Army. She was also given an Honorary Life Membership by the British Red Cross.
The idea for her book came after an exhibition of her Russian items in 1971. She wrote the entire book herself, working for over a year and producing a very long manuscript that her publisher later shortened.
Florence Farmborough passed away in 1978 at the age of 91. She never married. Many of her amazing photographs are now kept at the Imperial War Museum in the Florence Farmborough collection.
See also
In Spanish: Florence Farmborough para niños
