Frances Parthenope Verney

Frances Parthenope Verney
Born	Frances Parthenope Nightingale (1819-04-19)19 April 1819 Naples, Italy
Died	12 May 1890(1890-05-12) (aged 71) Claydon House, Buckinghamshire, England
Nationality	British
Occupation(s)	Writer, journalist
Spouse	Harry Verney, 2nd Baronet ​ ​ (m. 1858)​
Parents	William Nightingale (father) Frances Smith (mother)
Relatives	Florence Nightingale (sister)

Frances Parthenope Verney, Lady Verney (née Nightingale; 19 April 1819 – 12 May 1890), was an English writer and journalist.

Early life and education

A portrait created of Mrs. Frances Nightingale and her daughter Frances Parthenope and Florence Nightingale.

Frances Parthenope Nightingale was born on May 19, 1819 in Naples, Italy, during her parents' honeymoon. Parthenope's birth was a rather traumatic one for both Fanny and Parthe. At the time of her birth Fanny was far from home and alone having her first child who was born small and weak. Within a week after her birth Parthenope was had not gained sufficient weight to survive and she even had begun to throw up blood. After witnessing their daughters rapid decline in health, Fanny and W.E.N. believed their daughter would likely die. A local doctor was called in to help the baby and, Fanny finally accepted that she would not be able to nurse her child herself and would have to hire a wet-nurse in order to save her child's life.

Depiction of Florence Nightingale by Frances Parthenope Verney.

Frances Parthenope was named after her Greek name for Naples, Parthenope. Because she shared her first name with her mother, Frances Parthenope was often referred to by her middle name of Parthenope, as well as family nicknames such as "Parthe," and "Pop" as she was referred to by her younger sister. She was the eldest daughter and child of William Edward Nightingale (W.E.N) and his wife, Frances Smith who was often referred to as Fanny by family. After her parents' three-year tour in Italy, Parthenope, her sister Florence, and their parents moved to back to England.

Parthenope and her sister were first educated at home by a governess, but because it was difficult for the Nightinglae's to "find a governess who would satisfy W.E.N's intellectual requirements or Fanny's standard of elegance and breeding," they later were taught, Greek, Latin, German, French, Italian, history, grammar, composition, and philosophy by their father. Despite being less scientifically inclined than her sister, Parthenope was fluent in French and developed a love for literature and art.

Home at Lea Hurst and Embley Park

The Lea Hurst property of the Nightingale family.

Depiction of Embley Park made by Frances Parthenope Verney

William Edward Shore (Parthenope's father's original surname) inherited the "Lea" property of his Great-uncle Peter Nightingale II, more often called "Eccentric Peter" or even "Mad Peter" in 1803. At "Mad Peter's" death, he left his "Lea property in Derbyshire to Parthenope's father, but W.E.N. did not officially come into control of the property until around the age of twenty-one. At the time W.E.N. came into possession of his inherited estate, he changed his last name to match that of the estate, that name was Nightingale. Before W.E.N. could manage the estate himself, William Shore, Parthenope's paternal grandfather, managed the estate for him. The estate grew while W.E.N. did, and at the time he came into control of his inheritance, he found himself to be a "very wealthy man." The property that W.E.N. inherited was called "Lea Hall," and was rather "run-down and inconvenient for a fashionable young family," and so the Nightingales never lived there, instead it was transformed into a farmhouse, and W.E.N. built a new house only "a mile or so away from Lea Hall," that would later be called Lea Hurst. The family lived solely in Lea Hurst until 1825, when they purchased Embley Park at the request of Fanny needing a home that wasn't so far away from social life and circles. The Nightingale family "summered primarily at Lea Hurst on the edge of Derbyshire hills and spent the rest of the year, except for stays in London, at Embley Park."

Parthenope's health struggles

Parthenope's health struggles did not stop at her traumatic start to life, but they continued to raise issues in her early adulthood and eventually even later. Ever since the birth of Parthenope, "W.E.N. and Fanny had been worrying about Parthenope's health," in February 1836 "their fears were revived and strengthened." Parthenope had fallen "ill with a high fever and a terrible cough" while W.E.N. was away from home and so the care of Parthenope was solely on the shoulders of her mother Fanny. Parthenope's fever and cough had led to consumption that the local doctors suggested would only be fixed if she were, "subjected to the full battery of leeches, bleedings, and blisters." Parthenope did eventually recover within that same year, but not before it "confirmed all Fanny's fears for Parthe and increased her sense that she [,Fanny,] stood between her daughter and death." It was after this sickness that Parthenope officially became a "chronic invalid" in the mind of her mother and the mind of others. In the future instances of sickness Florence was often called upon to be the caregiver for Parthenope, which may have led to some of the strain in their relationship after teenagehood because Parthenope's, "chronic health [had] aroused Fanny's protectiveness, and eventually cast the newly altruistic and always efficient Flo into the role of her sister's caretaker," and only as such in the eyes of her parents. As a result of the problems Parthenope had with health, her father, mother, and those all around her gave immense focus to Parthenope and focused less on Florence. Historians have considered these events of Parthenope's health scares to be crucial determinants of the relationship Parthenope had with her sister Florence.

Public view and relationship with her sister

The relationship between Parthenope and her sister Florence Nightingale has been an area of consideration for some time. Florence Nightingale did much more in life that was recognized by the public, and so the relationship between Parthenope and her sister has more frequently been written displaying Florence in a more positive light and Parthenope as more of the evil older sister.

Painting of Frances Parthenope and Florence Nightingale.

According to authors and historians looking into Florence's life and historians/authors looking into Parthenope, as children Parthenope and Florence were not very close and often fought. One author claims that Florence's intellectual abilities and the lack of Parthenope's created a divide between the two sisters, and often left Parthenope in the shadow of Florence. More often then not during childhood and into adulthood, "Florence would become so wrapped up in her own projects that she was unresponsive to the feelings of others, especially her older sister's." Something seemed to change however because as teenagers Parthenope and Florence were said to have grown closer and even considered to be “close chums.” These teenage years were so good between Florence and Parthenope that Parthenope "savored her teenage years...[and] as an adult...looked back with almost savage nostalgia on those days when she and her sister were so close."

Historians and authors have disagreed on the nature of Parthenope's feelings towards her sister, especially regarding her sisters’ uncommon and semi-revolutionary career as a nurse. In the time period Parthenope had grown up in, "nurses were said to be immoral and disorderly," and among those within the status range she was raised, "the upper classes firmly believed that hospital nursing was the choice of only the desperate and the religious," therefore it wasn't a profession too fondly looked upon for an upper-class women to have. The Authors writing on the life of Florence Nightingale and her family have claimed that Parthenope was at first opposed to her sister becoming a nurse,perhaps because of embarrassment, but also maybe because of her deep attachment to her younger sister. One author claims that it isn't until "we realize how close the two sisters were before 1849, how much they relied upon each other, can we understand Parthenope's extravagant grief and bitter resentment when her sister later tried to leave home."

Eventually, Florence left home and rarely returned until she fell sick after the Crimean War. In the years following Parthenope and Florence's relationship didn't thrive, especially around the time of their mothers death in 1880, when it was said that, "each sister knew exactly what to do to enrage and upset the other." Eventually however, "Florence grew fonder of her sister" as she aged. Florence was an enthusiastic supporter of her sister's writing career and even went so far as to take upon herself the coordination of the care Parthenope needed towards the end of her life.

Marriage and end of life

Florence Nightingale and Sir Harry Verney

On 24 June 1858, Parthenope married Harry Verney, 2nd Baronet, MP for Buckingham, a supporter of liberal causes and possessor of the family seat, Claydon House. Harry Verney had become involved with the Nightingale after his late wife's request for their daughter to meet Florence Nightingale. Verney reached out and began to form a connection with the Nightingale family for this purpose and then eventually proposed marriage to Parthenope.

Although there is no evidence to support this thought, many have speculated that Verney proposed to Parthenope only after having asked and been rejected by her sister Florence. This belief however is not unwarranted as Florence and Sir Harry Verney were very close following 1861 when Florence began to depend on him as a "messenger, representative, and parliamentary liaison," after the death another male relative who had filled these roles previously.

Parthenope was never able to fully carry a child to term and could not become a mother as she had "longed for," but "she [was] rejoiced to be mother to four delightful young people," the children of Sir Harry with his late wife; Emily, Edmund, George, and Frederick.

Claydon House, the estate that Sir Harry Verney and Frances Parthenope lived in after their marriage.

After the marriage between Sir Harry and Parthenope, the new Lady Verney was able to develop her own talents independent of the shadow of her more famous sister; she soon turned Claydon House into a salon for interesting people, and was responsible for extensively remodeling and restoring Claydon House. She preserved and cataloged the family papers and began scholarly research into the Verney family. Parthenope wasn't able to completely finish this project however because of "paralyz[ing] arthritis," and eventually her death.

Parthenope "was eaten by cancer and racked by coughing," at the end of her life. She had spent "years unable to sleep and relied massively on opiates to kill the pain," until she died of cancer on May 12, 1890, Florence's birthday.

Cover of Peasant Properties And Other Selected Essays by Frances Parthenope Verney.

Career as a writer and journalist

Parthenope began writing stories and articles for Fraser's Magazine, Cornhill Magazine, and Macmillan's Magazine. She also published five novels; Avenhoe (1867), Stone Edge (1868), Lettice Lisle (1870), Fernyhurst Court (1871), and Llanaly Reefs (1873), and a two-volume book, Peasant Properties and Other Selected Essays. Parthenope published her early works anonymously until she became more confident to "write first 'Lady Verney' and finally 'Frances Parthenope Verney' on the title pages of her works."

Parthenope came from two families with similar but different outlooks on life that resulted in a rather progressive nature of both Parthenope and her sister Florence. The Smith's, through her mother, who had "liberal and humanitarian outlooks," and the Shores, W.E.N.'s family, as well as the Smith's who believed in "Unitarianism." Much of her writing concerned social questions of the day, and ranged from essays on "class morality" to reporting on "the Miseries of War", social differences between the poor of other nations, and religion. One of Parthenope's earlier works, Stone Edge, was "remarkably unsentimental and feminist," the books subject and the way in which "she presents" her setting of "preindustrial Derbyshire," shows that "Verney use[d] her novel to argue that industrialization tended to free women from domestic tyranny, [which was] a radical [and feminist] idea for her time."

External links

• In a Great Town Hospital, F. P. Verney, Macmillan's Magazine, Vol. L, May to Oct. 1884. pp. 14–22.
• Class Morality, F. P. Verney (no attribution; signed "V."), The Saint Pauls Magazine, Vol. 8, 1871. pp. 259–268.
• The Miseries of War: Notes from Sedan and Bazeilles, F. P. Verney (attribution as "the author of Stone Edge"), The Saint Pauls Magazine, Vol. 8, 1871. pp. 509–524.