Lock of Florence Nightingale’s hair to be auctioned in Leyburn

A lock of Florence Nightingale’s hair is set to go under the hammer in North Yorkshire.

The hair, verified to belong to the 19th Century nursing pioneer, is expected to fetch between £2,000 and £3,000.

It will be sold alongside her signature on a clipped piece of paper and other pieces.

Tennants Auctioneers said the items, which will be sold on 13 July in Leyburn, had been in the possession of descendants of Nightingale’s sister.

Jody Beighton, who works as an auctioneer and valuer, said the item was “quite a rarity” and of “cast iron provenance”.

“It has been consigned by a member of the Verney family,” he said.

“Harry Verney was actually married to Florence Nightingale’s sister, so it comes down the family line by descent.”

From the note that came with the lock of hair, Mr Beighton said the auctioneers could only assume it was from 1883.

The auctioneer said taking locks of hair was a common practice to remember departed loved ones, so it was a little unusual for the lock to have been cut 27 years before her death in 1910.

Nightingale is seen by many as the founder of modern nursing.

She became known as the “Lady with the Lamp” during the Crimean War.

The Times newspaper reported of her patrolling the wards of the Scutari Hospital at night, checking on wounded personnel.

She established the Nightingale Training School at St Thomas’ Hospital in 1860.

This became the first institute of its kind and deployed nurses across the UK to spread her ideas in the field.

She died in 1910 at the age of 90.

When it came to valuing the lot, Mr Beighton said it took a lot of people “throwing their ideas in the hat”.

“We’ve all seen lots of things over the years, through working at different places, but it was a difficult one to value,” he said.

The figure they came up with was “somewhere on the conservative side,” he said.

“The sky is the limit I suppose with something like this, you won’t find another one.”

He added that despite only being online for a few days, a lot of interest had already been shown from history enthusiasts.

Firm bids suggested it had already reached its valuation estimate.

“This is probably the most weird and wonderful item I’ve seen in a long time,” Mr Beighton said.

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