ABSTRACT
The Governess of the Governors of India' was what Benjamin Jowett, the Master of Balliol called her. But Florence Nightingale preferred 'Maid of all (dirty) work or the Nuisances Removal Act'. Jowett was right. She was the Governess of the Governors in India; not only of one but of a succession of them, from the Governors-General to the Lieutenant-Governors, and to anyone else who was in a position to govern in India. John Laird Mair Lawrence, son of Colonel Alexander Lawrence, was born on 4 March 1811 and was nine years older than Florence. As soon as Lawrence arrived in India, he appointed Sanitary Commissions for Bengal, Madras and Bombay, as recommended by the Royal Commission. Florence's letter to the Secretary of the Sanitary Commission of Bengal was accompanied by a list of suggestions of how to organise female nursing in Indian hospitals.
