New book on a nursing murder mystery

Rosemary Cook, RCN History of Nursing Society committee member, has published a study of the brutal murder of Florence Nightingale Shore, a nurse and god-daughter of Florence Nightingale. Florence Shore was found semi-conscious on a train on January 12 1920, after a vicious attack and died in hospital – but her killer was never brought to justice.

The book also uncovers the story of the investigation into the murder by three police forces, the conclusions of Sir Bernard Spilsbury, the famous Home Office pathologist who carried out the post-mortem and examined a possible murder weapon, and some bizarre theories about the perpetrator. There was a lot of interest at the time in ‘the man in the brown suit’ who left the train at the stop before Bexhill, as well as at least two false confessions to the crime.

Rosemary says: “The most exciting find for me from my research was a witness who was interviewed by a journalist – the man claimed to have been the first into the carriage to find Florence injured, and he could describe the scene in detail. Yet no-one else at the scene remembers him, and he was never called to give evidence at the inquest. It is impossible to be sure after all this time but I think there are some searching questions to be asked about John Smith from Brighton!”




Title: The Nightingale Shore Murder

Publisher: Spire Publishing 2011

Price: £8.99 from the Queen's Nursing Institute, with donation of £1 to the charity

Also available as an eBook from online retailers.