No Place For a Lady - Facts

The novel takes place between 1854 and 1855.

It is a novel about the Crimean war. It is on March 28, 1854 when Britain and France declare war on Russia in support of the Turks. The Crimean War was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between the Russian Empire and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom, and Sardinia-Piedmont.

Lord Raglan was the commander. Field Marshal FitzRoy James Henry Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan, (30 September 1788 – 28 June 1855) was a British Army officer. He became commander of the British troops sent to the Crimea in 1854: his primary objective was to defend Constantinople, and he was also ordered to besiege the Russian port of Sevastopol. 

Lord Lucan is the commander of the cavalry. George Charles Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan (16 April 1800 – 10 November 1888) was an Anglo-Irish peer and military officer. He was one of three men, along with Louis Nolan and Lord Raglan, responsible for the fateful order during the Battle of Balaclava in October 1854 that led to the Light Brigade commander, the Earl of Cardigan, leading the Charge of the Light Brigade.

Earl of Cardigan was the commander of the light brigade. Lieutenant-General James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan KCB (16 October 1797 – 28 March 1868)was an officer in the British Army who commanded the Light Brigade during the Crimean War, leading its charge at the Battle of Balaclava.

When Lord Raglan died, James Simpson took over. General Sir James Simpson (1792 – 18 April 1868) was a British Army officer of the 19th century. He commanded the British troops in the Crimea from June to November 1855, following the death of Field Marshal Lord Raglan. 

Charlie, Lucy's husband, is with the 8th Hussars. The 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1693. During the Crimean War, the regiment formed part of the Light Brigade. The regiment set sail from Plymouth in early March 1854. Five ships were needed to transport them to the Black Sea. 

Lucy as an officer's wife comes across Fanny Duberly, who is snobbish and critical of her behaviour. Frances Isabella Duberly (27 September 1829 – 19 November 1902) was an English diarist who wrote a journal of her experiences on campaign in the Crimean War and the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Her husband, Captain Henry Duberly, was paymaster to the 8th Royal Irish Hussars, part of the British light cavalry that took part in the Charge of the Light Brigade.

Lucy goes with her husband to the war. They first arrive in Constantinople. Constantinople is an ancient city in modern-day Turkey that's now known as Istanbul. 

They next go to Varna. Varna is a port city and seaside resort on Bulgaria's Black Sea, next to the coastal resorts of Golden Sands, St. Konstantin and Albena.

Silistria is where Lucy and Adelaide stay while they men join the war. Silistra is a town in Northeastern Bulgaria. The town lies on the southern bank of the lower Danube river, and is also the part of the Romanian border where it stops following the Danube. The town was captured and recaptured by Russian forces numerous times during several Russo-Turkish Wars and was besieged between 14 April and 23 June 1854 during the Crimean War.

Florence Nightingale is part of the novel, and Dorothea is one of the nurse volunteers who go to the Crimea.Florence Nightingale  (12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War, in which she organised care for wounded soldiers at Constantinople.

Dorothea goes to an interview to apply for a position among Forence Nightingale's nurses. The interview takes place in the home of Sidney Herbert, the war minister. Sidney Herbert (16 September 1810 – 2 August 1861) was a British statesman and a close ally and confidant of Florence Nightingale. In 1852 he was appointed as Secretary at War in the coalition government of Lord Aberdeen from 1852 to 1854, being responsible for the War Office during the Crimean War. 

The interview was conducted by Mrs Herbert Sidney, Mrs Bracebridge, Miss Stanly and MIss Parthenope Nightingale.

Mary Elizabeth Herbert (21 July 1822 – 30 October 1911) was an English Roman Catholic writer, translator, philanthropist, and influential social figure. When Sidney was made Secretary at War during the Crimean War, Elizabeth became an ally of Nightingale. They became devoted friends; both Herberts supported Nightingale in her "calling" to become a nurse and serve God. Elizabeth Herbert assisted in the selection of nurses for the war. Interviews with applicants were held at the Herbert home in Belgrave Square.

Selina Bracebridge (1800 – 1874) was a British artist, medical reformer, and travel writer. The Bracebridges acted as administrative assistants to Nightingale for nine months at the Barrack Hospital during the Crimean War. 

Mary Stanley (1813–1879) philanthropist and nurse, is best known for her dispute in the Crimea with her friend Florence Nightingale. Mary Stanley was one of the women who answered the appeal which went out for nurses for the Crimea. She shared Florence Nightingale's interest in nursing, the two having become friends in 1847. Mary Stanley helped the government recruit the first group of nurses to go to Constantinople which included a group of nuns from the Irish Sisters of Mercy.

Frances Parthenope Verney (née Nightingale; 19 April 1819 – 12 May 1890) was an English writer and journalist. Although at first opposed to her sister becoming a nurse,[3] Parthenope became an active supporter of Florence's work during the Crimean War.

Bill, Charlie's friend, died in Eupatoria.  Eupatoría is a city in Western Crimea, north of Kalamita Bay. The city was occupied in September 1854 by British, French and Turkish troops during the Crimean War prior to the Allied landing in Kalamita Bay, after which the Battle of the Alma south of the bay followed.

The Battle of Balaklava takes place in 1854. The Battle of Balaclava, fought on 25 October 1854 during the Crimean War, was part of the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–55), an Allied attempt to capture the port and fortress of Sevastopol, Russia's principal naval base on the Black Sea.

Sevastopol is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base throughout its history. From 1853 to 1856, the Crimean peninsula's strategic position in controlling the Black Sea caused it to be the site of the principal engagements of the Crimean War, where Russia lost to a French-led alliance.

Kadikoi is the town where Lucy goes to buy some provisions. Kadikoi in the 19th century was a village on the Crimean peninsula, in Ukraine, about one mile north of Balaklava. The Battle of Balaclava was fought on the hills and valleys to the north of Kadikoi in 1854.

When Dorothea tries to find Lucy in Scutari, she goes on a caique. A caïque is a traditional fishing boat usually found among the waters of the Ionian or Aegean Sea, and also a light skiff used on the Bosporus.

In Scutori Miss NIghtingale is where she has the barracks hospital. On 4 November 1854, Florence Nightingale arrived in Scutari with 37 volunteer nurses. They cared for thousands of wounded and infected soldiers until she returned home in 1857 as a heroine. During the war around 6,000 soldiers died in the Selimiye Barracks, mostly as the result of a cholera epidemic.

Dorothea comes across nurse Eliza Roberts in Scutari. Eliza Roberts (1802–1878) was an English nurse who was among the first group of nurses to accompany Florence Nightingale to Scutari Hospital during the Crimean War. Nightingale regarded her as the best of her nurses and appointed her Head Nurse.

Elizabeth Davis, who is Dorothea's friend, is also a real character. Betsi Cadwaladr (24 May 1789 – 17 July 1860), also known as  Betsi Davis, was a Welsh nurse. She began nursing on travelling ships in her 30s (1820s) and later nursed in the Crimean War alongside Florence Nightingale. At some point in her life she changed her surname to Davis because it was easy to pronounce, though some sources state that she was actually born as Elizabeth Davis. Cadwaladr was subsequently posted to a hospital in Scutari, Turkey, a hospital being run by Florence Nightingale. Cadwaladr worked there for some months, but there were frequent clashes between the two; they came from very different social backgrounds and were a generation apart in age (31 years). Nightingale was a stickler for rules and bureaucracy, some of which she set up; indeed, she was also famed as a statistician. Cadwaladr often side-stepped regulations to react more intuitively to the ever-changing needs of the injured soldiers.

Reports on the war were regularly written by W.H. Russell. Sir William Howard Russell (28 March 1827 – 10 February 1907) was an Irish reporter with The Times, and is considered to have been one of the first modern war correspondents. He spent 22 months covering the Crimean War, including the Siege of Sevastopol and the Charge of the Light Brigade.

Another important historic character in Crimea is Mary Seacole. Mary Jane Seacole (23 November 1805 – 14 May 1881) was a British nurse and businesswoman. Seacole went to the Crimean War in 1855 with the plan of setting up the "British Hotel", as "a mess-table and comfortable quarters for sick and convalescent officers.

Lucy goes to Smyrna to look after Murad. Smyrna was an Ancient Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia.

In 1856 a treaty of peace was signed. The resulting Treaty of Paris, signed on March 30, 1856, guaranteed the integrity of Ottoman Turkey and obliged Russia to surrender southern Bessarabia, at the mouth of the Danube. The Black Sea was neutralized, and the Danube River was opened to the shipping of all nations.