The Cope was presented to St Margaret’s East Wellow, Burial Place of Florence Nightingale, by the Nightingale Society of California, USA on Sunday 13th May 1990.

It was made by the Robe Makers, J. Wippell & Co. of Exeter, of medium deep blue brocade silk.

On the left, as you look at the cope, may be seen three Coats of Arms, the Archbishop of Canterbury at the top, than St Thomas’s Hospital, London and St George’s Hospital, London. At the bottom is the famous pet owl.

On the right, as you look, the Arms of the Bishop of Winchester are at the top, descending to Westminster Hospital, London, St Bartholomew’s Hospital London and a Turkish Lantern for the Lady of the Lamp.

On the back of the cope, the main feature is the chaplet with corded edge and gold tassel. Florence Nightingale, called the Founder of modern nursing, pioneered this form of statistical chart to indicate the ways in which people died in the Crimean War in a single year.

The largest sections, in blue, represent the tens of thousands of men who died of preventable disease contracted in hospital after the battle in spite of the best efforts of Florence Nightingale and her team of nurses. The pink segments are men who died of wounds received in battle, and the silver segments show deaths from all other causes.