A CAMPAIGN to pay homage to a Dorset unsung heroine - the courageous nurse who inspired Florence Nightingale - has been launched.

Ann Winzer braved the horrors of the bloody Battle of Waterloo in 1815 to nurse the wounded and dying more than 40 years before the lady of the lamp, Florence Nightingale, set up her field hospital during the Crimean War.

And now villagers from Piddlehinton - where Ann Winzer is buried - have launched a drive to restore and preserve her tombstone and research her forgotten contribution to history.

Geoff Lord, churchwarden at St Mary's Church in Piddlehinton, had the idea of researching the fascinating history of one of the county's earliest and bravest nurses.

He said: "It all started when I was cutting the churchyard hedge one day. I sat down to have a rest and found myself sitting next to the grave of Ann Winzer.

"I knew about her already, but looking at the tombstone got me thinking about how her amazing story had been forgotten and probably many people in Dorset had never even heard of her. So I decided we should do something about it."

Mr Lord enlisted the help of the village's local history group, The Authors, and between them they have started to piece together Ann Winzer's life.

She was born Ann Keates in Fordington, Dorchester, in 1791 and was married at St George's Church at Fordington on April 1, 1811, to James Winzer.

Hardships

From his research Mr Lord knows Ann was a nurse by profession and tended the wounded at the Battle of Waterloo. He said: "She endured many hardships following the British Army - in which her husband served - from Brussels to Paris and then onto Duney.

"She returned to England and then went onto nursing the sick and wounded on the Rock of Gibraltar where she remained for four years.

"Ann later came to live in Piddlehinton after her nursing days were over and settled down with her husband, James - a Chelsea pensioner - to lead a normal life and in 1844 she had a son, Joseph."

Colonel Astell of the North Staffordshire Regiment, who had come to live in the village in 1862, took steps to ensure Ann received a pension from the army in recognition of her outstanding service. After she died in 1873 he and other officers also erected a tombstone in her memory as a tribute.

Mr Lord said: "Ann Winzer paved the way for Florence Nightingale and other nurses of that time. She would have worked in very difficult and dangerous circumstances.

"She would have had no anaesthetics or disinfectants - the hospital was probably in a sea of mud.

"No restoration works have been carried out on Ann Winzer's tombstone since it was erected over 126 years ago and it would be a fitting tribute if it could be sympathetically cleaned and the inscription re-cut.

"It will cost nearly £2,000 to do the work but I am hoping that if people are willing to donate £1 per letter we will be able to preserve this piece of our history."

Already the Royal College of Nursing and the army have shown an interest in the campaign. Anyone with any further information about Ann Winzer or those who would like to support the campaign can contact Geoff Lord on (01300) 348335.