Evolution of the Nurse Cape?

I don't know much about the history except that I remember seeing Florence Nightingale wear one in a picture (not in real life...I'm not THAT old lol). However, I'm old enough to remember that I actually wore one in my first year of nursing school...which was in 1989. It was issued with my uniform. I went to the Royal Free School of Nursing in London and our uniform was a pale blue dress with a white nursing hat and black stockings and then the cape for wearing outside of the hospital. I remember it was navy blue wool with a pale blue wool liner and had criss cross straps across the front that buttoned up. Not many students wore it and I stopped after the first few months because it was kind of old fashioned.

I trained in the UK in 1986 and a cape was issued as part of the uniform and I still have it.

Oh oh and my mum trained as a nurse in the army back in the early 1960's and I have her cape somewhere also

Capes had gone away because everyone now KNOWS we're superheroes- making them superfluous.

Catch a train one day and go to London. There is a wonderful museum of Florence Nightinghale there.

Also, visit Minnewaters in old Bruges, Belgium. They have another excellent nursing myseum there, and mental health asylim is still working, so I guess you'll find plenty of resources in both places.

And get some trippel, too. I'd heard they now got a beer pipeline in Bruges!

Thanks everyone, you've been a great help!! :) @WKShadowRN do you mind if I use the image you posted as a reference image in my work?