Jenny Lind

1820–1887

Jenny [Johanna Maria] Lind [married name Lind-Goldschmidt], Swedish opera singer andphilanthropist, was born on 6 October 1820 at 40 Mästersamuelsgränd, Stockholm. Also known as the ‘Swedish Nightingale’, Jenny was one of the most popular entertainers in 19th century Europe.

She gave her first concerts in Norwich in 1847 which proved to be so popular that more were arranged. Jenny returned to Norwich in 1849, staying with Bishop Stanley, and gave two concerts in St Andrew’s Hall on 22 and 23 January.

The money raised from the Jenny Lind concerts were later earmarked for the purpose of an infirmary for sick children. The Norwich Infirmary for Sick Children in Pottergate, Norwich, admitted its first patients on 3 April 1854. Norwich was only the second city in the country to have a children’s hospital (the first was London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in 1852).  The Jenny Lind Children’s Hospital at the modern-day Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital continues to provide treatment and care for the county’s children.

Jenny Lind died on 2 November 1887.

Find out more: You can see pictures of the Jenny Lind Hospital and the Jenny Lind playground (Norwich) on Picture Norfolk here.  You can see papers relating to Jenny Lind at the Norfolk Record Office here and here.