Henny Tscherning (1853-1932) was a pioneering Danish nurse and trade unionist. Following opposition from her parents to becoming a nurse, at the age of 25, in 1878, she entered the Municipal Hospital of Copenhagen when the system was gradually replacing the old-style ward nurse with educated gentlewomen. In 1879, she was the first Danish professional nurse to hold a supervisory position in a surgical nursing department. In 1883, she went on a study trip to St. Thomas' Hospital in London, where Florence Nightingale's nursing school was located. When she returned home, she fought for a nursing education according to the Nightingale model with both theoretical and practical teaching. In 1899, she was elected President of the Danish Council of Nurses which at that time numbered over 5,000 nurses. She became a trade politician at a time when women did not have political voting rights or legal self-determination, and it was difficult to be heard by the authorities. Henny Tscherning gained great respect in Denmark and abroad, and she was ICN President from 1915 to 1922.