We Celebrate:

   
Mary Seacole - (1805-1881)

Mary Seacole is, without a doubt one of the unsung heroines of British History. She was one of the Two famous women who aided British Troops in the Crimea. Her Contemporary, Florence Nightingale has been lionized and is renowned and celebrated to this day. Mary Seacole however today remains largely forgotten.

Mary Jane Seacole was a Jamaican nurse and a heroine of the Crimean War. She was born Mary Grant in 1805 in Kingston, Jamaica. Her father was a Scottish military officer and her mother a Jamaican mulatto. Mary's mother was also a healer and ran a boardinghouse for the recuperating officers.

In 1836, Mary married Edward Seacole. Together they traveled around the Caribbean and Central America, but her husband died shortly afterwards and Mary returned to Kingston where she took over the running of the boardinghouse after her mother's death.

Mary was well educated and she was a skilled nurse.  When she heard of the collapse of the British nursing system in the Crimea and headed for London in 1845. She applied to the War Office to offer her series as a nurse, however she was turned down and she believed the reason to be colour prejudice.

She then applied to Elizabeth Herbert, the wife of the secretary of state for war who was recruiting nurses for the war effort, but was again denied an interview and after some time received a letter of rejection. Britain, apparently, was not ready to welcome a black nurse.

Undaunted, Mary went on her own initiative and in 1856 established the British Hotel near Balaclava at her own expense in order to provide "a mess-table and comfortable quarters for sick and convalescent officers".  She often went to the battlefield to attend to the wounded there.  She became a favourite with the troops despite her race.
One soldier writes in his memoirs:

She was a wonderful woman.... all the men swore by her, and in case of any malady , would seek her advise and use her herbal medicines, in preference to reporting themselves to their own doctors. That she did effect some cure is beyond doubt, and her never failing presence amongst the wounded after a battle and assisting them made her beloved buy the rank and file of the whole army'.

After the war she retained to England destitute and in ill health, the times brought hr condition to the attention of the public.

A letter asked:

'While the benevolent deeds of Florence Nightingale are being handed down for posterity ...are the humble actions of Mrs. Seacole to be entirely forgotten?'

Well wishers, who included Lord Rokeby and Lord George Paget, who were both Commanders in the Crimea organized a benefit for Mary which lasted four days, and was held in the Royal Surrey Gardens in Kennington. Over 1000 artist performed.

Mary Seacole wrote her Autobiography entitled 'The wonderful adventure of Mrs. Seacole in many lands' and is a thoroughly detailed and informative read. The book was a great success and Mary Seacole became a popular figure.

She spend the rest of her life traveling and working between London and Kingston.

She was awarded the Crimean Medal, the French Legion of Honour and a Turkish medal.

She lived prosperously for the rest of her life and died on 14 May 1881 and left over £2,500 in her will which was a very reasonable sum in those days. Her grave can be found at St May's Catholic Cemetery in Harrow Rd, London. If you are in the area pay her a visit to ensure a real British Heroine is not forgotten.

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3.20 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."