Mary Seacole -- Jamaica

Mary Jane Seacole also known as Mother Seacole or Mary Grant, was a Jamaican nurse best known for her involvement in the Crimean War. She set up and operated boarding houses in Panama and the Crimea to assist in her desire to treat the sick.  She was the daughter of a officer in the British Army and a black mother, Seacole was taught Caribbean and African herbal remedies by her mother, who kept a boarding house for disabled European soldiers and sailors. 

The West Indies was an outpost of the British Empire in the late 18th century and up to a third of foreign trade was with the British West Indies; Britain's economic interests were protected by a massive military presence, with up to 93 line infantry regiments serving there.  It was around this time Mary's skills as a nurse were recognised as she spent a great deal of time travelling throughout the Caribbean collecting information on plants and herbs used as medicine, and developed her own cures while providing care.

Around 1821 Seacole went to London for a year then returned to Jamaica, she married Edwin Horatio Hamilton Seacole on 10 November 1836, Edwin was said to be the son of Horatio Nelson and his mistress Emma, Lady Hamilton.  During 1843 and 1844, Seacole suffered a series of personal disasters. She and her family lost most of the boarding house in a fire, but this was replaced by New Blundell Hall, her husband died in October 1844, followed by her mother.

In 1851 Seacole travelled to Cruces to visit her brother, but shortly after her arrival the town was struck by cholera, Seacole was on hand to treat the first victim, who survived, establishing Seacole's reputation and bringing her a succession of patients as the infection spread.  The rich paid, but she treated the poor for free, despite the problems of disease and climate, Panama remained the favoured route between the coasts of the United States. Seeing a business opportunity, Seacole opened the British Hotel, in 1852 Seacole joined other traders in Cruces by moving to Gorgona. 

Where she established a women-only hotel and continued to treat the sick.  In late 1852 she travelled back to Jamaica, where soon after was asked by the medical authorities to minister to victims of a severe outbreak of yellow fever. She went on to organise a nursing service for the hospital at Up-Park Camp, Kingston, composed of fellow African-Caribbean "doctresses" Seacole returned to Panama in early 1854 to finalise her business affairs, then moved to the New Granada Mining Gold Company establishment at Fort Bowen Mine to provide medical support. 

News of the escalating Crimean War reached Seacole in Panama and she decided to travel to London to volunteer as a nurse.  Relying on her reputation and experience in the Caribbean, she applied to the War Office and asked to be sent as an army assistant to the Crimea but was refused.  The British Government permited a party of 38 nurses chosen by Florence Nightingale to travel to the affected area, but Mary was excluded.  Instead, she borrowed money to make the 4,000-mile (6500 km) journey, Thomas Day, an old friend and distant relative, assisted Mary with the necessary funds to travel to the Crimea, set up a hospital and boarding house for convalescing officers. 

The “British Hotel” as it was called, soon thrived, opening six days a week and closing Sundays, she settled into a routine of opening early, serving morning coffee to passing travellers, and then dealing with callers’ medical complaints, before travelling to visit casualties.   She treated the battlefield wounded, often nursing soldiers from both sides while under fire, to identify herself as a non-combatant she wore brightly coloured clothes and ribbons in her hair.  The Times wrote that she was a "warm and successful physician, who doctors and cures all manner of men with extraordinary success.  She is always in attendance near the battle-field to aid the wounded and has earned many a poor fellow's blessing." Florence Nightingale was unimpressed by Mary Seacole's work, and accused her of intoxicating soldiers and running a brothel.

The Treaty of Paris was signed on 30 March 1856, after which the soldiers began to leave Crimea, Seacole was in a difficult financial position, as her Hotel was full of unsold goods.  She had to sell as much as possible before all the soldiers left, but was forced to auction many expensive goods at low prices, she was one of the last to leave the Crimea.  On her return to England, she was declared bankrupt and only the intervention of Queen Victoria’s nephew, Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, saved her from destitution.  The Prince helped set up a charitable fund for Seacole and people from across Britain made donations, further fund-raising help to keep Seacole in the public eye.

In 1857 Seacole attempted to raise funds to travel to India to assist with the wounded in the Indian Rebellion, but she was dissuaded by both the new Secretary of War, Lord Panmure, and her financial troubles.  By 1860 Mary returned to Jamaica and became a prominent figure in the country, however she once again became short of money, but was fortunate to receive support from patrons including the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh who provided her funds to purchase land in Kingston to build a modest home, and a larger rental property. By 1870 Seacole had returned to London where she treated, amongst others, Alexandra, Princess of Wales for rheumatism.  Mary Seacole died in 1881 at her home in Paddington, London, the cause of death was noted as "apoplexy". At 76 years of age she left an estate valued around £2,500. 

Although Mary Seacole encountered much racism, she was always proud of her back heritage, Seacole was honoured in her lifetime alongside Florence Nightingale, but after her death she was forgotten for a century.  Today, she is noted for her bravery and medical skills and as "a woman who succeeded despite the prejudice of influential sections of Victorian society". 

Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, carved a marble bust of her in 1871 which was exhibited at the Royal Academy summer exhibition in 1872.  A 200-page account of her travels was published in July 1857 by James Blackwood as Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands, and was the first autobiography written by a black woman in Britain.  The book lists supporters of her fund-raising, including Lord Rokeby, Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar, the Duke of Wellington, the Duke of Newcastle, William Russell, and other prominent men in the military. 

 The book was dedicated to Major-General Lord Rokeby, commander of the First Division; and William Howard Russell wrote as a preface, "I have witnessed her devotion and her courage ... and I trust that England will never forget one who has nursed her sick, who sought out her wounded to aid and succour them and who performed the last offices for some of her illustrious dead”  On the 9 March 1985 An English Heritage blue plaque was erected by the Greater London Council at her residence in 157 George Street, Westminster, the site has since been redeveloped.  She was posthumously awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit in 1991.

The headquarters of the Jamaican General Trained Nurses' Association was named "Mary Seacole House" in 1954,

The hall of residence of the University of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica is named after her.   A ward at Kingston Public Hospital was also named in her memory.

A green plaque was unveiled at 147 George Street, in Westminster, on 11 October 2005.  Another blue plaque has been positioned at 14 Soho Square, another residence, where she lived in 1857.

Several other buildings and entities, mainly connected with health care, were named after her. One of the first was the Mary Seacole Centre for Nursing Practice at Thames Valley University, The Mary Seacole Research Centre, at De Montfort University Leicester, and a problem-based learning room at St George's, University of London is named after her.  Brunel University in West London houses its School of Health Sciences and Social Care in the Mary Seacole Building.  New buildings at the University of Salford and Birmingham City University bear her name, as does part of the new headquarters of the Home Office at 2 Marsham Street.  There is a Mary Seacole ward in the Douglas Bader Centre in Roehampton. 

A campaign to erect a statue of Seacole in London was launched on 24 November 2003, chaired by Clive Soley, Baron Soley

In 2005 a portrait identified as Seacole was used for one of ten first-class stamps showing important Britons, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the National Portrait Gallery. 

A short animation about Mary Seacole was adapted from a book entitled Mother Seacole, published in 2005 as part of the bicentenary celebrations.  She appeared in the National Curriculum, with her life story taught at primary schools in the UK alongside that of Florence Nightingale.

An annual prize to recognise and develop leadership in nurses, midwives and health visitors in the National Health Service was named Seacole.  An exhibition to celebrate the bicentenary of her birth opened at the Florence Nightingale Museum in London in March 2005.  Originally scheduled to last for a few months, the exhibition was so popular that it was extended to March 2007.

A bust by George Kelly, based on an original by Count Gleichen depicts her wearing four medals, three of which have been identified as the British Crimea Medals, the French Légion d'honneur and the Turkish Order of the Medjidie medal and one appears to be a Sardinian award.  The Jamaican Daily Gleaner stated in her obituary on 9 June 1881 that she had also received a Russian medal, however, no formal notice of the award exists in the London Gazette.