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Mary Seacole The name Florence Nightingale would probably be familiar to most of you as that of a nurse who was famous during the 1800s for helping soldiers during the Crimean War. However, not many people know of her contemporary at that time, Mary Seacole. She too served on the front lines of the Crimean War during the 1850s, but unlike Florence Nightingale, Mary Seacole was a black woman who had little support for her endeavours and who also received little recognition for her contribution to helping the sick and injured on the front line. Mary was a Jamaican healer and entrepreneur born Mary Grant to a mixed race Jamaican mother and a white Scottish father in 1805 in Kingston, Jamaica. Her father had been stationed in Jamaica as a soldier and it was here he met her mother. Mary's mother was a healer and ran a boarding house for invalid soldiers. Mary classed herself as a Creole. She grew up in a loving environment and was educated well. She married in 1836 to Edward Seacole, but her husband died some months after their wedding closely followed by the death of her mother leaving Mary to fend for herself. This she did admirably by taking to healing and creating medicinal remedies for all sorts of ailments. She took over her mother's boarding house and continued the good works. Her customers in Jamaica were mainly British soldiers and some were military doctors whom she charmed into sharing their medical knowledge. In 1854 the Crimean War was escalating and when Mary heard about it, she knew she could help. Florence Nightingale financed and organised Britain's first corps of trained nurses whom she recruited from the wealthy and working poor. Mary travelled to London to see how she could assist. Sadly, Mary spent months going from one war office to another in London being refused by everyone. The British War Office never gave her an interview and even though she applied to Elizabeth Herbert, the wife of the secretary for war who was recruiting nurses for the war effort, she was denied an interview with her too. She was disheartened and decided she would travel to the Crimea on her own funding herself. She cashed in her assets and set out to build her own hospice in the Crimea. When she arrived in the Crimea in 1856, she tried again to join the Nightingale nurses. She was refused acceptance and so she established the British Hotel near Balaclava using her own money and she often went to work on the front lines of the battlefield dispensing medicine, meals and the like. She used up all her savings to obtain necessities and when she ran out of money, she sold medicines and meals to the soldiers to keep going. Sadly this wasn't to last as her clients were no richer than her. Mary returned to London deeply in debt and had her story published by the British press. Money was raised in subscriptions and she also wrote her autobiography that was published in 1857 entitled 'The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands'. The book was very successful and went into its 2nd printing within 12 months of publication and Mary became a popular figure. She spent the rest of her life travelling and working between London and Kingston. She was awarded the Crimean medal, the French Legion of Honour and a Turkish medal prior to her death on May 14th, 1881. She was buried in St. Mary's catholic cemetery on Harrow Road in Kensal Green, London, England. This outstanding black woman devoted her life to caring, healing and tending to the sick and wounded at war. She overcame racial boundaries to follow her path to the Crimean frontline and even though British Victorian society tried to hold her back, she proved that she was a fighter and could provide medical care just as well as any white nurse could. Mary Seacole is a shining example to nurses of all races worldwide. Sources: http://www.nurseweek.com/97428/seacole.html http://www.netsrq.com/~dbois/seacole-mj.html http://www.internurse.com/history/seacole/marymain.htm http://www.blackpresence.co.uk/ |
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