The directory «Plots»

Seacole Mary
(1805—1881)

British nurse. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, she helped tend invalid British soldiers when she was only 12 years old. At 18 she visited her relatives in Scotland and discovered a taste for adventure. In 1836 she married Nelson's godson Edwin Horatio Seacole, but was soon widowed. Her interest in nursing started early and she went to Latin America to tend to patients with cholera, where she devised her own medicines. She also learned to tend knife and gunshot wounds. She heard about the Crimean war and immediately set out for London. Aged almost 50, she planned to go to the front to use her medical skills to save the lives of men as she had done in Kingston. However, on application to the War Office, she was turned down without explanation. She heard that Florence Nightingale was recruiting nurses but was never granted an interview. She approached the Crimean Fund but was again refused. In desperation she made her own way across 3,000 miles to the Black Sea to set up a hotel similar to the one her family had run in Jamaica. Within a few months the 'British Hotel' was selling basic provisions and wholesome food, with Mary treating the sick and injured. Like Nightingale, she believed strongly in hygiene and ventilation, and also nursed in the Crimean War (paying her own passage). Here she worked in the field and treated disease, taking a more active role than the Nightingale nurses who did more basic tasks such as undoing bandages, washing wounds, spoon feeding and comforting the dying. She was Britain's first black nurse. She was commended by Queen Victoria. On her return she wrote her autobiography. The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands, which was published in 1857. This was the first autobiography by a black woman. It was a great success and she lived in comfort for the rest of her life. She is buried in the Kensal Rise cemetery in London.

Great Britain, 2006, Mary Seacole

Jamaica, 1991, Bust of Mary Seacole

Jamaica, 1991, Mary Seacole house

Jamaica, 2005, Seacole and Herbal Remedies and Medicines

Jamaica, 2005, Seacole and Seacole Hall

Jamaica, 2005, Seacole and Cremean War soldiers

Jamaica, 2005, Seacole and her medals