Mary Seacole: the formerly forgotten “Florence Nightingale”
She is at last being given the recognition she always deserved
Mary Seacole is now being given proper recognition for her contribution to nursing and the welfare of soldiers during the Crimean War. Everyone has heard of Florence Nightingale, the “lady with the lamp”, but nothing like as much fame has fallen on the shoulders of Mary Seacole, although this oversight is at last being corrected.
Mary Seacole — her early life
Mary was born in 1805 as Mary Jane Grant, in Kingston, Jamaica. Her father was a Scottish soldier, and her mixed-race mother ran a boarding house for British army officers. This lady had a smattering of nursing knowledge, as well as being well versed in the use of herbal medicines, skills which she passed on to her daughter.
Little is known of Mary’s early life, although she visited London in the 1820s, and in 1836 she was married to Edwin Horatio Seacole, one of her mother’s house-guests, but he died within a few years.
Mary ran the boarding house with her sister for some time, and also practised as a nurse, both in Jamaica and Panama, where she went to help her brother in running his hotel there.
The Crimean War