PAGE 10 MARY SEACOLE - The Florence June 26, 1991 Nurses Supplement, Wednesday, _ of_Jamaica _N� i h.tingale _ _ � 1 By Macy Seivrlght, M.A., R.G.N. ON the campus of the Unlverst­ ty of the there ts a "Mary Seacole l!all". 'J'he head- quarters of the Gener­ al Trained Nurses' Association has been �amed "Mary Seacole.

House". often refers to her 'mother's house' elderly man then, and very sickly. At the Kingston Public Hospital. and once, speaking about Black so Black River was certainly a poor there ls an attempt to perpetuate River, she mentions her 'father's choice. It ts possible that Mary the name of a great Jamaican, and house'. She also tells how when a chose Black River because of her an even greater nurse; one whom young child she was taken by an (alleged) earlier associations. old lady and brought up as one of the Americans referred to as "the Their sojourn there was brief: her grandchildren. She never men­ angel of mercy", the Cubans termed John became worse and they were tions her mother's name, nor her "the yellow woman from Jamaica forced to return to Kingston. Within father's. w1th the cholera medicine", and the a month after their return, John Crimean soldiers hailed as "the Later In her book she speaks of died. Mary states that she was of Jamaica•. a paternal cousin named Mr. Day, "very sorrowful". I suspect, however, that there w1th whom she entered Into busi­ Soon after this, Mary's mother might be many nurses to whom the ness; thus her father's name might died and left Blundell Hall to her name of the Headquarters House have been 'Day'. All these facts and her sister, Louise. The hotel means little or nothing at all. For seem to Indicate that Mary was an was burnt to the ground In the such nurses, the Mary Seacole tllegltlmate child; an admission that Great Fire of 1843, but later rebuilt House provides no "rallying point", she was not prepared to make. She through the efforts of Mary. The stirs no emoU0ns. Imparts no inspi­ had a sister (Mrs. Louise Grant) to venture met with even greater suc­ ration, provc�:f-'.1 no loyalty. It ts whom she left the Blundell Hall cess, but Mary soon left the man­ particularly ci these persons that I Hotel. bequeathed to them both by . agement to her sister, and devoted think as I attempt. quite Incomple­ their mother. herself to "doctoring". tely. to relate the high points In the · Mary's mother had a reputation She was particularly good at life of this great woman. of bing a "doctress" because she handling Yellow Fever cases. In the • ministered to the sick sallors and big cholera epidemic , : 1850, she soldiers (from Up Park Camp and Mary Seacole was born In the volunteered as a nurse. Is said to Newcastle) who frequented her ho­ early Eighteen hundreds; the exact have learned much about the dis­ tel. From her, Mary learnt the art time being unknown. In her autobi­ ease and Its cure from trained phy­ of hr:allng and the love of caring for ography, "Wonderful Adventures of sicians, and even perfected a medi­ the sick. From about the age of Mrs. Seacole In Many Lands", she cine of her own. did not disclose her age, remarking twelve Mary began to share with Later. Mary visited Panama for a her mother the task of attending that that was a feminine privilege. second time. This was during the upon Invalid officers or their w1ves. She did say, however. that "the when thou­ century and myself were both While still young, she had the sands were crossing the Isthmus to young together, and we have grown ' opportunity of visiting England ships going north on the Pacific up side by side Into age and conse­ twice (for a total of three years) as side. , quence". travelling companion and nurse of Sanitary conditions on the Isth­ She herself said that she was an old lady. These trips only mus were very poor; there were born In Kingston. but In 1938 whetted Mary's appetite for travel. disease of every kind. Mary soon when Mr. Frank Cundall published and not long after her return to rented a butldlng and opened a that Information, a writer to the Jamaica, she visited Nassau, Pana­ lodging-house and store. Before Gleaner contradicted It. This writer ma, and Cuba. long, her chief activity was caring said that Mary was born at Haugh­ On her return to Kingston, Mary for the sick foreigners. and to this ton, near Lacovia, In St. Elizabth. states that she nursed her old "in­ task she gave of her best. and, as a young girl, went to live In dulgent patroness, In her last Jong It was here that she earned the Black River. Illness". and that after her death, title of "angel of mercy" from the Mary tells very little about her she (Mary) went back to live at her Americans. It was here too that a chlldhoold and early life. Her moth­ mother's house. There she met and Yankee referred to her colour, and er was a coloured woman who kept married Mr. John Seacole, and took stated his regrets that he could not a boarding house In Kingston. Her him down to Black River. where "bleach her white", and so be able father was a Scottish soldier. She they established a store. He was an to claim her. In appropriate lan­ guage. Mary retorted that when she came across people like him, she could not but feel happy that she escaped being white. From Panama, she went to Cuba. There she ran into an epide­ mic of cholera, and was again of Y OF JAMAICA NATIO_t4Al LIBRAR (Contlnaed oa Page 11 I PAGE 11 MARY SEACOLE...

(Coathnled from Page 10) er, as a •Sutler" (one who follows received by several members of tl1e great help. Herc she was known as an army and sells provisions, li­ Royal Famlly. "the yellow woman from Jamaica quors etc., to the troops). Two years after her return fro n , Mary vrrote and publlsh• ' with the cholera medictne•. This W.H. Russell, the famous war her autobiography edited by a time she caught the disease. but correspondent, later said of her In ·w.J.s.· who, some historians feel, cured herself and returned to Pana­ the London Ttmes. , have wit­ may have actually written the book ma where she remained for a time. nessed her devotion and her cour­ for Mary at her dictation. The book • age: 1 have already borne testimony sold well and gave Mrs. Mary Sea­ to her services to all who needed Early In 1853 (about April) she cole the reputation of betng one of them. She is the first who has returned toKingston. the most picturesque women of redeemed the name of 'sutler' from that day. Mary spent the rest of 1853 in of the suspicion worthlessness, Now advanced In age, Mary Sea­ Kingston. and was probably still mercenary baseness and plunder; cole kept travelllng back and forth there when the broke and I trust that England will not between Kingston and London. She out In 1854. She was stimulated forget one who has nursed her sick, died tn 1881; some reports say tn Into acUon when she learnt that a who sought out her wounded to aid Kingston. others say In London. reg1ment which had previously and succour them. and who per­ Her final retlng placl? remains un­ been stationed In Jamaica. was formed the last 'offices for some of known and unmarkf'd. sent to the front. She sold property, her illustrious dead." But the name of .iary Seacole raised as much money as she will ltve on, and posterity wtl re­ could. and went to London where In her own account. Mary de­ member a Jamaican who, although she offered her servtces to the Med­ scrtbes very vMdly her work in the she may not be counted among thr ical Department, WM Office, and Crimean War. and her subsequent wotrd's ·greats'. certainly had, In Quartermaster's Office. bankruptcy on her return to En­ gland. But she received many the words od Adolphe Roberts. ·one all At three places, she was re­ proofs of admiration in htgh places. of the kindest hearts tha� ever beat (allegedly) jceted mainly because of She was awarded two medals; and In a human breast". )t_ her colour. a nephew of made a -Reprinted from 'The Jam.a.l­ She went to the Crimea, bowev- small bust of her In wood. She was ean llfane', December 1961

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