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Mary Seacole: Nurse, Entrepreneur, Humanitarian

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Mary Seacole: Nurse, Entrepreneur, Humanitarian National Library of Jamaica WRITEFULLY YOURS Nurse, entrepreneur, humanitarian Bever1ey East Secole's own determination that Contributor HER CAREER STORY got her to the Crimea. At the age of 50 Mary formed a business N CELEBRATION of Black and raised the necessary capital rHistory Month I would like to Unlike Florence who worked in the to travel a three thousand mile focus on our heritage and security of Scutari many miles from the front­ journey. look at some of the careers of She arrived at the Crimea as a people from our history. Some of line, Mrs. Secacole was frequently seen on the sutler, (a person who sells provi­ my favourite role models are battlefield tending the wounded. She was also sions, liquor to the troops) not as Marcus Garvey, Mary Seacole, a nurse. 'If you cannot go Langston Hughes, Zora Neale known for the charitable aspects of her work. through the front door side-step Hurston, Madam CJ. Walker and slip in through the side and Paul Robeson. When we Seacole' has become the raised in Kingston, Her mother, a door', may have been her look at the achievements of these forgotten heroine of that period. free Black woman owned a hotel thinking. people we should never look at This is her story. called Blundell Hall where TENDEDTHE WOUNDED our careers and say, "I cannot." In order to truly understand British sailors and soldiers Unlike Florence who worked Mary Seacole made an excep­ Mary Seacole's achievements, stationed in the nearby camp of in the security of Scutari many tional contribution to the society her work must be measured Up Park or the military station at miles from the frontline, Mrs. in which she lived and conse­ against tQe time in which she Newcastle were entertained. Secacole wasfrequently seenon the quently she deserves the honour lived and the restrictions under By the late 40s she had battlefield tending thewounded. She of mention in our history books which she had to operate. She travelled all over the Caribbean was also known for the charitable but somehow she rarely even was born before Britain abol­ region, notably to Nassau, Haiti, aspects of her work. merits a footnote. ished the slave trade in 1807 and Cuba and PaniiJila. Her reputa­ An average work.day for the By comparison, her contempo­ she was married and widowed tion as a 'doctrees' became doctress begins at 7:00a.m. and rary, Florence Nightingale before the Emancipation Act was greater than her mother's. ends at 9:00p.m. When the wat received national acclaim for her affected. Diseases such as cholera, yellow ended abruptlyin 1855, she work and her name is known When she was risking her life fever, malaria and small pox fre­ returned to London with little fan­ throughout the English speaking for Queen and country on the quently attacked islanders. The fare for her achievements and hard worid. Both women found their battlefield of the Crimea many of first national test of Mary's heal­ work. She died in London May vocation in the nursing profes- her fellow West Indians were ing skills came during the 1881. .sion but while the European still enslaved in all, but name . Kingston cholera epidemic of When your career paths seems in woman's strength lay admin­ LYNCH MOBS 1850. Her husband was Horatio challenging remember this quote: istration the Caribbean/West Seacole. "Your crown has been paid for Indian displayed the skill of a At the time of her death in . The desire to travel came from all you have to do is wear it" surgeon and was noted for her 1881 black people in South the stories she grew up hearing There is nothing that you want healing hands. America were still not free and from the soldiers. to achieve that is not doable. Afro-Americans in the north, Others before us with less FORGOmN HEROINE History books tell us that Mary after less than 20 years of free­ was Florence Nightingale's resources, education and money History still pays tribute to the dom were suffering at the hands assistant, but while the woman have succeeded. 'Lady of the Lamp' Florence of lynch mobs. with the lamp had not accepted In celebration of Black History . Nightingale but 'Mother Mary Seacole was born and Mary's assistance , it was Mary month - hail to all nurses FILE A portrait of Jamaica's Mary Seacole, daughter of a Scottish sailor and coloured mother, born near St. Elizabeth in the 1800s. .
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  • Mary Seacole ×
    This website would like to remind you: Your browser (Apple Safari 4) is out of date. Update your browser for more × security, comfort and the best experience on this site. Article Mary Seacole Adventurer in Jamaica, Panama, and the Crimean War For the complete article with media resources, visit: http://education.nationalgeographic.com/news/mary-seacole/ BY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EDUCATION STAFF Wednesday, November 27, 2013 Mary Seacole was a daring adventurer of the 19th century. A Jamaican woman of mixed race, she was awarded the Order of Merit posthumously by the government of Jamaica and celebrated as a “Black Briton” in the United Kingdom. Seacole authored a book based on her travels in Panama—where she ran a store for men going overland to the California Gold Rush—and her experiences in the Crimean War, where she ran a store and catering service for officers. There, her compassion and dedication earned her the nickname “Mother Seacole.” Mary Jane Grant was born in Kingston, Jamaica, sometime in 1805, although she kept her actual birth date a secret. (She gave the census an incorrect age twice, reporting herself five years younger than she actually was. Her year of birth is taken from her death certificate.) “As a female, and a widow, I may be well excused giving the precise date of this important event,” she writes in her book, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands. “But I do not mind confessing that the century and myself were both young together, and that we have grown side-by-side into age and consequence.” Seacole’s father was a Scottish soldier stationed in Jamaica.
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  • Mary Seacole Fact Sheet
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  • Remembering Mary Seacole
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  • Mary Seacole
    Jamaicanhealer and war heroine � -�;;;;;;;;;=;;;;;;�;==;;;;;;;:=::::::.., some of her illustrious dead". Letters began to OW I am not going to bl the authori- · 1 pour in asking: While the benevolent deeds of ties who would not llsten the offer of a Florence Nightingale are being handed down for Nmotherly yellow woman to go to the 1 posterity ...are the humble actions of Mrs. Crimeaand nurse her 'sons' there, suffering Seacole to be entirely forgotten? from cholera, diarrhoea, and a host of lesser ills. Soon, supporters appeared, including influen- In my country, people know our use, it would tial Dukes and Lords who had,been Commanders have been different; but here (in England) it was in the Crimea. A benefit in the Royal Surrey natural enough- although I had references, and Gardens in Kensington was organised. It lasted other voices spoke for me _ that they should laugh, good-naturedly enough at my offer. for four days, and over 1000 artistes performed. Undaunted and proud of her Creole status, Mary was hailed as a national heroine and Mary tried all routes open to her, including the received a commendation from Queen Victoria. Crimean War Fund to try and secure her trans- She was also decorated by the governments of port. She was turned down. Dismayed, but not France and Turkey. discouraged, Mary d.!termined to go to the Never one to laze about, Mary set to the task of Crimea on her own. She cashed in her assets and writing her autobiography, 'The Wonderful set out to the heat of the battle to build her own Adventures of Mrs.
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  • History Year 2 Autumn Mary Seacole and Martin Luther King
    Key Facts Vocabulary Mary Seacole was born in Jamaica. Word Definition Her mother was a nurse who taught her traditional African and Caribbean remedies for illnesses. Abolition Officially ending or stopping some- thing. Mary wanted to help soldiers in the Crimean War but History was denied. Crimea A place in Eastern Europe where the She made her own way to Crimea and set up a Hospi- war took place. tal called ‘British Hotel’. Year 2 Nurse A person who is trained to look af- When she returned from the war she was bankrupt (she had no money) as she had spent it all on medical goods. Autumn Soldier A person who fights for an army. The soldiers called her ‘Mother Seacole’. Mary Seacole MLK Jr was born in Atlanta, Georgia in the USA. Boycott When you stop doing something as a way of pretesting. MLK Jr led the bus boycott following Rosa Park’s ar- rest, which lasted 385 days. and Civil Rights The rights of all citizens to political and social freedom. He gave his ‘I have a dream Speech’ listened to by 250 000 people. Martin Luther Non-Violent To protest against something in a protests peaceful manner. He received the Nobel Peace Prize for his leadership in the Civil Rights Movement through non-violent pro- King Racial seg- When you separate people according tests. regation to their race or ethnicity. He was shot and died at the age of 39. 1805 1838 1853 1855 1856 1857 1881 Mary Seacole was born Slavery abolished in The Crimean war began– Mary sets up her Brit- End of Crimean war— 4 day benefit held to Mary Seacole dies in in Jamaica.
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  • Mary Seacole: Global Nurse Extraordinaire
    DISCUSSION PAPER Mary Seacole: global nurse extraordinaire Corry Staring-Derks, Jeroen Staring & Elizabeth N. Anionwu Accepted for publication 18 September 2014 Correspondence to E.N. Anionwu: STARING-DERKS C., STARING J. & ANIONWU E.N. (2014) Mary Seacole: glo- e-mail: [email protected] bal nurse extraordinaire. Journal of Advanced Nursing 00(0), 000–000. doi: 10.1111/jan.12559 Corry Staring-Derks MSc Infant Welfare Centre Medical Specialist and Lecturer in Medicine Abstract University of Applied Sciences Avans Aims. A discussion of recently discovered literature that reveals how after the Hogeschool Nursing Departments, Breda Crimean War ended in 1856, Jamaican nurse, doctress and entrepreneur Mary and Den Bosch, The Netherlands Seacole travelled more widely and gained further international recognition than had previously been appreciated. Jeroen Staring PhD Background. New findings demonstrate that Seacole’s international charitable PhD in Medical Sciences, PhD in Pedagogy, and business activities were reported more widely than realised. Recently Independent Researcher discovered literature uncovers her networking and strategic skills in various social Nijmegen, The Netherlands milieus. A former Scutari nurse and 39 other women, offered their service to Elizabeth N. Anionwu PhD RN Seacole to nurse British soldiers in India. Newspapers also reported the medal she Emeritus Professor of Nursing had been awarded from the Turkish government. University of West London, UK Design. Discussion paper. @EAnionwu Data sources. Digitized 19th-century newspaper reports, and 1857 Dutch and 1858 French translations of Seacole’s autobiography and a recently discovered handwritten letter dated 1 October 1857 from Seacole to Sir Henry Storks, at the time Secretary for Military Correspondence at the War Office, London.
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  • Mary Seacole
    An Introduction to: Mary Seacole Mary Seacole (1805-1881), business woman and nurse of the Crimean War gives her name to Seacole House at The John Warner School in Hoddesdon. Seacole House represents the discipline of the social sciences and the school value of respect. Summary of Life Was Mary a Creole, mulatto or quadroon? One of the most significant things about Mary Seacole relates to her race. Attitudes towards non-white members of British society in the nineteenth century were almost wholly negative and any sense of legal equality between different races did not come about until the second half of the twentieth century, one hundred years after Mary died. Mary Jane Grant was born in Kingston, Jamaica (part of the British Empire at the time) in 1805. Her father was a white man from Scotland based in Jamaica with the British army and her mother was a Creole (a person of mixed European and black descent). Legally, Mary was classified as a mulatto (a person born from one white parent and one black parent) but technically speaking she was a quadroon (a person with one bi-racial parent and one white parent). Race would play a significant part in her life and meant she had to overcome prejudice, discrimination and lack of opportunity to achieve her remarkable successes. How did she learn to be a nurse? Mary’s mother ran Blundell Hall, one of the finest hotels (These ‘hotels’ were more like hostels caring for the sick) in Kingston. Mary acquired her nursing skills from her mother and also from doctors stay at the boarding house.
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  • SCIENCE at Work
    SCIENCE at work All about Mary Seacole WHAT DID MARY SEACOLE DO? Mary Seacole was a nurse. She was the daughter of a black Jamaican woman and a white Scottish man. Mary grew up in Jamaica, helping her mother nurse sick and injured people in their boarding house. When she was 15 she travelled to England and learned more about nursing. Over the next few years she worked in a scientific way to discover which medicines were best for treating cholera. She became an expert, saving many people’s lives in Panama and Jamaica. When the Crimean war broke out, Mary asked to be sent there, but was turned away by the war office in London. She was so determined to go that she went anyway, paying for her own travel. With great kindness and skilled nursing, she treated soldiers on the front line, often under fire. The soldiers called her ‘Mother Seacole’. Mary Seacole and Florence Nightingale During the Crimean War, Mary improved conditions for soldiers and saved many of their lives, often in dangerous circumstances. Florence Nightingale also saved many lives, but was in less danger herself. But after the war, Florence became a legendary figure in Picture credit British history, and Mary was forgotten. Until recently hardly anyone had heard of her. When Mary’s application to nurse wounded soldiers in Crimea was rejected, she knew that it was not for lack of experience and good references, but because she was black. She cried in the street and said, “Did these This is the only known photograph of Mary ladies shrink from accepting my aid because Seacole, taken in London in around 1873.
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