Mary seacole biography british hotel reservation
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Today, in addition to the numerous buildings, nursing wards, streets, and research centers named in her honor the Seacole prize is awarded annually to develop leadership in nurses, midwives, and health visitors, and the Mary Seacole Programme, a six-month leadership course, has been created in her honor. She offered her services to Elizabeth Herbert, who was recruiting nurses on behalf of her husband, the secretary of state for war, but because of her ethnicity Seacole was refused even an interview.
Seacole was awarded the Crimean Medal, the French Legion of Honor, and a Turkish Medal.
In 1857 Seacole published an account of her travels and her experiences in the Crimean war entitled The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands, which became a bestseller of its time and ensured her public recognition and considerable wealth for the rest of her life.
Over 1,000 performers participated in the event, which was one of the biggest of its kind. The following words are etched upon her statue: “I trust that England will not forget one who nursed her sick, who sought out her wounded to aid and succour them, and who performed the last offices for some of her illustrious dead.”
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She also visited the battlefield, sometimes under fire, to nurse the wounded, and became known as 'Mother Seacole'.
The event ran over four days and was supported by wartime commanders Lord Rokeby and Lord Paget, among others, as well as other dignitaries. She was voted Greatest Black Briton in 2004 and a previously unknown portrait, showing Seacole wearing her medals, was unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery in London in January 2005.
Selected writings
Books
The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs.
Seacole in Many Lands, 1857. At a time when being black in Jamaica almost always meant being a slave, as a Creole Seacole enjoyed relative freedom, though Creoles could not join the professions, or hold public office, and had very few civil rights. In 1850, she actively treated the ill during the cholera epidemic and boasted that no newborn or mother ever died under her care.
Besides the color of her skin Seacole had also scandalized Victorian society by providing alcohol to the troops in her care; there were even rumors, started by Nightingale among others, that Seacole was running a brothel. As a nurse, sutler, and caterer, “Mother Seacole” gained an admired reputation for healing the wounded in her hotel and on the battlefield.
Her family’s close ties with the army meant Seacole could watch military doctors closely, amalgamating their learned medicine with the more traditional methods of her mother.
Seacole spent some years living with an elder patroness’s family where she received a good education before returning home to Blundell Hall. The press highlighted her plight and in July 1857 a benefit festival was organised to raise money for her, attracting thousands of people.
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Mary Seacole Biography
1805-1881
Crimean war nurse, writer
Seacole, Mary, photograph. Republished in 1984 (UK) and 1988 (USA) by Oxford University Press.
Sources
Periodicals
Signs, Summer 2001, p.
Her father was a Scottish soldier, and her mother a Jamaican. After a short marriage with Edward Seacole who died in 1844, Seacole devoted her life to nursing and traveling. In 1854, Seacole travelled to England again, and approached the War Office, asking to be sent as an army nurse to the Crimea where there was known to be poor medical facilities for wounded soldiers.
Because of her color, Seacole was refused by the British war office when she asked to be sent to the Crimea (now Ukraine), but she raised the money to travel there herself and became a favorite with the troops, who called her "Mother Seacole." Seacole was highly regarded at the time for her bravery, skill, and the way she combined traditional medicine with modern ideas, but she drew strong disapproval from Florence Nightingale and her supporters, who considered Seacole disorganized and immoral.
She was awarded the Crimean Medal and the French Legion of Honor, but her role as a pioneer of modern battlefield nursing has been overshadowed by the better-known story of Florence Nightingale.
Born Mary Jane Grant in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1805, Seacole learned her nursing and business skills from her mixed race mother, who ran a boarding house for sick and injured soldiers.
She also wrote an autobiography, The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands (1857), which sold well and made her wealthy. She was known as “Mother Seacole,” a heroine of the Crimean war for her efforts caring for sick and wounded soldiers. Later that year, Seacole published her memoirs, 'The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands'.
Seacole died on 14 May 1881.
Mary Seacole was a pioneering Jamaican-born nurse and business entrepreneur who defied racial discrimination to provide vital medical care during the Crimean War.
When refused a formal nursing role, she independently established the British Hotel near the battlefield - a sanctuary where wounded soldiers received treatment, nourishment, and comfort.