Mary Jane Grant – Seacole
(23 November 1805 – 14 May 1881)
She was posthumously awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit in 1991. In 2004 she was voted the greatest black Briton.
Mary Seacole is sourrounded by many controversies in what she actually contributed and how she should be honored with but now that the world is knowledgeable about her contributions during the Crimean War of 1853 goverments and historians tread lightly because the event which she was present and facts has been shown they have to do things orderly and respectfully that coincides with honoring this true health provider.
Mary Jane Grant was born in Kingston, Jamaica, the daughter of a Scottish soldier that at the time was in the British Army and a free Jamaican woman. Her mother was a “doctress”, a healer who used traditional Caribbean and African herbal remedies. She ran Blundell Hall, a boarding house at 7 East Street, considered one of the best hotels in all Kingston. She married Edwin Horatio Hamilton Seacole in Kingston on 10 November 1836. Mary marriage was brief her husband died in October 1844, followed by her mother.
With a reputation that rivals that of Florence Nightingale, Seacole certainly made history. Not only did she cope with prejudice and discrimination, but she was also a selfless nurse, dedicated to providing strong medical services to wounded soldiers. Her hotel which she now soley managed became frequent habitat resting place for the European military visitors to Jamaica.
Her first hand of true hands on nursing came when there was a epidemic of cholera in 1850 which killed approximately 32,000 jamaicans. This took her into the next level of her iconic role in life which was the Crimean War.
In 1851, Seacole travelled to Cruces to see Edward her brother. During her visit to panama another outbreak of disease became prevelant. She treated the less fortunate for free and the wealthy she charged for the treatment . Mary became a savior to some and a respected nurse provider to sick.
Photo Maull & Company in London (c. 1873)
In 1853 the Ceimean War between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the United Kingdom, France, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the Ottoman Empire. The majority of the conflict took place on the Crimean peninsula in the Black Sea and Turkey. . Mary became very passionate about the wounded and the British War Office and told them what she can offer as medical care. They refused her proposal. She was determined to help and opened a sick provision hotel there on her own to treat the wounded. she would use her knowledge of herbal cure medicines and created splints for injured officers (built out of salvaged materials), and braved enemy fire to nurse the wounded on the battlefield.
Mary Jane Grant Seacole died in 1881 at her home in Paddington, London, from “apoplexy” ( stroke, or bleeding within internal organs ) . A short obituary was published in The Times newspaper on 21 May 1881. She was buried in St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery, Harrow Road, Kensal Green, London.
Seacole rapidly faded from public memory. Her work in Crimea was overshadowed by Florence Nightingale’s for many years. However, in recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in her and efforts to properly acknowledge her achievements. Affectionately, she was known as “Mother Seacole.” After her death, she was forgotten for almost a century, but today is celebrated as a woman who successfully was driven by her passion and vision to break the racial prejudice against blacks and what they can accomplish.
She was quoted as an example of :
“hidden” black history in Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, like Olaudah Equiano: “See, here is Mary Seacole, who did as much in the Crimea as another magic-lamping lady, but, being dark, could scarce be seen for the flame of Florence’s candle.” Mary is still remembered in Britain, where many buildings and organizations are named in her honor.
Mary is remembered in the Caribbean, where she was posthumously awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit in 1991. The headquarters of the Jamaican General Trained Nurses’ Association was christened “Mary Seacole House” in 1954, followed quickly by the naming of a hall of residence of the University of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica. A ward at Kingston Public Hospital was also named in her memory.
Her grave was rediscovered in 1973; a service of reconsecration was held on 20 November 1973, and her impressive gravestone was also restored by the British Commonwealth Nurses’ War Memorial Fund and the Lignum Vitae Club. The centenary of her death was celebrated with a memorial service on 14 May 1981. A “green plaque” was unveiled at 147 George Street, in Westminster, on 11 October 200 including a blue plaque has been positioned at 14 Soho Square, where she lived in 1857.
By the 21st century, Seacole was much more prominent. Several buildings and entities, mainly connected with health care, were named after her. In 2007 Seacole was introduced into the National Curriculum, and her life story is taught at many primary schools in the UK .She was voted into first place in an online poll of 100 Great Black Britons.
A Seacole Lane existed in London near the bottom of Fleet Street until the area was redeveloped in the 1980s. One of the first was the Mary Seacole Centre for Nursing Practice at Thames Valley University, which they created the NHS Specialist Library for Ethnicity and Health, a web-based collection of research-based evidence and good practice information relating to the health needs of minority ethnic groups, and other resources relevant to multi-cultural health care. There is another Mary Seacole Research Centre, this one at De Montfort University in Leicester plus many more.