Mary Seacole, British-jamaican Nurse #1

by Science Source

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Mary Seacole, British-jamaican Nurse #1

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Science Source

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

In this cartoon, Punch mocks Seacole's public appeals for aid and professed admiration for their magazine, and downplays her nursing activities in the Crimean War by describing her as a vivandière, or canteen keeper. Mary Jane Seacole (1805 – 14 May 1881) was a British-Jamaican business woman and nurse. She acquired knowledge of herbal medicine in the Caribbean. When the Crimean War broke out, she was one of two outstanding nurses to tend to the wounded, along with Florence Nightingale. Hoping to assist, Seacole applied to the War Office but was refused, so she travelled independently and set up her 'British Hotel' behind the lines. She described this as a mess-table and comfortable quarters for sick and convalescent officers, and provided succor for wounded servicemen on the battlefield. She became extremely popular among service personnel, who raised money for her when she faced destitution after the war. After her death, she was largely forgotten for almost a century but today is celebrated as a woman who made a success of her career, despite experiencing racial prejudice. Her autobiography, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands (1857), is one of the earliest autobiographies of a mixed-race woman. She was posthumously awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit in 1991. In 2004 she was voted the greatest black Briton.

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April 22nd, 2019

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