GREAT JAMAICAN: Mary Seacole

[Ackee]

We have previously looked at the work and life of a Great Jamaican; Claude Mckay. This week, the second in its series we'll examine that of a nurse, a businesswoman,a war heroine of Great Britain, a woman, ladies and gentlemen,I give you a Great Jamaican,Mary Seacole.

Mary Seacole

She was born in the year 1805, Mary Jane Grant in Kingston, Jamaica, the daughter of a Scottish army officer and a black woman. Her mother, who ran a boarding house, taught her Creole medicine and hotel keeping, and she ran the boarding house after her mother's death. She was well educated and paid two visits to England, where she met and married Edwin Horatio Seacole. After his death in 1836 she returned to Jamaica, where she rebuilt her boarding house following its destruction by fire. After gaining valuable nursing experience during the cholera and yellow fever epidemics that swept the island at this time, she spent the next few years travelling in Colombia and Panama, where she did some nursing and gold prospecting, as well as setting up two hotels.

Following the outbreak of the Crimean War in 1854, Seacole went to England to volunteer her services as a nurse to the British Army. It seems that she was turned down on account of her colour. Undaunted, she travelled to the Crimea at her own expense, attempting to recoup her losses by setting up as a sutler (a merchant selling provisions to the soldiers) and establishing the British Hotel for both officers and soldiers at Spring Hill, near Balaclava. From this base she nursed the wounded on the battlefield, often under fire, and became known as "Mother" or "Aunty" Seacole.

The end of the war in 1856 found Mother Seacole out of work and in debt. But her popularity was such that The Times, Punch, and The Illustrated News raised funds by public subscription to help her out of bankruptcy. Her autobiography, The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands (1857), was a bestseller. She spent the remainder of her life in London and Jamaica. Mary died on 14th May 1881, in London.

GREAT JAMAICAN: MARY SEACOLE

[afer]

Re: GREAT JAMAICAN: Mary Seacole

Again thanks Ackee.

May I add this little tidbit.

In new Granada, (the name of Panama, 1847) where she efectively ended the epidemic. This is an excerpt of the exchange between her the American military officers, whose lives she had undoubtly saved.

On the fourth of July, at American Officer Club, the guest of honor was Mary Seacole, and her distinguished band of angels of mercy. The commanding officer stood, and with glass in hand, he made a speech:

"Well, gentlemen, I expect there are only two things we’re vexed for; and the first is, that she ain’t one of us, a citizen of the United States; and the other thing is, gentlemen, you’re all as vexed as I am, that Providence made her a yaller woman. I calculate, gentlemen, you’re all as vexed as I am that she’s not wholly white, but I do reckon on your rejoicing that she’s so many shades removed from being entirely black. And I guess, if we could bleach her by any means we would, and thus make her as acceptable in any company as she deserves to be. Gentlemen, let’s drink to the health of Auntie Seacole."

With glass in hand, Mary Seacole’s stood and replied to the toast; thus:

"I must say that I do not altogether appreciate your kind wishes with regard to my complexion. If it had been dark as any Negro’s, I should have been just as happy and useful, and as much respected by those whose respect I value, and as to the offer of bleaching me, I should, even if it were practicable, decline it without thanks. As to the society which the process might gain me admission into, all I can say is Judging from the specimens I have met here and elsewhere, I do not think I will lose much in being excluded from it. So gentlemen, I drink to you and the general reformation of American manners."

She surely was an illustrious Jamaican.

[afer]

Re: GREAT JAMAICAN: Mary Seacole

Here are three of the many letters that were written by people of concience after the war.

(1.)
Sir John Hall,
Inspector-General of Hospitals,
Headquarters Camp, The Crimea
June 20, 1856

I have much pleasure in bearing testimony to Mrs. Seacole’s kindness and attention to the sick of the Railway Labourers’ Army Work Corps and Land Transports Corps during the winter of 1854 and 1855. She not only [nursed], from the knowledge she acquired in the West Indies, but, what was of as much or more importance she charitably furnished them with proper nourishment which they had no means of obtaining except in the hospital and most of that class had an objection to go to the hospital, particularly the Railway labourers and men of the Army Works Corps.

(2.)

The London Times’ war correspondent, Sir William. H. Russell, wrote of her:

In their hour of their illness, these men in common with many others, have found a kind and successful physician. Close to the railway, halfway between Balaclava and Radikoi, Mrs. Seacole, formerly of Kingston, Jamaica, and of several parts of the world such as Panama and Chagres has pitched her abode—an iron storehouse with wooded sheds and outlying tributaries–and here she doctors and cures all manner of men with extraordinary success.

She is always in attendance on the battlefields to aid the wounded and has earned many a poor fellow’s blessing . . . I have seen her go down under fire, with her little store of creature comforts for our wounded men and a more tender or skillful hand about a wound or a broken limb could not be found among our best surgeons.

I saw her at the assault on the Redan, at the Tehernava, at the fall of Sebastopol, laden, not with plunder, good old soul! But with wine, bandages and food for the wounded or the prisoners.

(3.) Another British aristocrat with a conscience, Mrs. Tom Kelly, wrote:

Mother Seacole set up her store-dispensary hospital and became historic by right of good deeds, which is almost the rarest claim . . . even in an enlightened century Mother Seacole stands out pre eminent and cannot be passed over.

She had the secret recipe for cholera and dysentery and liberally dispensed the specific, alike to those who could pay and those who could not. It was bestowed with an amount of personal kindness, which through not an item of original prescription, she evidently deemed essential to the cure and innumerable sufferers had cause to be grateful for the most sovereign thing on earth, for their ills as well as for her gentle deeds of mercy.

One of her most distinguished patients was Count Gleichen, the nephew of Queen Victoria.

[britisha]

Re: GREAT JAMAICAN: Mary Seacole

There's a ward at KPH dedicated to her name. Is there a Seacole Hall at UWI also? Can't memba.

[afer]

Re: GREAT JAMAICAN: Mary Seacole

There is a Mary Seacole Hall at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus. I was unaware that there was a Mary Seacole ward at KPH. Thanks, Miss B.

Mary Seacole returned to England in 1857, after the war was over. She was tired, worn out, sick and penniless and applied to the British Government for restitution. Her application was promptly denied.

Then, the Government and aristocratic societies were pouring funds into a newly formed organization created by Florence Nightingale, to start a modern nursing service. This new nursing Service was patterned after the works of Mother Seacole, in the Cremea.

All the accomplishments of Mary Seacole, were transferred on Florence Nightingale. The title, "The Lady with the lamp," was fraudulently attributed to Florence Nightingale. Nitingale once visited the Cremea, but spent the few hours in the Officers Club. She never saw the hospital.

The government would not even help Mrs. Seacole in her own medical predicaments. However, when the military officers, with whom she worked, and their wives, learned of the injustice by the uppity English Society, they were outrage. They banded together and encouraged Mrs. Seacole to write a book about her experiences.

Many prominent personalities started a public subscription in Britain. Among them were: Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar; the Duke of Wellington; the Duke of Newcastle; Major-General Lord Rokeby, Rear-Admiral, Sir Stephen Lushington, Sir William Howard Russell, the Times’ War correspondent.

With the help of Sir William Russell, who wrote the introduction to the book by Mary Seacole, "WONDERFUL ADVENTURES IN MANY LANDS" which was quickly published by James Blackwood, Paternoster Row, London, 1857.

A special copy of Mrs. Seacole’s book was placed in the British Museum, in London, and another copy was place in the Institute of Jamaica, in Kingston.

I will post the short introduction to her book later.

[This message has been edited by afer (edited 11-29-2001).]

[afer]

Re: GREAT JAMAICAN: Mary Seacole

Here is the introduction by Sir William Russell:

"I should have thought that no preface would have been required to introduce Mrs. Seacole to the British public, or to recommend a book which must form the circumstances in which the subject of it was placed, be unique in literature.

If singleness of heart, true charity, and Christian works; if trial and sufferings; dangers and perils; encountered boldly by a helpless woman on her errand of mercy in the camp and on the battlefield, can excite sympathy on move curiosity, Mary Seacole will have many friends and many readers.

She is no Anna Commena, who presents us with a verbose history, but a plain truth-speaking woman who has lived an adventurous life amid scenes which have never yet found a historian among the actors on the stage.

I have witnessed her devotion and her courage; I have already bourne testimony to her services to all who needed them.

She is the first who has redeemed the name of sutler from the suspicion if worthlessness, mercenary baseness and plunder, and I trust that England will not forget the one who nursed her sick and who sought out her wounded to aid and succor them, and who performed the last office for some of her illustrious deeds."

[britisha]

Re: GREAT JAMAICAN: Mary Seacole

Thanks guys, this is great stuff. Keep them coming Ackee; nice, very nice tribute to our "heroes/heroines".

[afer]

Re: GREAT JAMAICAN: Mary Seacole

When Mother Seacole returned to England in 1857, she left her daughter, incharge of the Cremea hospital to take care of the invalids. With money from the sale of her book, she continued to finance that institution.

Mary Seacole returned to Jamaica, in 1858 and travelled frequently to England. In Jamaica, she resumed her original role in a social sphere. She became an advocate in matters of public health, especially in the abatement of preventable deceases.

Mary Seacole died at her home, in Jamaica, on the fourteenth day of May 1481.

She was not only the forerunner of modern nursing, she was also the forerunner of the
Red Cross/Red Cresent Organizations around the world. Here is the nexus.

Through her book, Jean Henri Durant became aware of the condition of the wounded in time of war.

"The initiative for the founding of the International Red Cross came from the 19th Century Swiss philanthropist, Jean Henri Durant. Appalled by the almost complete lack of care for wounded soldiers on the battlefield, he appealed to the leaders of nations to found societies devoted to the aid of the wounded in time of wartime.

Five Swiss citizens formed a committee, which later became the International Committee of the Red Cross. ICRC, and issued a call for an international conference, which was held in Geneva in October, 1863 and was attended by delegates of 16 nations.

In 1864, twelve nation signed the first Geneva Convention, laying down the rules for the treatment of the wounded and for the protection of medical personnel and hospitals.

It was at this convention that the famous symbol of the a white flag bearing a red cross was adopted. This symbol was later modified in non-Christian countries. Islamic Nations substituting a crescent for the cross. Later, when Israel joined, the Star of David became her emblem."


[This message has been edited by afer (edited 12-05-2001).]

[This message has been edited by afer (edited 12-05-2001).]

[CherrieBlossom]

Re: GREAT JAMAICAN: Mary Seacole

Did Mother Mary Seacole die in England or Jamaica?? Did she have only one daughter? I remember my Aunt, telling me about her when I was little. She also spoke about the Band of Mercy Lady who use to preach to the children of my Aunt's day saying....now children you must be kind to all dumb creatures, you must set water for the birds and the lizards etc...etc. Thanks for the info. You sending me to go do research now!

[DC]

Re: GREAT JAMAICAN: Mary Seacole

I enjoyed reading this..thanx Ackee and Afer..

[High Octane]

Re: GREAT JAMAICAN: Mary Seacole

interesting... its nice to read about the good people have done in past history...

[mountaingal]

Re: GREAT JAMAICAN: Mary Seacole

Excellent thread! Thanks Ackee for starting it, and thanks afer for adding so much. I really liked Seacole's response to the Americans!!

[English ting]

Re: GREAT JAMAICAN: Mary Seacole

Thanx again Ackee and Afer, keep them coming [img]/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[evesisland]

Re: GREAT JAMAICAN: Mary Seacole

Very interesting story,it made me run and do some research on this great lady. My research results show that she died in London in 1881. Keep them coming.