Mary Seacole, the ​“mother” of the battlefield

When we think of the origins of modern nursing, many nurses immediately think of Florence Nightingale. Lesser known, but no less important or impactful, is Mary Seacole. Voted the “Greatest Black Briton” in 2004, her bravery, compassion, and skill have had an indelible impact on modern nursing today.

Mary Seacole, born Grant, was born in Jamaica on Nov. 23, 1805. Her mother was a Black woman of mixed heritage, and her father was a Scottish army officer. This afforded her access and privilege when pursuing education, traveling, and engaging with British society. Her mother was skilled in traditional Caribbean medicine and used these skills when caring for her community and the British officers who stayed at Blundell Hall, the lodging house she ran in Kingston. She taught Mary how to prepare remedies, comfort the sick, and stay calm in the face of illness and death. These traditional nursing skills also included the use of hygiene, ventilation, warmth, hydration, rest, empathy, and good nutrition. Because of her father’s military ties, she was able to observe the practices of military doctors. Combining this knowledge granted her a unique perspective on health, medicine, and healing.

Mary Seacole was married in 1836 and she and her husband traveled widely throughout the Caribbean. On these travels, she gained additional knowledge of local medicines and treatments. After her husband passed in 1844, she furthered her nursing skills during a cholera epidemic in Panama. Her quick thinking, courage, and willingness to act earned her a reputation that crossed racial and class barriers.

Mary Seacole was in London checking on some business investments when she heard about the appalling conditions of the battlefields of the Crimean War—soldiers dying in battle but also of dysentery, cholera, and frostbite. Mary was determined to help and applied to assist with the War Office and Florence Nightingale’s team of nurses. Upon her rejection from both, she asked (per her memoir) “Did these ladies shrink from accepting my aid because my blood flowed beneath a somewhat duskier skin than theirs?” (Mary self-identified as a proud Creole.)

Undeterred, she traveled to Crimea at her own expense and established the British Hotel in 1855, designed to offer respite, care, food, and supplies to those on the front lines. Mary herself often traveled to the battlefields, dressing wounds, disseminating supplies, and providing humor and warmth in her care. During this time, she was as well known in Britain as Florence Nightengale. Soldiers gave her the name “Mother Seacole” with affection and respect. As the war ended, Mary found herself bankrupt. Soldiers wrote to newspapers of her deeds and moral character, and a fundraising gala was held in her honor in 1857. More than 80,000 people attended over the four-night affair. She was encouraged to write her autobiography, “The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands” which became an instant bestseller.

Mother Seacole died in London in 1881, having spent her last years traveling between Britain and Jamaica. A statue in her honor was erected on the grounds of St Thomas’ hospital in June 2016. It is the first bronze statue to a named Black woman in the United Kingdom. Today, the Mary Seacole Trust continues her legacy of compassion, bravery, entrepreneurialism, determination, skill, and resilience.