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When you think about the history of nursing, you probably conjure up images of Florence Nightingale, whose pioneering work during the Crimean War set the standards for nursing. However, there was another nurse practitioner who was arguably just as important.
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A forgotten pioneer
Mary Seacole was also a nurse during the brutal Crimean War of the 1850s. Setting up a care center just behind the lines, she would nurse wounded soldiers back to health and provide respite care for exhausted men. However, her work was largely forgotten for over a century.
Mary Seacole (1990) by Black Cultural ArchivesBlack Cultural Archives
Early life in the Caribbean
Born in Jamaica in 1805 to a Scottish father and a traditional Caribbean healer called Mrs Grant, known as 'the Doctress', Mary was very proud of her mixed ancestry. Having spent time in London, Mary returned to Jamaica in the 1820s to assist in her mother's practice.
Learning her craft
It was here that she learned the practice of nursing and acquired numerous practical medical skills that went far beyond the contemporary role of a nurse. She also occasionally worked at the British military hospital on the island.
Bust of Mary Seacole (1859)The J. Paul Getty Museum
Going it alone
Following some years in Central America dealing with cholera epidemics, she applied to the British government to be a nurse in the Crimean conflict. On being turned down, she resolved to set up her own initiative known as 'The British Hotel', near Balaclava.
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Meetings with Nightingale
It was here she had some contact with Florence Nightingale, visiting her in her barracks hospital. But the British Hotel was a private enterprise where Seacole would tend to injured soldiers, generally care for the men, and attempt to keep morale high.
Blue Plaque to Mary Seacole, 14 Soho Square, Westminster, Greater London (2016-03-18) by Lucy Millson-Watkins, Historic EnglandHistoric England
Revolutionizing nursing
She would apply all her technical knowledge learned from the years assisting the Doctress, carrying out a level of nursing way in advance of what was expected. It's for this reason that many consider Seacole the true pioneer of modern nursing.
The Surgeon (1670s) by David Teniers the YoungerChrysler Museum of Art
Contemporary recognition
William Howard Russell, The Times war correspondent of the time, spoke highly of Seacole's abilities, writing: "A more tender or skilful hand about a wound or a broken limb could not be found among our best surgeons."
Blue plaque: Mary SeacoleEnglish Heritage
The legacy restored
After the war, Seacole returned to London where she attended celebrity dinners and enjoyed a period of fame. However, her legacy was to be mostly forgotten until a repappraisal of her work towards the end of the 20th century. She is now rightly regarded as a medical pioneer.
85199 (1970-09) by John OlsonLIFE Photo Collection
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