Mary Seacole: Nurse and Humanitarian During the Crimean War

Mary Seacole (née Grant) (1805–1881) was a pioneering nurse and humanitarian during the Crimean War. She was born in Kingston, Jamaica, to a Scottish father and a Jamaican mother who practiced traditional medicine. 

Seacole gained experience in tropical diseases while living in Panama (1850-1853). After hearing about the California Gold Rush, she opened a hotel and store for travelers crossing the Isthmus. There, she treated cholera and other tropical disease victims during a severe outbreak in 1850.

During the Crimean War (1853–1856), Florence Nightingale’s team rejected Seacole’s application to work with them. Only white British women served on Nightingale’s nursing staff. Undeterred, Seacole self-funded her trip to the Crimea. 

She set up the “British Hotel” to provide food, shelter, and medical care for soldiers. It was a combination of a canteen, a store, and a medical facility, built close to the front lines near Balaclava. Enlisted men who didn’t want to go to the hospital became her customers. She offered meals and provisions to soldiers and officers, medical care to the sick and wounded, and a place for soldiers to recover and socialize, boosting morale. When her business failed, she worked at her boarding house during the day. At night, she volunteered with Florence Nightingale. She treated the wounded on the battlefield, even as the battle continued. Seacole was the lady in the yellow dress, blue bonnet with red ribbons, and medical bag. She took her bag of supplies on one mule and her medical equipment on another.

When she faced financial hardship after the war, British supporters held a fundraising gala in her honor. Seacole published her autobiography, “Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands” (1857), one of the earliest by a Black woman in Britain.