Mary Seacole

c. 1805 – 14 May 1881

Mary Seacole (1805-1881) was a Jamaican-born nurse and businesswoman who cared for sick and wounded soldiers during the Crimean War. She established the 'British Hotel' near Balaclava and became celebrated in Victorian Britain, publishing a popular autobiography in 1857.

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Lived at the same time

Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Mary Seacole.

Life events

Born in Kingston, Jamaica
c. 1805

Mary Jane Grant was born in Kingston to a Scottish soldier and a free Jamaican woman who practised traditional Creole medicine.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Birth ✓
Married Edwin Horatio Hamilton Seacole
10 November 1836

Mary Grant married English merchant Edwin Seacole in Kingston; he died in 1844.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Travelled to Cruces, Panama, and treated cholera patients
1851

Seacole joined her brother in Panama, where she nursed victims of a cholera epidemic and ran a hotel for travellers.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Relocation ✓
Nursed victims of a cholera epidemic in Kingston
1853

Back in Jamaica, Seacole treated patients during a severe cholera outbreak and was asked by medical authorities to nurse at Up-Park Camp.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Career ✓
Travelled to England and sought to join the Crimean nursing effort
1854

After the outbreak of the Crimean War, Seacole applied to go to Crimea as a nurse but was refused, so she resolved to travel at her own expense.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Relocation ✓
Opened the 'British Hotel' near Balaclava in Crimea
March 1855 – July 1856

With business partner Thomas Day, Seacole established a store and canteen near the front, from which she also tended sick and wounded soldiers on the battlefield.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Career ✓
Published her autobiography Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands
1857

Seacole's memoir became one of the earliest autobiographies by a mixed-race woman published in Britain and sold well.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Benefit festival held in her honour in London
27 July 1857

After returning to Britain in poor financial circumstances, Seacole was supported by a four-day fundraising gala on the banks of the Thames attended by thousands.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Personal ✓
Died in London
14 May 1881

Seacole died at her home in Paddington, London, and was buried in St Mary's Roman Catholic Cemetery, Kensal Green.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Death ✓