Race

Introduction

Mary Jane Seacole (1805-1881) was born in Kingston, Jamaica. She was a multiracial British nurse best known for her involvement in the Crimean War. Her attempt to join Florence Nightingale’s team of nurses having been rebuffed, she set up her own independent facilities to help the troops. Besides her bravery and medical skills, she successfully challenged the racial prejudice of influential sections of British society in the Victorian era, but nevertheless found herself bankrupt by 1856. Thereupon, her renown among the British public saw The Times and Punch support appeals to reimburse her for funds she had lost in the Crimea. Her autobiography, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands, published in 1857, is one of the earliest known works of its kind written by a mixed-race woman. She died in London.

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