Mary Seacole Statue

Mary Seacole Statue WWP
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An 8-foot statue depicting 49 years old Mary Seacole was unveiled in London on 30 June 2016. It is the first statue of a black woman ever erected in the UK.

Mary Seacole (1805-1881) was born to a Scottish father and a Caribbean mother. Her mother was a local healer that treated her patients with good hygiene and herbal medicine. She also ran a boarding house, Blundell Hall, where she treated patients. Seacole learned and practiced nursing skills when she assisted her mother, and in every place she had visited, from the Caribean to Europe, she treated sick people.
Seacole came to England for business when the Crimean War started and wanted to travel there to treat the soldiers. She tried to join the official expedition of nurses to the war zone but got denied several times. Maybe because of her race or because her nursing skills were unrecognized by the authorities. She decided to travel to Crimea alone and open the British Hotel to treat wounded soldiers. When the war ended in 1856, Seacole returned to England. She was in poor health and bankrupt. So the people she helped during the war held a fundraising event to support her. That same year, she published her 200-page autobiography, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands, which got her public attention. She died in her home in London in 1881.

For her 100 death anniversary, a group of nurses from Jamaica came to England to visit her grave, and her legacy was rediscovered. Seacole was chosen on the top of the list of the 100 black Britons, a plaque was placed at her home in London, Herstory started being taught at schools, and the Mary Seacole Trust was founded. After 12 years of fundraising efforts, this statue was unveiled by Baroness Floella Benjamin OBE on the grounds of St Thomas’ Hospital. On this site, Florence Nightingale founded London’s Nightingale School of Nursing in 1860. A museum now honors Nightingale’s legacy. The statue faces the Westminster palace. Just a few blocks from where Seacole once lived. Martin Jennings created the bronze statue depicting Seacole marching with her medicine bag on her back into the Crimean war, helping the sick and wounded. Behind her is a large disc, with the topography of the area where her hotel stood in Crimea.

Mary Seacole statue unveiled

A statue that's believed to be the UK's first in honour of a named black woman has been unveiled in London. Mary Seacole was a Jamaican-born nurse who travelled to Britain to care for soldiers who fought in the Crimean War. The memorial follows a campaign that raised £500,000.

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Westminster Bridge, The Queen's Walk, London SE1 7GA, United Kingdom



Mary Seacole statue unveiled

A statue that's believed to be the UK's first in honour of a named black woman has been unveiled in London. Mary Seacole was a Jamaican-born nurse who travelled to Britain to care for soldiers who fought in the Crimean War. The memorial follows a campaign that raised £500,000.
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