Seacole, Mary |
| NURSE, HEALER, BUSINESSMAN (JAMAICA) |
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BORN 23 Nov 1805, Kingston - DIED 14 May 1881, London: Paddington BIRTH NAME Grant, Mary Jane GRAVE LOCATION London: St Mary's Cemetery, Harrow Road, Kensal Green (Grave no. 6830) |
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Daughter of a Scottish officer and a woman from Jamaica. She considered herself to be a Creole. In 1836 she married Edward Seacole. But he died soon afterwards and after that she ran her mother's boarding house. In 1843 it was lost in a fire. She worked as a nurse in Panama and also during the Crimean War. After the war she returned to England and she was declared bankrupt in 1856. But the press published articles on her and many well known people donated money to her to settle her debts. In 1857 she published "The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands". She turned into a celebrity and she received the Lgion d'honneur. In 1860 she moved to Jamaica, but by 1870 she was back in London, where she became personal masseuse to the Princess of Wales. |
| Images |
 The grave of Mary Seacole at St. Mary's Cemetery, Kensal Green, London. Picture by Androom (26 Jun 2009) |
