Mary Seacole is renowned for her work treating soldiers in the Crimean War (1854-6), a conflict well-known for influencing innovations in medical care as a response to horrific unsanitary conditions.

Colonel David Bates will discuss Mary’s development as a health care professional and her time in the Crimea. He will look at the way she was received by the public after the war and the legacy of her service.

Mary was born in Jamaica to a Scottish Army officer father and a Jamaican mother who ran a lodging house and was skilled in traditional Caribbean medicine. By the time the Crimean War broke out in 1853, Mary already had extensive experience of nursing, having cared for the sick during cholera and yellow fever epidemics.

Mary Seacole travelled from Jamaica to England to offer her services in the Crimea. She was refused a place as an army nurse so funded her own trip to the Crimea, located in modern day Ukraine. There, she was based in Balaklava, close to the fighting. She would visit the battlefield herself to care for injured soldiers and became a celebrity back in Britain.

Colonel David Bates is a trustee of the Mary Seacole Trust which works to promote equality of opportunity and outcome as well as inspiring good citizenship amongst the younger generations. The charity works to educate the public on the life, work and achievements of Mary Seacole and erected a statue of her at St Thomas’ Hospital in November 2016.

Mary Seacole and the Crimean War