Inspiration comes in all shapes and sizes. What may inspire one person, need not inspire another. For me inspiring is when the little girl asks her mum if she can carry nana’s shopping, because she’s worried it’ll be too heavy for her. Inspiring is when the young boy offers his seat on the tube, to a pregnant lady. Inspiration is not only found in the rich and famous. Inspiration is found in you and I. We just have to look into ourselves and into one another.

I was asked once if I’d heard of Mary Seacole. I pondered for a few moments, as to where I’d heard the name. Was she was a singer I thought, no a presenter on TV, yes that was it! No actually I think she was a cook. I couldn’t have been further from the truth, if I tried. On failing to put a face to the name, I decided to research who she was.

On discovering the story behind the name, I was not only embarrassed and at not knowing already who she was, I was also quite shocked, that I had not heard of her earlier. I was shocked that this lady broke barriers and strived tirelessly for her cause at the same time as Florence Nightingale, yet she has to some extent been forgotten, and her hard work, been misplaced.

How was it that when we’re playing doctors and nurses as children, all the girls fight over who will play Florence Nightingale, and no one so much as ‘settles’ for Mary Seacole, her contemporary?  Yes Mary Seacole was a nurse…and this is her story…

Mary Seacole was a pioneering nurse and heroine of the Crimean War. Born Mary Jane Grant, in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1805, her father was a Scottish soldier, and her mother a Jamaican mulatto. Mary learned her nursing skills from her mother, who kept a boarding house for invalid soldiers. Although technically 'free', being of mixed race, Mary and her family had few civil rights - they could not vote, hold public office or enter the professions. In 1836, Mary married Edwin Seacole, but the marriage was short lived, as Edwin died in 1844.

Mary Seacole was an inveterate traveller, and before her marriage visited other Caribbean islands, including Cuba, Haiti and the Bahamas, as well as Central America and Britain. On these trips she complemented her knowledge of traditional medicine with European medical ideas. She was later to recount the story of her travels in The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands, published in 1857.

In 1854 Seacole travelled to England again, and approached the war office to ask to be sent as an army nurse to the Crimea. Because of her ethnicity she was refused interviews with the war office and Elizabeth Herbert, the wife of the secretary of state for war who was recruiting nurses. Undaunted Seacole funded her own trip to the Crimea where she established the British Hotel near Balaclava to provide 'a mess-table and comfortable quarters for sick and convalescent officers'. On the battlefield she nursed the wounded and was known as 'Mother Seacole'.

After the war she returned to England destitute and in ill health. The press highlighted her plight and money was raised through a grand military festival held over four nights at the Royal Surrey Gardens. The festival attracted thousands of people and was supported by lords, military commanders and almost a thousand artistes. She was awarded the Crimean Medal, the French Legion of Honour and a Turkish medal.

In comparison to Florence Nightingale, Seacole did not come from a wealthy middle class background or have any formal training. Not only did she suffer from the restrictions placed on women at the time but she was also hindered in her nursing career by the colour of her skin. Despite these prejudices, she established herself as a pioneer of the nursing profession. She died in 1881.

Even today we face prejudices of race, colour, religion, sexism and the many other obstacles in our paths. But I cannot begin to compare these to the prejudices to those faced by Mary Seacole, back in 1854, who nonetheless fought for her beliefs and her rights. This was her battle, and what a courageous battle it was too.

May she inspire us all to and fight for our causes, and see where our battle takes us.

An article by Sahdia Khan