Yes, the dynamic of the relationship between Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole is very interesting. They did know each other because Mary was given a letter of introduction to Florence on her way out to the Crimea. So she called in at the hospital in Scutari and had a rather frosty interview with Florence. Florence very kindly said that Mary could stay in the washer woman’s quarters if she needed overnight accommodation that night. Mary took up that offer. Also, they met a couple of times on the battlefield because Florence, although she was based in Scutari, did go up to the Crimean peninsula. Mary Seacole bursary launched". The Daily Gleaner. Kingston, Jamaica. 13 July 1993. p.23 . Retrieved 8 February 2017– via Newspaperarchive.com. In 1853, Mary returned to Kingston, caring for victims of a yellow fever epidemic. She was invited by the medical authorities to supervise nursing services at Up-Park in Kingston, the British Army’s headquarters, and she re-organised New Blundell Hall, her mother’s former lodging house rebuilt after a fire, to function as a hospital. Mary had no children of her own, but the strong maternal attachments she formed with these soldiers, and her feelings for them, would later drive Mary to the Crimea. Crimea In 1857, Seacole published her autobiography The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands in which she documented her life, travels and work. She also expressed hope that she wouldn’t be forgotten by those she had helped. Four crowds generally passed through Cruces every month. In these were to be found passengers to and from Chili, Peru, and Lima, as well as California and America. The distance from Cruces to Panama was not great – only twenty miles, in fact; but the journey, from the want of roads and the roughness of the country, was a most fatiguing one. In some parts – as I found when I made the journey, in company with my brother – it was almost impassable; and for more than half the distance, three miles an hour was considered splendid progress. The great majority of the travellers were rough, rude men, of dirty, quarrelsome habits; the others were more civilized and more dangerous. And it was not long before I grew very tired of life in Cruces, although I made money rapidly, and pressed my brother to return to Kingston. Poor fellow! it would have been well for him had he done so; for he stayed only to find a grave on the Isthmus of Panama.

Jay Margrave: Can her Glory ever Fade?: A Life of Mary Seacole, Goldenford Publishers Ltd, 2016 ( ISBN 978-0-9559415-9-7)Seacole’s business thrived after the fall of Sevastopol. During this period, there were no more battles, but the peace treaty was still under negotiation.

I shall never forget my first impressions of London. Of course, I am not going to bore the reader with them; but they are as vivid now as though the year 18— (I had very nearly let my age slip then) had not been long ago numbered with the past. Strangely enough, some of the most vivid of my recollections are the efforts of the London street-boys to poke fun at my and my companion's complexion. I am only a little brown – a few shades duskier than the brunettes whom you all admire so much; but my companion was very dark, and a fair (if I can apply the term to her) subject for their rude wit. She was hot-tempered, poor thing! and as there were no policemen to awe the boys and turn our servants' heads in those days, our progress through the London streets was sometimes a rather chequered one. Helen Rappaport, In Search of Mary Seacole: The making of a cultural icon, Simon and Schuster, 2022. Let’s turn to the book you’ve chosen. The first one is Mary Seacole herself, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands, which is her autobiography. Why did she write it? Browne, Kesewaa (12 May 2020). "Coronavirus: Seacole hospital 'a tribute' to BAME NHS staff". BBC News . Retrieved 12 May 2020.All upcoming public events are going ahead as planned and you can find more information on our events blog

Today, we remember Mary because a long time ago, she made an amazing journey all the way from her home in the Caribbean, first to this country, Britain, and then right across Europe to a place called Crimea. Holiday in the Camp – A New Enemy, Time – Amusements in the Crimea – My share in them – Dinner at Spring Hill – At the Races – Christmas Day in the British Hotel – New Year's Day in the Hospital Most of it is about her role in the Crimea because she knew that that was what was going to catch public attention, and therefore that was what was going to make it sell. Se did talk about her early years in Kingston. She talked about the time that she spent travelling, not just to the Caribbean, but she went twice to England as well. She also wrote about the time she spent keeping a hotel in Panama. You have to pinch yourself sometimes when you’re gently relating the story of Mary’s life. But she did, indeed, keep a hotel in Panama on the Gold Rush route and spent a couple of years there. There was no canal at that time, so people had to cross the Isthmus of Panama if they wanted to get to the goldfields of California. But the book does concentrate on the Crimea because that was where the British readership’s interest was.

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Her legacy is continued by the Mary Seacole Trust (MST) which, as well as maintaining the statue, aims to educate and inform the public about her life, work and achievements, ensuring that she is never again lost to history. Role model