Mary Seacole: The British-Jamaican Nurse Who Served Thousands of British Troops During the Crimean War like Florence Nightingale by Lawrence Reed

Very recommendable!

She was kind of the black Florence Nightingale except that her name is much less known! If there ever were angles on earth, look no further than war time nurses in combat zones.

"... She was largely forgotten for almost a century after her death. Her autobiography, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands (1857), was the first autobiography written by a black woman in Britain, although some[which?] aspects of its accuracy have been questioned.[by whom?] The erection of a statue of her at St Thomas' Hospital, London, on 30 June 2016, describing her as a "pioneer", generated some controversy and opposition, especially among those concerned with Florence Nightingale's legacy. ..." (Wikipedia)

"... Born in 1805 in the British Caribbean colony of Jamaica, Seacole was the daughter of a Scottish lieutenant in the British Army and a black Jamaican “doctress” known for healing the sick using remedies native to the island and to west Africa. From her mother, young Mary learned nursing skills and knowledge of hygiene, hydration, ventilation, nutrition, wound care, and even empathy for patients. Her bedside manner sometimes seemed to be a cure-all by itself.

Seacole visited London as a teenager but returned to Jamaica to begin her life as a healer of the sick and wounded. When everything she owned was destroyed in a fire in 1843, she determined to start over, only to suffer the loss of both her mother and husband barely a year later. ...

By the time the Crimean War broke out in October 1853, Seacole was well-known and widely respected in the Caribbean as a self-taught doctor, and very successful as a businesswoman too. En route from the Caribbean to England to check in on her investments, she decided she wanted to go to Crimea as a nurse volunteer as soon as possible. Her repeated offers to the British government’s ungrateful war bureaucracy were all declined. ..."

Mary Seacole: The British-Jamaican Nurse Who Served Thousands of British Troops During the Crimean War—on Her Own Dime - Foundation for Economic Education Mary Seacole’s life offers an example of benevolence that we would all do well to imitate.