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Mary Seacole Memorial Statue Appeal |
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A major campaign has been launched to establish a memorial in honour of Mary Seacole, the Crimean War nursing heroine. The high-powered campaign plans to raise around £450,000. The artist who will design the memorial will be named by the end of this year.
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| A watercolor painting of Mary Seacole. c.1850. |
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| The only known photograph of Mary Seacole, taken for a carte de visite by Maull & Company in London in c.1873. |
The selection panel, chaired by Baroness Amos, Leader of the Britain's House of Lords, and organised by Philomena Davidson, the former president of the Royal Society of British Sculptors, who successfully performed the same role for the David Lloyd George statue in Parliament Square. She is drawing up a brief that will invite interested artists to submit examples of their work.
Other members of the panel are: Lord Chris Smith of Finsbury, former Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport; Stephen Deucher, Director of Tate Britain; Alexander Amosu; Lady Sue Woodford Hollick; Professor Elizabeth Anionwu; and Stephen McGuire, director of Capital, Estates and Facilities Management at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
The charitable arm of a leading construction compary, Alfred McAlpine PLC, is committed to building the memorial at cost price. The memorial will represent Seacole and also reflect the breadth of her life. It will be sited at St Thomas' Hospital, Westminster Bridge, across the River Thames from the Houses of Parliament and home of the Florence Nightingale Museum.
Elizabeth Anionwu is the Vice-Chairperson of the Mary Seacole Memorial Statue Appeal. Emeritus Professor of Nursing at Thames Valley University, she was formerly Head of the Mary Seacole Centre for Nursing Practice.
Commenting on the campaign, Professor Elizabeth Anionwu, one of the world's leading authorities on Mary Seacole, told nightingaledeclaration.net: "Mary Seacole is a nursing heroine for people throughout the world to follow.
"In addition to her nursing skills, she was a gifted herbalist and businesswoman. Of African, Jamaican and Scottish parentage, Mary acknowledged the influence of her 'doctress' mother in respect to her practise of Creole medicine.
"Despite repeated rejection Mary made her own way to the war front in Crimea, with her own funds. She did not have the help or patronage of any government or official support. On the battlefields, she tended the wounded of both sides of the war and her courage and tender nursing skills were widely proclaimed. This included regular glowing reports in The Times newspaper by their war correspondent Sir William Howard Russell.
"Despite her heroic work, there is still no monument to remember her by. Mary Seacole was left out of the Crimean War Memorial in London. Supporting the initiative to create a memorial in memory of her work is the least we can do to honour a great nursing leader."
Born Mary Jane Grant in 1805 to a free-black Jamaican, Mary Seacole's mother ran a boarding house for British soldiers and sailors in the capital city of Kingston. Mary relates her experiences in her bestselling autobiography 'Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Mary Seacole in Many Lands'.
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Dr Elizabeth Anionwu
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In 1936, Mary married Edwin Horatio Hamilton Seacole, godson of the British naval hero, Lord Nelson but after 8 short years, the marriage was cut short by his early death.
After travelling to many countries Mary was concerned about the welfare of soldiers she had known in Jamaica who were now serving in the Crimean war.
Armed with glowing testimonials from high-ranking British military personnel, Mary traveled to the recruitment offices in London in an attempt to support the nursing efforts at the war front.
In spite of a great shortage of suitable women to go to the Crimea as nurses, she was turned down by all. Mary Seacole experienced the deep-seated racism within the establishment.
Undaunted, Mary made her own way to Turkey where she set up the British Hotel at her own cost. Here she provided nourishment and care to her beloved soldiers whom she referred to as 'my sons'.
Mary did her work under the heat and danger of battle. She often went into the actual battlefield, and her courage and nursing skills were reported in British newspapers. But the Crimean War effort left Mary bankrupt. Her supporters, in Britain, from all backgrounds, ranging from ordinary soldiers to the Prince of Wales rallied to her aid with fundraising events in her honour.
After the war, Mary was awarded several medals for bravery. Count Gleichen, the nephew of Queen Victoria and a famous sculpture, carved a bust of her. Mary spent her last years in London and amongst other activities, acted as a confidante to some members of the Royal family.
Mary Seacole died at the age of 76 in 1881 and is buried in St Mary's Catholic Cemetery, Kensal Green in North-west London.
For more information:
http://www.maryseacoleappeal.org.uk/index.htm
http://www.maryseacole.com/maryseacole/pages/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Seacole
http://www.historyhome.co.uk/forpol/crimea/people/seacole.htm
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