In search of Mary Seacole : the making of a black cultural icon and humanitarian

In search of Mary Seacole The making of a black cultural icon and humanitarian

Helen Rappaport

Book - 2022

"In Search of Mary Seacole is a superb and revealing biography that explores her remarkable achievements and unique status as an icon of the 19th century, but also corrects some of the myths that have grown around her life and career. Having been raised in Jamaica and worked in Panama, Mary Seacole came to England in the 1850s and volunteered to help out during the Crimean War. When her services were turned down, she financed her own expedition to Balaclava, where she earned her reputation as a nurse and for her compassion. Popularly known as 'Mother Seacole', she was the most famous Black celebrity of her generation - an extraordinary achievement in Victorian Britain. She regularly mixed with illustrious royal and military p...atrons and they, along with grateful war veterans, helped her recover financially when she faced bankruptcy. However, after her death in 1881, she was largely forgotten for many years. More recently, her profile has been revived and her reputation lionised, with a statue of her standing outside St Thomas's Hospital in London and her portrait - rediscovered by the author - is now on display in the National Portrait Gallery. In Search of Mary Seacole is the fruit of almost twenty years of research by Helen Rappaport into her story. The book reveals the truth about Seacole's personal life and her 'rivalry' with Florence Nightingale, along with much more besides. Often the reality proves to be even more remarkable and dramatic than the legend"--Publisher's description.

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Location Call Number   Status
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Subjects
Seacole, Mary, > 1805-1881.
Nurses > England > Biography.
Jamaicans > England > Biography.
Women, Black > England > Biography.
Crimean War, 1853-1856 > Medical care.
Biographies.
Genres
Biographies
Published
New York, NY : Pegasus Books 2022.
Language
English
Main Author
Helen Rappaport (author)
Edition
First Pegasus Books cloth edition
Physical Description
405 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), portraits, facsimiles ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages [329]-348) and index.
ISBN
9781639362745
  • Prologue: 'A Real Crimean Heroine'
  • 1. 'The Isle of Springs'
  • 2. 'My Father was a Soldier, of an Old Scotch Family'
  • 3. 'The Most Broiling Place in the Universe'
  • 4. The Myth of Blundell Hall
  • 5. 'An Admirable Doctress'
  • 6. 'That Longing for Travel Which Will Never Leave Me'
  • 7. 'A Certain Arrangement Timidly Proposed by Mr Seacole'
  • 8. 'Left Alone to Battle with the World'
  • 9. 'The Graveyard of Europeans'
  • 10. 'A Villainous Looking Little Place'
  • 11. 'The Yellow Woman with the Cholera Medicine'
  • 12. 'A Wild and Unprofitable Speculation'
  • 13. An 'Unknown Creole Woman' Goes to War
  • 14. 'The Rightness of the Step I Had Taken'
  • 15. A 'Tea-shed' at Balaclava
  • 16. 'A Good Mother, Doctor and Nurse to All'
  • 17. 'The Dark Maid of the Eastern War'
  • 18. 'Nothing in the World I Would Not Do For Them'
  • 19. 'The "Good Samaritan" in the Crimea'
  • 20. 'Am I Not a First-Class Woman?'
  • 21. Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands
  • 22. 'My Sister Wanted to Go to India'
  • 23. 'That Brave and Charitable Old Woman'
  • 24. 'Mrs Seacole's Specific'
  • 25. 'A Niche in the Temple of Fame'
  • 26. 'The Identity of Mrs Seacole: A Little Yellow Woman'
  • 27. The Making of a Cultural Icon
  • Acknowledgements
  • Bibliography
  • Notes
  • Index
Review by Booklist Review

Like Florence Nightingale, Mary Seacole tended to soldiers during the Crimean War and became one of the most famous women in Britain. But unlike the legendary nurse, who disapproved of her, she was a Black healer born in colonial Jamaica. As historian Rappaport notes, it's hard to overemphasize "how extraordinary and exceptional her achievements and fame were in the context of 19th-century white Victorian Britain." One big reason for her renown: Seacole's 1857 bestseller, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands. This not-very-straightforward memoir leaves out or glosses over many details of her long-forgotten life, and Rappaport valiantly tries to fill these gaps. For example, which Scottish soldier named John Grant is the best candidate for Seacole's father? It's one of many difficult-to-track-down facts that led Rappaport to devote more than 20 years to researching "Mother Seacole." She is still trying to solve mysteries, such as what happened to the woman she thinks is Seacole's illegitimate daughter. Rappaport even asks readers to reach out with any clues. A fascinating reclamation of the story of a remarkable woman.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Historian Rappaport (After the Romanovs) delivers a doggedly researched biography of Mary Seacole, née Grant (c. 1805--1881), the Jamaican woman whose roles as caregiver, nurse, and shopkeeper during the Crimean War made her famous. Born to a mixed-race woman and a white Scottish soldier, Seacole learned homeopathic medicine and the boardinghouse business from her mother. Widowed less than a decade after her marriage to a white West India Company employee, Seacole ran lodging houses and restaurants in Jamaica and Panama, putting her medical skills to good use during cholera epidemics in both places. Upon learning of Florence Nightingale's work in Crimea, Seacole offered her services to the British military and aid organizations but was rebuffed. Undeterred, she teamed up with a business acquaintance from Panama to open a store, restaurant, and medical clinic for British troops and their allies near Balaclava. Extolled by the British press, she earned several medals in recognition of her work. After the war, though, she struggled to support herself--despite publishing a bestselling memoir--and eventually fell into obscurity. Rappaport, who discovered a lost portrait of Seacole in 2002 (it now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery), skillfully delineates the racial and gendered dynamics of the period, making clear just how extraordinary Seacole's achievements were. The result is a fitting tribute to woman long denied her due. Illus. (Sept.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

Rappaport (The Race To Save the Romanovs) brings Mary Seacole to life on the page and provides the real story of the woman who was voted the greatest Black Briton in 2004. Seacole was a Jamaican-born nurse, who gained fame as one of the first nurse practitioners during the Crimean War (1853--56). By using the herbal medicines she learned from her mother, Seacole ran an independent venture that focused on helping British soldiers after she was rejected to be part of the nursing contingent that included Florence Nightingale. Seacole's story was well-known upon the publication of her 1857 autobiography, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands, and then she was forgotten for more than a century. The author purchased a portrait of Seacole in 2003, which started an arduous search for the truth behind her story. In this extremely well-researched biography, Rappaport illuminates Seacole's life, including not only her early years in Jamaica but also her work in Panama and her family's business ventures. VERDICT Rappaport digs deeply into often spotty and confusing records to uncover the life of a nurse who became salvation for soldiers fighting in Crimea.--John Rodzvilla

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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