Mary Seacole? Wasn’t she the ‘Black Nightingale’? The Jamaican nurse who rivalled Florence during the Crimean War? She was forgotten about for a century, but now she’s a heroine again. Everyone knows about Mary.

Ad

It’s true, many of us recognise her name, but few are aware of her remarkable life-story. As well as a medical pioneer (though never formally trained), she flourished as a traveller, businesswoman, hotelier, entrepreneur and author, becoming a Victorian celebrity. She was no ‘Black Nightingale’, but entirely her own person, and among history’s great adventurers.

Ad
Ad
Ad