StoryMary Seacole, 1805-1881
In her late forties, Mary Seacole traveled from her home in Jamaica to Britain to offer her services as a nurse during the Crimean War (1853-56). She was turned down because of her skin but refused to give up. Instead, she took matters into her own hands and establish her own hotel, the British Hotel near Balaclava, with accommodation for convalescents and the sick. Mary nursed wounded soldiers on the battlefield earning her the nickname Mother Seacole.