Brave Nurses: Edith Cavell and Mary Seacole

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MARY SEACOLE AND EDITH CAVELL Mary Seacole and Edith Cavell risked their lives to look after the wounded and the dying.

They proved that bravery in wartime isn’t just about

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fighting and winning battles.

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C rin for others Human beings have always fought each other in wars.

Over the centuries, millions of people have been killed and injured in terrible battles. Wherever wars are being fought, there are always very brave people who put themselves in danger to care for the wounded and dying.

Mary Seacole was a nurse who looked after injured British soldiers during the 19th century.

Around 60 years later, another nurse, Edith Cavell, helped the wounded during a war in Europe.

Both faced extreme danger and many difficulties but they went where they were needed to save the lives of others.

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M ry Se cole

Edith C vell

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Who w s M ry Se cole?

Mary Seacole was born in 1805 in Kingston, Jamaica. At that time, Jamaica was part of the British Empire, a group of countries all over the world that were ruled by Britain.

Mary’s mother was a Jamaican nurse and her father was a Scottish soldier.

J m ic The countries which were part of the British Empire are shown in pink on this map.

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Her mother taught Mary how to heal and care for sick people: by the time she was 12 she helped her mother with this work. Mary learnt how to use her mother’s traditional Jamaican mediciness ess and gained nursing skills. She sometimes helped look after British soldiers in Jamaica who were sick or injured.

a sugar plantation in Jamaica, 1808

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On the move Mary went on a long sea voyage to Britain when she was 15 and again when she was 18. She visited relatives there and got used to making long journeys.

Brit in

J m ic

In 1836, Mary married a merchant called Edwin Seacole.

Unfortunately his business did badly and, when he became ill, Mary had to nurse him. Edwin died in 1844 and shortly afterwards Mary’s mother died, so she took over the role of healer.

For the next few years, Mary travelled around the Caribbean and Central America, treating sick people wherever she went.

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Mary would have sailed in a clipper packet ship like this one.

In the Caribbe n people lived in homes like these.

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Wh t w s the Crime n W r?

In 1853, the Crimean War began. This war was fought by Russia against Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire, which was ruled by the country we know today as Turkey.

Russia started fighting the Ottoman Empire because of p g g a dispute over religious rights.

Fran nce an nd B ritain w ere tthe he O ttoman E mpire’ss allies, and France and Britain were Ottoman Empire’s tthey hey d idn’’t want want R ussia tto og ain a ny n ew territory, te erritory, so they didn’t Russia gain any new started helping helping tto o fight ght the the war war in in 1 854. started 1854.

Soldiers fighting in the Crimean War.

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Much of the fighting involved each side trying to get control of the Black Sea. Britain and France were worried that if Russia controlled the Black Sea it would affect their trade routes to India.

Britain

France

Russia

Crimea Black Sea

Ottoman Empire

India

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Gettin to Crime When Britain entered the Crimean War, Mary wanted to use her nursing skills to help. She was used to dealing with war injuries, and had heard that the British soldiers fighting in Crimea were short of nurses.

However, when she offered her services, the British authorities refused to send her, perhaps because she was mixed race.

Instead of giving up, Mary became even more determined to help. She travelled to Crimea on her own, paying for her journey herself. It was a difficult and dangerous journey, but she finally arrived in 1855 after several weeks of travelling by ship.

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Wounded soldiers were taken away from the battlefield to receive treatment in hospital.

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