Hello sir. Just watched the BBC London news and they mentioned Mary Seacole. There is a play on at the Donmar Warehouse based on her life. I attach the link to the Donmar's Web page. I hope it works. If not, there is a specialist website you can access to help you find it. www.google.com. 😉
I first heard of Mary Seacole about 25 years ago. I think she was a wonderful human being, but recognised that she was also a savvy businesswoman. So, here are a few "in my views" (been thinking about the wording since over the weekend). The British Hotel was essentially an officer's club. The idea that Tommy, Jack, Mick and Dai would turn up there for a pint after a hard day in the trenches before Sevastapol is romantic nonsense. I suspect that, just as 90% of over 30s have never heard of her, about the same proportion of the British Army in Crimea had also never heard of her. That she gave succour to many can't be doubted. Charity to those in the field. But, the British Hotel was a business. No free drinks etc. I suspect the reason she was bankrupted was because she was giving credit to officers as getting funds from your army agent or bank to Balaclava would involve delays. And army pay was also held up. So Captain The Hon runs up a bill of £20 on credit.
He is good for the money, but has no ready cash. He then gets killed in battle, and the bill unpaid. I suspect the fund raised for her after the war was organised to make up for those unpaid bills, and a sense of guilt of some officer's for having dodged them. That said, I don't think she was completely mercenary. A good woman, who had her "15 minutes of fame" and faded into obscurity for a hundred years or so. As to the autobiography, always take such books with a pinch of salt. And the contrast with Nightingale? Well, she was more of an organiser and administrator than a nurse. Her improvements to Scutari were good, and she used her political contacts to help fight a hard won battle against the army medical establishment. But even her own amazing statistical analysis (you can find the charts online) show that the death rate amongst the patients at Scutari did not reduce significantly even after her reforms. But standards of nursing care improved. There were no antibiotics, anesthetics were in their infancy and the sea voyage from Balaclava all the way to Constantinople would have been a major factor in deaths from infection. I think Nightingale and her nurses were mainly delivering palliative, end of life, care. A dignified way to go. And they were a "not for profit" organisation. She did not fade into obscurity like Seacole because her statistical analysis published after the war made such an impact on improving conditions and care in British (and other) hospitals as well as army medical services. One final thought. Seacole provide support to keep up morale, to relieve the stresses of the battlefield. Might we call that psychological support for those with PTSD? Nightingale was concerned with the physical injuries and treatments. Had Nightingale run a hospital in Crimea, avoiding the long sea journey to Scutari, would mortality rates have been lower? I admire both these women equally. That the worst type of revisionist historians are "spinning" their stories to give false impressions of them, attributing today's morality and ethics to past events in a different culture ("The Past is another country. They do things different there.") with different morality and ethics is not healthy and not fair for the memories of what they really did. Distorting the truth is never good history, but it might make a good film (Zulu?). And as in your previous posts Walt (may I call you Walt?) regarding the distortion of history, in some cases out and out lies and misrepresentations, it undermines the real heros and heroines.
I think is all very fair Wilson, and I can't take issue with any of it – not even the bit about calling me Walt. I see Helen Rappaport, the author of a new biog of Seacole, took me to task on twitter, but never actually addressed any of my points. Heigh-ho.
Many thanks for this enlightening article. As a primary school teacher of 40 years I have long felt that the KS1 and 2 history curriculum gave children an unreal idea of many topics....The Tudors through Henry V111 The misunderstandings about the Vikings and dare I be so bold as to say the slightly one sided view of WW2, The token topic of Rosa Parks to year 2 to name but a few. Oh that the history curriculum were in the hands of people like you Guy.
Did you know that when the new Home office building was opened in 2003/4 on Horseferry road, the blocked were known as A, B, and C. But renamed Peel ( one I can’t remember and Seacole! I had no idea who she was even tho I commissioned all the AC in the new building!
She has the most amazing statue and did good work though it was her skin colour that lifted her into the news and I had never heard of her. She stands for all people of colour who were ignored and their work never rewarded as it should have been. But I am of mind these days to never have another statue of a human being erected and maybe remove everyone. Remove even kings and queens, heroes and heroines, writers and poets... and also "national treasures" can have flaws revealed later too. None of us is perfect if every detail of our lives are picked through. Nations put up statues one minute, then some while later pull them down as governments change, wars remove them to melt down for weapons... Plant trees in their places. I am always of a thought to have a huge chessboard in a field where removed statues now languishing in scrapyards ready for melting down, are rescued and placed facing one another: kings and queens one side, dictators the other. And as the Kremlin's recent nonsense spouted about our own Queen, let mosses cover them in the field for future history to discover.
The story of Mary Seacole is catnip to the historical and social zeitgeist. Plus the general public are not remotely interested in nuance or even vaguely complicated history. Another good example is Noor Khan. Yes her courage is undoubted, certainly braver than me, but she was a very flawed SOE operator. Again though, a version of her story is gold for these times. And my bête noire, Turing. I could not care less he was gay, it was his giant brain that matters. I could go on but I’ll stop.
No matter what you care....him being gay led to a lot of suffering for him and eventually suicide so it is wholly relevent to his story...I am a British Army Veteran not a keyboard warrior.
I should do a piece on SOE heroines. As you say, many were flawed, as were many of the men! In fact, I could do a whole post on whether SOE was worth the bother...
Hello sir. Just watched the BBC London news and they mentioned Mary Seacole. There is a play on at the Donmar Warehouse based on her life. I attach the link to the Donmar's Web page. I hope it works. If not, there is a specialist website you can access to help you find it. www.google.com. 😉
https://booking.donmarwarehouse.com/events/1801APGQPRKNVLCHGSKJBCTJKDRMGPLNL?_ga=2.95638620.1733495605.1652208153-129535775.1652208153
I first heard of Mary Seacole about 25 years ago. I think she was a wonderful human being, but recognised that she was also a savvy businesswoman. So, here are a few "in my views" (been thinking about the wording since over the weekend). The British Hotel was essentially an officer's club. The idea that Tommy, Jack, Mick and Dai would turn up there for a pint after a hard day in the trenches before Sevastapol is romantic nonsense. I suspect that, just as 90% of over 30s have never heard of her, about the same proportion of the British Army in Crimea had also never heard of her. That she gave succour to many can't be doubted. Charity to those in the field. But, the British Hotel was a business. No free drinks etc. I suspect the reason she was bankrupted was because she was giving credit to officers as getting funds from your army agent or bank to Balaclava would involve delays. And army pay was also held up. So Captain The Hon runs up a bill of £20 on credit.
He is good for the money, but has no ready cash. He then gets killed in battle, and the bill unpaid. I suspect the fund raised for her after the war was organised to make up for those unpaid bills, and a sense of guilt of some officer's for having dodged them. That said, I don't think she was completely mercenary. A good woman, who had her "15 minutes of fame" and faded into obscurity for a hundred years or so. As to the autobiography, always take such books with a pinch of salt. And the contrast with Nightingale? Well, she was more of an organiser and administrator than a nurse. Her improvements to Scutari were good, and she used her political contacts to help fight a hard won battle against the army medical establishment. But even her own amazing statistical analysis (you can find the charts online) show that the death rate amongst the patients at Scutari did not reduce significantly even after her reforms. But standards of nursing care improved. There were no antibiotics, anesthetics were in their infancy and the sea voyage from Balaclava all the way to Constantinople would have been a major factor in deaths from infection. I think Nightingale and her nurses were mainly delivering palliative, end of life, care. A dignified way to go. And they were a "not for profit" organisation. She did not fade into obscurity like Seacole because her statistical analysis published after the war made such an impact on improving conditions and care in British (and other) hospitals as well as army medical services. One final thought. Seacole provide support to keep up morale, to relieve the stresses of the battlefield. Might we call that psychological support for those with PTSD? Nightingale was concerned with the physical injuries and treatments. Had Nightingale run a hospital in Crimea, avoiding the long sea journey to Scutari, would mortality rates have been lower? I admire both these women equally. That the worst type of revisionist historians are "spinning" their stories to give false impressions of them, attributing today's morality and ethics to past events in a different culture ("The Past is another country. They do things different there.") with different morality and ethics is not healthy and not fair for the memories of what they really did. Distorting the truth is never good history, but it might make a good film (Zulu?). And as in your previous posts Walt (may I call you Walt?) regarding the distortion of history, in some cases out and out lies and misrepresentations, it undermines the real heros and heroines.
I think is all very fair Wilson, and I can't take issue with any of it – not even the bit about calling me Walt. I see Helen Rappaport, the author of a new biog of Seacole, took me to task on twitter, but never actually addressed any of my points. Heigh-ho.
I saw that as well. And was a little puzzled by it.
*Jock, not Jack, but I doubt any Jack Tars would be seen there.
Many thanks for this enlightening article. As a primary school teacher of 40 years I have long felt that the KS1 and 2 history curriculum gave children an unreal idea of many topics....The Tudors through Henry V111 The misunderstandings about the Vikings and dare I be so bold as to say the slightly one sided view of WW2, The token topic of Rosa Parks to year 2 to name but a few. Oh that the history curriculum were in the hands of people like you Guy.
Did you know that when the new Home office building was opened in 2003/4 on Horseferry road, the blocked were known as A, B, and C. But renamed Peel ( one I can’t remember and Seacole! I had no idea who she was even tho I commissioned all the AC in the new building!
Fry!! The other one was Fry!!
She has the most amazing statue and did good work though it was her skin colour that lifted her into the news and I had never heard of her. She stands for all people of colour who were ignored and their work never rewarded as it should have been. But I am of mind these days to never have another statue of a human being erected and maybe remove everyone. Remove even kings and queens, heroes and heroines, writers and poets... and also "national treasures" can have flaws revealed later too. None of us is perfect if every detail of our lives are picked through. Nations put up statues one minute, then some while later pull them down as governments change, wars remove them to melt down for weapons... Plant trees in their places. I am always of a thought to have a huge chessboard in a field where removed statues now languishing in scrapyards ready for melting down, are rescued and placed facing one another: kings and queens one side, dictators the other. And as the Kremlin's recent nonsense spouted about our own Queen, let mosses cover them in the field for future history to discover.
The story of Mary Seacole is catnip to the historical and social zeitgeist. Plus the general public are not remotely interested in nuance or even vaguely complicated history. Another good example is Noor Khan. Yes her courage is undoubted, certainly braver than me, but she was a very flawed SOE operator. Again though, a version of her story is gold for these times. And my bête noire, Turing. I could not care less he was gay, it was his giant brain that matters. I could go on but I’ll stop.
No matter what you care....him being gay led to a lot of suffering for him and eventually suicide so it is wholly relevent to his story...I am a British Army Veteran not a keyboard warrior.
I should do a piece on SOE heroines. As you say, many were flawed, as were many of the men! In fact, I could do a whole post on whether SOE was worth the bother...
An autobiography is a fictional account of your own life
Interestingly, although at school I was taught nothing about her, my 7 year old daughter has been learning all about her.
(As well as Frida Kahlo, and many other 'forgotten' heroines, including some of the ladies in the SOE).