Mary Seacole Hospital?

[MockersxxxxxxxSocialDistancing]

The Scots have named their emergency hospital after some obscure WW1 nurse nobody's ever heard of. They chose not to take up the name of the Half-Scottish heroine of the Crimea who was so much more popular in her day than Florence Nightingale.

There's a campaign in Brum to get the NEC hospital named after Seacole, but it looks like it's going to be Nightingale Birmingham, and Nightingale Manchester and Nightingale everywhere else in England.

The Seacole debate rages in history-teaching and medical circles. She was basically a landlady who sold drinks to spectators at the battle then went back and got the soldiers drunk, and they loved her for it. Don't call her a nurse.

Against that, there's the inclusive agenda and the call for positive role-models.

Seacole Hospital, a proper recognition of a national heroine, or virtue-signalling fiction in place of real history.

It's the latter

@alloutoffucks
Same. One of my ancestors was also a Scottish WW1 nurse in Serbia. I don't know anything about what sort of nursing care she did there, but I know she won a Serbian medal for bravery. Sadly she was so badly traumatised that she committed suicide after the war and people were so embarrassed about that sort of thing back then that no one ever talked about her.

I did wonder why they didn't name the hospitals (and military operation to get them built) after Mary Seacole, but I don't think it's fair to attack the only other nurse with one of these pop-up hospitals.
It's a trap that you shouldn't fall into where disempowered people infight for each other's (tiny) share of the power instead of challenging the system that disempowered them and gave all the power to white middle class men. Why do we only know about these two female nurses? Why don't we name anything after any of the first female doctors who fought tooth and nail to go to medical school against a tide of patriarchy? Or any of the other tens of thousands of nurses who have done brilliant and pioneering work in their fields or risked (or lost) their lives caring for people in wars? There shouldn't be only two or three spots for named women in the history of medicine.

@Seeitsortit Haha that was where my mind went too. The Mary Seacole song in Horrible Histories is phenomenal.

Re Mary Seacole, never heard of her other than what I've read here.
Even if she did only provide lemonade and support does that mean she a representative of the millions for Auxiliary / Health Care / Cleaning staff who are also on the front line. Putting themselves at risk for the benefit of others.

Please don't underestimate the value of the people who all help to keep hospitals moving.

@alloutoffucks A Correspondent for the Times named William T Russell wrote of her treating the poor for free

She did this in South America and Jamaica prior to the Crimean War

Mary Seacole was a nurse in the Crimea. She overcame huge opposition to be there. It's absolutely the right think to name it after her. I was hoping the one in London would be named after her instead. Flo was more of a manger than an actual nurse.

My university has a Mary Seacole centre for nursing research.

We are talking about Louisa Jordan, not Mary Seacole.

I agree I was surprised there was no Seacole Hospital and by the never heard of Scottish who when I went to read about her I was left thinking and? I couldn't see anything of any note about her other than she did what thousands of nurses do.
Oh well they will of been named by clueless politicians I guess them being named for nurses instead of doctors is a step in the right direction.

I had heard of Mary Seacole - there has been quite a lot about her on Radio 4 over the last few years. We did not learn about her at school but I am quite old.

I am quite annoyed that these new hospitals are all being called Nightingale Hospital because here in London we already have a Nightingale Hospital, which is a private psychiatric hospital. Now, therefore, we have 2 Nightingale Hospitals. I checked the original one's website and find they have had to put a disclaimer on it to warn people that they have absolutely no connection with the other Nightingale hospitals that treat Covid-19. Seacole Hospital would have been a much better choice.

@Blackbear19 Being a kind woman who provided for money food and drink to mainly officers is fine. She was obviously kind, hugely adventurous and brave. It sounds like it would be more accurate to fete her as an adventurous entrepreneur, than a nurse. No less impressive, but different from the myth.
Apparently she died in "comfortable" circumstances. She was not poor and had plenty of friends in high places.

@LetsBeSensible Didn't she sell folk remedies? Some of which she later herself realised may have been harmful. And she donated some of those folk remedies to the fight against cholera.
She sounds like those local businesses who while trying to make money, do help the community as well. There are some where I live. Obviously far more challenging to do this in Crimea I would have thought. But a socially responsible business woman, rather than a nurse.

Will someone please find a vaccine so we can get schools reopened asap?

Younger members and school kids will know who Mary Seacombe is from both Horrible Histories and studying the poem 'Checking Out My History' by John Agard (AQA SYLLABUS)

Seacole

in her day she was of far more use to the army in the Crimea than Florence Nightingale was - her hospitals were cleaner and had a much better recovery rate.

Are you completely mad?
She did not HAVE any hospitals.

I have heard of Mary Secole. Her life story is really interesting. She was an amazing woman.

I have heard of Mary Secole.
The nurse isn’t her, though.

I have heard of Mary Secole. Her life story is really interesting. She was an amazing woman.

I have read it. She wrote it herself. There is almost no contemporary information about her and her actions from the time of the crimean war- she wrote her own account much later.

She was a controversial figure in London in her later years. Celebrated by many. I read that she was discredited as she wore medals that apparently she had not been awarded and so was not entitled to wear. She was certainly a great self publicist- I am sure that she would be an influencer today.

I have also made sure that I have told my children about her, as I did not learn about her from school.

Apparently she died in "comfortable" circumstances. She was not poor and had plenty of friends in high places. She was destitute when she returned from the Crimea and went bankrupt. Despite what she did being dismissed the soldiers who knew what she did raised money for her. Says a lot really.

Why don't we name anything after any of the first female doctors who fought tooth and nail to go to medical school against a tide of patriarchy? There was an Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital, I think it was an Obstetric hospital. I think it is now a wing of UCLH.

Just one I know but she hasn't been forgotten. There was a television series about her years ago, might have been the BBC.

Dr Elsie Inglis is another interesting one.

@1forsorrow I know she was bankrupt then, I am talking about when she died. She was a business woman. Lots of people in business have went bankrupt at some point. But by the time she died she was apparently fine financially.

I think there's a Mary Seacole building at Salford. university department of Nursing .

Gawd, will people stop telling OP they've heard of Mary Seacole? She wasn't claiming that no-one had heard of her; she said "The Scots have named their emergency hospital after some obscure WW1 nurse nobody's ever heard of" - which is Louisa Jordan.