07/09/2025
“These tidings often saddened me, and when I awoke in the night and heard the thunder of the guns fiercer than usual, I have quite dreaded the dawn which might usher in bad news”
Mary seacole | From her autobiography ‘Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands’
During the Crimean war, Mary was on the frontlines caring for soldiers. She built ‘The British Hotel’ just two miles from the battlefront - a safe haven and recovery centre for convalescent officers where she provided food, comfort and nursing care using her healing remedies.
At times, Mary even rode onto the battlefront tending to the wounded on site.
A woman of remarkable bravery and compassion, she persevered in the face of rejection, racism and the horrors of war.
