Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands by Mary Seacole

Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands by Mary Seacole was my lovely blog-a-penguin book. It really is a super read.

Mary Seacole was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1805. Her parentage was part Scottish and part Creole. Whilst Creole can have many different interpretations, it is clear from the text that Mary Seacole is mixed-race. In this, her autobiography written in 1857, not long after the end of the Crimean war in which Mrs Seacole was to play a part, and also not long after her bankruptcy from the same source, Mrs Seacole tells us briefly of her early life in Jamaica. However the bulk of the book is the twin tales of her running part medical facilities, part hotel facilities, at first in Panama during the California gold-rush and then in the Crimea where she busied herself in providing food and medical care in support of the British.

Mrs Seacole's writing style is lively and draws us right in immediately. As with any autobiography there is the inevitable degree of obfuscation and confusion over the real facts of what happened but of what there is no doubt is that Mrs Seacole led a fascinating independent life as a traveller, as a nurse and as a business woman; remarkable both for her being a woman but also because of her colour.

The introduction by Sara Salih begins with a quotation from Salman Rushdie:

...here is Mary Seacole, who did as much in the Crimea as another magic-lamping lady, but being dark, could scare be seen for the flame of Florence's candle.

The way Mrs Seacole is read is often dependent upon the interpretation of her actions and of her relationship with the British authorities at the time. Mrs Seacole was not part of any official relief, and though she applied she was not accepted by Florence Nightingale's nurses.

Now no sooner had I heard of war somewhere, than I longed to witness it; and when I was told that many of the regiments I had known so well in Jamaica had left England for the scene of action, the desire to join then became stronger than ever. I used to stand for hours in silent thought before an old map of the world, in a little corner of which some one had chalked a red cross to enable me to distinguish where the Crimea was; and as I traced the route thither, all difficulties would vanish.

However, after many attempts to be taken on by the War Office she approaches Miss Nightingale's nurses where her services are again declined and in a rare moment of candidness Mrs Seacole notes, 'I read in her face that, had there been a vacancy, I should not have been chosen to fill it'. She goes on:

Doubts and suspicions arose in my heart for the first and last time, thank Heaven. Was it possible that American prejudices against colour had some root here? Did these ladies shrink from accepting my aid because my blood flowed beneath a somewhat duskier skin than theirs?

Apart from this quiver, throughout the book the theme of pro-British and Anti-American sentiment flows. Her experience of Americans at this era is obviously very much down to race. Many of the Americans she sees are from the slave owning south. Her reservations about Americans are understandable in the context of the incidents she relates in Panama including an American man whose toast to her, praising her for saving so many of his countrymen from cholera, is recorded as including:

I calculate gentleman, you're all as vexed as I am that she's not wholly white -, but I du reckon on your rejoicing with me that she is not entirely black; and I guess if we could bleach her by any means we would; and thus make her as acceptable in any company as she deserves to be.

To the modern eye, the views above are astoundingly crass but this is by no means the only overt piece of hostility and rudeness she meets from Americans. Is the British gentler ignoring of her any better or worse? I don't know. As the American quoted above is not a stranger to Mrs Seacole and is part of the community in Panama where she lives, it is harder to attribute his attitude to anything other than simple racism, whilst it is not clear that the British attitudes are from the same source being, as Mrs Seacole notes, mixed with human nature's mistrust of strangers. Throughout Mrs Seacole is inclined to forgive the British far more readily than she is the Americans, and I think the reasons for this are complex and would probably fill several undergraduate lectures on post-colonial theory time over time. You must read the book, and please do, and judge for yourself.

My own feelings about the reactions to her are that as she was foreign, untrained, mixed-race, and also a woman travelling alone and therefore of questionable respectability, then these things probably played a part in the reception she received in London. Once she was in the Crimea her services were clearly appreciated and she really does go through many adventures to mother both the officers and the men out there. On her bankruptcy on her return many famous military men and members of the British elite put their names to a letter to The Times to start a fund for her support and so she lived the rest of her life in Britain in relative comfort.

Interestingly Florence Nightingale appears to reject Mrs Seacole on moral grounds, as in a private letter quoted in the introduction (and headed 'burn') she says,

Anyone who employs Mrs Seacole will introduce much kindness - and also much drunkenness and improper conduct ...

Whether this is an excuse for rejecting Mrs Seacole when the real reason is race, whether it is class prejudice, or whether it is the prejudice of a gentle-born lady for the woman adventurer, or whether it is even true, I guess we'll never know. But what we get with Mrs Seacole's book is real boy's own adventure all wrapped up in a woman. We get war and heroes, we get swamps and medical emergencies, the privations of nineteenth century travel and the impact of the coming of the railway. We also get the social observation of a woman with a unique perspective: she has a foot in both British and black communities in Jamaica; she also is in a position to observe the British and the Americans of the 1850s at home and abroad. We see white Americans make fools of themselves and black Americans grow in stature away from the USA. We see British snobbery and British military incompetence as well as the British bravery and British appreciation of Mrs Seacole in the end. All in all it is that rare thing: a rattling good read of travel and adventure and a fascinating social document. You don't need to know much nineteenth century history to get lots from the book as the narrative drive and the company of Mrs Seacole are enough on their own. Regardless of the obstacles society throws in her way Mrs Seacole decides what she wants to do and does it and this can't help but be inspiring. As a read it is witty and lively and worth every penny of the cover price.

As well as Mrs Seacole's Wonderful Adventures available from Penguin there is a biography of Mary Seacole: Mary Seacole by Jane Robinson published by Robinson Publishing.

Comments

[Alis Hawkins]

Mary Seacole sounds like an amazing woman. Thanks for this pointer to her!

[CB James]

Sounds fascinating. I've not heard of Ms. Seacole, but this sounds like an interesting read. Great review!