Mary Seacole Date of birth 23 November 1805 Date of death: 14 May 1881 Mary Jane Seacole was a British-Jamaican nurse, healer, and businesswoman who set up the "British Hotel" behind the lines during the Crimean War Mary Seacole and the Crimean War Mary returned to Kingston in 1853, but she didn’t stay long. On hearing news of British soldiers going off to Russia to fight in the bloody battles of the Crimean War , she wanted to help. And so…off she went to the War Office in London to requesting to join Florence Nightingale and her team of nurses treating wounded and sick soldiers in the Crimea! Sadly, Mary was turned down, along with several other nurses. But was that enough to stop Mary? No way! Together with her friend Thomas Day , in 1866 she set off to the Crimea in a ship stocked with medical supplies. She arrived in a terrible state. Many of the soldiers were cold, dirty, and hungry, and those that were sick and wounded weren’t being cared for. M...