The first autobiography written by a British black woman.
The memoirs of a Jamaican nurse, famed for her work among the sick and wounded of the Crimean War, offer the unique perspective of a Victorian-era black woman at a battlefield's front line.
Written in 1857, this is the autobiography of a Jamaican woman whose fame rivalled Florence Nightingale's during the Crimean War. Seacole travelled widely before eventually arriving in London, where her offer to volunteer as a nurse in the war met with racism and refusal.
First published in 1857, this autobiographical work by the Jamaican-born nurse Mary Seacole (1805–81) is reissued here in its 1858 printing. It covers her varied and colourful career, most notably the care she provided for wounded soldiers during the Crimean War.