Mary Seacole was born Mary Jane Grant in Kingston, Jamaica,[12] the daughter of a Scottish[13] soldier[14] in the British Army and a free Jamaican woman. Her mother was a "doctress", a healer who used traditional Caribbean and African herbal remedies. She ran Blundell Hall, a boarding house at 7 East Street, considered one of the best hotels in all Kingston.[15] Here Seacole acquired her nursing skills. Seacole's autobiography states that her early experiments in medicine were based on what she learned from her mother while ministering to a doll, then progressing to pets, before helping her mother treat humans.[16]
Seacole was proud of her Scottish ancestry and called herself a Creole,[14] a term that was commonly used in a racially neutral sense or to refer to the children of white settlers.[17] In her autobiography, The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole, she records her bloodline thus: "I am a Creole, and have good Scots blood coursing through my veins. My father was a soldier of an old Scottish family."[13][18] Legally, she was classified as a mulatto, a multiracial person with limited political rights;[19] Robinson speculates that she may technically have been a quadroon.[20] Seacole emphasises her personal vigour in her autobiography, distancing herself from the contemporary stereotype of the "lazy Creole",[14][21][22] She was proud of her black ancestry, writing, "I have a few shades of deeper brown upon my skin which shows me related—and I am proud of the relationship—to those poor mortals whom you once held enslaved, and whose bodies America still owns."[23]
The West Indies were an outpost of the British Empire in the late 18th century, and in the 1790s one-third of Britain's foreign trade was with the British West Indies.[24] Britain's economic interests were protected by a massive military presence, with 69 line infantry regiments serving there between 1793 to 1801, and another 24 between 1803 to 1815.[25]
Seacole spent some years in the household of an elderly woman, whom she called her "kind patroness",[14] before returning to her mother. She was treated as a member of her patroness's family and received a good education.[26] As the educated daughter of a Scottish officer and a free black woman with a respectable business, Seacole would have held a high position in Jamaican society.[27]
In about 1821, Seacole visited London, stayed for a year, and visited relatives, the merchant Henriques family. Although London had a number of black people,[28] she records that a companion, a West Indian with skin darker than her own "dusky" shades, was taunted by children. Seacole herself was "only a little brown",[14] nearly white according to Ramdin.[29] She returned to London approximately a year later, bringing a "large stock of West Indian pickles and preserves for sale".[14] Her later travels would be as an "unprotected" woman, without a chaperone or sponsor—an unusual practice.[30] Seacole returned to Jamaica in 1825
Mary Seacole was born Mary Jane Grant in Kingston, Jamaica,[12] the daughter of a Scottish[13] soldier[14] in the British Army and a free Jamaican woman. Her mother was a "doctress", a healer who used traditional Caribbean and African herbal remedies. She ran Blundell Hall, a boarding house at 7 East Street, considered one of the best hotels in all Kingston.[15] Here Seacole acquired her nursing skills. Seacole's autobiography states that her early experiments in medicine were based on what she learned from her mother while ministering to a doll, then progressing to pets, before helping her mother treat humans.[16]Seacole was proud of her Scottish ancestry and called herself a Creole,[14] a term that was commonly used in a racially neutral sense or to refer to the children of white settlers.[17] In her autobiography, The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole, she records her bloodline thus: "I am a Creole, and have good Scots blood coursing through my veins. My father was a soldier of an old Scottish family."[13][18] Legally, she was classified as a mulatto, a multiracial person with limited political rights;[19] Robinson speculates that she may technically have been a quadroon.[20] Seacole emphasises her personal vigour in her autobiography, distancing herself from the contemporary stereotype of the "lazy Creole",[14][21][22] She was proud of her black ancestry, writing, "I have a few shades of deeper brown upon my skin which shows me related—and I am proud of the relationship—to those poor mortals whom you once held enslaved, and whose bodies America still owns."[23]The West Indies were an outpost of the British Empire in the late 18th century, and in the 1790s one-third of Britain's foreign trade was with the British West Indies.[24] Britain's economic interests were protected by a massive military presence, with 69 line infantry regiments serving there between 1793 to 1801, and another 24 between 1803 to 1815.[25]Seacole spent some years in the household of an elderly woman, whom she called her "kind patroness",[14] before returning to her mother. She was treated as a member of her patroness's family and received a good education.[26] As the educated daughter of a Scottish officer and a free black woman with a respectable business, Seacole would have held a high position in Jamaican society.[27]In about 1821, Seacole visited London, stayed for a year, and visited relatives, the merchant Henriques family. Although London had a number of black people,[28] she records that a companion, a West Indian with skin darker than her own "dusky" shades, was taunted by children. Seacole herself was "only a little brown",[14] nearly white according to Ramdin.[29] She returned to London approximately a year later, bringing a "large stock of West Indian pickles and preserves for sale".[14] Her later travels would be as an "unprotected" woman, without a chaperone or sponsor—an unusual practice.[30] Seacole returned to Jamaica in 1825
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