Black History Month runs from October 1 until October 31 in the UK. In order to mark this event, throughout the month we are commemorating some of the black men and women who have influenced and made a significant contribution to UK healthcare. Enjoy reading about Mary Seacole and Harold Moody in part one of this series.
Mary Seacole (1805 – 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.
Coming from a tradition of Jamaican and West African “doctresses”, Seacole displayed compassion, skills, and bravery while nursing soldiers during the Crimean using herbal remedies, nursing many of them back to health.
She was posthumously awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit in 1991. In 2004, she was voted the greatest black Briton.
While well known at the end of her life, Seacole rapidly faded from British public memory. However, in recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in her and efforts to properly acknowledge her achievements.
In 1985, an English Heritage blue plaque was erected at her residence in 157 George Street, Westminster but it was removed in 1998 before the site was redeveloped. A “green plaque” was unveiled at 147 George Street, in Westminster, on 11 October 2005. However, another blue plaque has since been positioned at 14 Soho Square, where she lived in 1857. Seacole died in 1881 at her home in Paddington, London. The cause of death was noted as “apoplexy”. There are two wards named after Mary Seacole at the Whittington Hospital in North London. The Royal South Hants Hospital in Southampton named its outpatients’ wing “The Mary Seacole Wing” in 2010, in honour of her contribution to nursing.
Harold Moody (1882 – 1947)
Harold Moody was a doctor and activist. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, he was the son of a pharmacist.
In 1904, he sailed to the United Kingdom to study medicine at King’s College London, finishing top of his class when he qualified in 1910, aged 28. Having been refused work because of his colour, he started his own medical practice in Peckham, south-east London, in 1913.
He became well-known for leading the first black pressure group in the UK: the League of Coloured Peoples.
Having become a respected and influential doctor in Peckham, Moody was very involved in organising the local community during the Second World War.
In the last months of his life, he undertook a speaking tour of North America. He died at his home in Peckham, aged 64, after contracting influenza
His fight for the welfare of black people and to end discrimination in employment and public places was hugely influential, as he was appointed to the government advisory committee on the welfare of non-Europeans.
For more information about Black History Month and the celebrations that are taking place this year, visit the official Black History Month website.