Mary Seacole
Diane Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, met with the Minister of Veterans, Don Touhig MP as part of her campaign to have a memorial erected for Mary Seacole.
Diane stated that: “The continued failure to recognise the hugely forgotten and ignored contribution that Mary Seacole made to British Society during the Crimean War and to the health profession is an embarrassment”.
Diane said: “As a gifted health care provider, Mary Seacole played an crucial and vital part to the health care of the British Army during the Crimean War. Even though she was not allowed because of her colour, to be work in the official Military Hospitals, she showed tremendous dedication and bravery in funding her own expedition and often risked her own life to care for the wounded soldiers on the battlefield. She added: “How can we begin to speak of building a multicultural Britain if we continue not to recognise the valuable contributions that all of her communities have made throughout the history of the British Society. “
Diane went on to emphasise that: “Ms. Seacole has never received any adequate recognition for the huge personal and financial sacrifice that she made for the British Army.”
She added: “This lack of recognition and diminishing to the contribution of the is particularly glaring as Mary Seacole’s health care professional contemporary, Florence Nightingale, have been recognised throughout history and even with two statues for their contributions.”
Diane concluded: “2005 marks the 200th anniversary of Mary Seacole birth, how much longer will her contribution to British society be ignored.”
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