After Victor Gleichen, a rare plaster bust of Mary Jane Seac...

Hammer

£750

After Victor Gleichen, a rare plaster bust of Mary Jane Seacole (1805 - 1881), the Jamaican-born nurse and heroine of the Crimean War, wearing a pearl necklace and medals, on a socle base (repaired), 31 cm high Footnote: Born in Jamaica to a Scottish military father and Black Caribbean mother in 1805, Mary Seacole established the British Hotel near Balaclava during the Crimean War to provide quarters for convalescing and wounded officers. Her initial application to the British War Office to be an Army Nurse had been refused, and she travelled to the war zone at her own expense. As well as caring for the officers, she also attended to wounded soldiers on the battlefield. After the war, she returned to London with little funds, but as the press began to tell her story she was recognised by soldiers and Generals alike. A fundraising Gala was the result, held in 1857. She died in London in 1881, and her story faded until the centenary of her death. Since then, her statue has been erected outside St Thomas' Hospital, London, and she was voted first in a poll of Great Black Britons in 2004. An annual prize to recognise and develop leadership in nurses, midwives and health visitors in the NHS has been named after her. This sculpture is very similar to the terracotta bust by Victor Gleichen at the Institute of Jamaica. Damage to socle has been repaired with plaster filler, very light loss to the back of the collar. Some slight wear to the bronzed finish throughout, particularly to the tip of the nose.