A reproduction of
Lord Gleichen's bust
by George Kelly |
Up to this
point she had done a lot of travelling and her thoughts
turned to soldiers she knew who were now in the Crimean War .
Mary travelled to London carrying letters of recommendation
from many high ranking members of the military in an effort
to offer medical care on the battlefield. There she met head
on with the twin discriminations of sex and race.
Being the
typical Jamaican woman, even 150 years ago, Mary did not
give up. She made her way to Turkey and put herself up in
the British Hotel, all at her own cost. She travelled to the
Crimea to the hospitals set up by the British, where
Nightingale was already working and the two famous women
cared for the injured even on the battlefields though not
together as the official team were said to have snubbed the
mixed-race "doctress."
After the
War, having worked at her own expense, Mary was left
bankrupt. However, grateful veterans and high placed
friends, including the Prince of Wales (Edward VII ) raised
enough funds for her to live on. She was awarded several
medals and a famous sculptor, Count Gleichen, made a bust of
her. |
was the
only Victorian woman who practiced medicine on the
battlefields.
was defeated at Waterloo, Mary
Jane Grant was born in Kingston to a free Black woman and a
Scottish planter. Her mother ran a boarding house/nursing
home for army and navy personnel and had the reputation of
being well versed in 
. Mary learned her
mother's skills and improved upon them in her travels.
. For those who don't know, that great naval hero
spent many years in Jamaica, both officially and
unofficially. Unfortunately, poor Mary's husband died in
1844 when she was 49.
