Andrew Lycett

The fuss over Mary Seacole’s statue has obscured the real person

Variously portrayed as near-saint or drunken sutler, she was simply a kind, patriotic, enterprising woman with great healing skills

Portrait of Mary Seacole by Albert Charles Challen, 1869. [Bridgeman Images]
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  • In Search of Mary Seacole: The Making of a Cultural Icon

    Helen Rappaport

    Simon & Schuster, pp. 405, £20

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