The following are just some examples of how Mary Seacole is now recognised

29th November 2007:  At last!!  Mary Seacole Blue Plaque is unveiled at 14 Soho Square, London W1 in front of a huge crowd of supporters. The ceremony was jointly organised by English Heritage and the Mary Seacole Memorial Statue Appeal

Left in picture: The Right Hon. Margaret Hodge MP, Minister for Culture who made a speech at the unveiling.

Right in picture: Professor Elizabeth Anionwu, CBE FRCN, Vice-Chairperson of the Mary Seacole Memorial Statue Appeal who unveiled the Blue Plaque to Mary Seacole.

They are looking out of the window of 14 Soho Square that overlooks the Blue Plaque.   Mary Seacole resided here in 1857, the same year that she wrote her autobiography. Tottenham Court Station is the nearest tube station.  Use the Oxford Street exit and then take the first left into Soho Street to Soho Square.

Pupils from Wyvil Primary School, Vauxhall in Lambeth  join dignitaries at the unveiling.  They had recently done a project about Mary Seacole in collaboration with Black Cultural Archives.

Unveiling of a Westminster Council Green Plaque commemorating the life of  Mary Seacole:    11th October 2005 

 A Westminster Council Green Plaque, sponsored by the Portman Estate, was unveiled at 147 George Street, W1 by the Right Worshipful The Lord Mayor of Westminster, Cllr Tim Joiner in the presence of many dignitaries and well wishers.  A reception was sponsored by Nubian Jak  

Picture courtesy of Media Office, Westminster Council.

Click here to view and listen to the poem to Mary Seacole recorded in February 2006 by David Neita for BBC London Video Nation. It is recorded in George Street, London  at the site of the Westminster Council Green Plaque that commemorates an address where Mary lived.

April 2007: Mary Seacole now has her own MySpace site! So those of you out there with your own  sites, how about becoming a friend of Mary  Seacole and spreading the word about her and the Memorial Appeal?  Just visit: www.myspace.com/maryseacole

Places in the UK named after Mary Seacole (for examples of some in Jamaica click here for link to the 200 year Timeline page.  Also click here and then here to see pages concerning the 2005 commemorative stamps issued in Jamaica).

December 2006: two buildings named after Mary Seacole, one at Enfield NHS PCT and the other at Greenwich University

26th July 2006: Mary Seacole Building, University of Salford opened by British Paralympic champion, Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson. For an image of the building click here

19th May 2006: Queen opens new Mary Seacole Health Building at Brunel University today.  Many thanks to Mike, a student at the university, who emailed me prior to the event today in order to let me know about this occasion. 

12th May 2006 - Reverend Austin Fitzpatrick from Southampton sent me this interesting email today: "This morning I noticed that a new street close to Southampton General Hospital has been name Seacole Gardens. My wife, who works at the hospital did not connect with this name so how many more in Southampton did not either? I am going to write to the local paper praising the City Council for their wisdom."

16th October 2005 - University of Central England (UCE) open a Mary Seacole nursing library. Formally opened 27th June 2006.

7th October 2005 - naming ceremony of  Mary Seacole House in Hammersmith, a Hanover Housing Association Extra Care estate

Mary Seacole Research Centre   De  Montfort University Leicester  1996

Mary Seacole Centre for Nursing Practice Thames Valley University, London, 1998

Mary Seacole School of Health Building  University of Wolverhampton 2004

The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) named the boardroom at 8 Bedford Square, London after Mary Seacole on the 17th May 2005.

Mary Seacole Room in the headquarters of the Nursing and Midwifery Council  (formerly known as the UKCC), London.  The room was renamed in 2000 in recognition of the UKCC's commitment to valuing the diversity of the professions which it regulates and the society which it serves.

On the 26th January 2005 the Home Office named one of their new HQ buildings in Marsham Street, Westminster Seacole Building.

In Liverpool there is a Mary Seacole House, a mental health drop-in centre primarily for people who encounter racism and discrimination in day to day living  and a Seacole Close in Liverpool 8.  There is  also one in Ealing, west London.  On the 25th January 2005 I was informed by Mr Nigel Ward that there is a Mary Seacole Road in the Plymouth 1 district.   I am very grateful for the following background information he gave me: 'the road is relatively new and is within what used to be The Royal Naval Hospital. The old hospital buildings still stand as they are listed but the area has been redeveloped for housing and commercial properties'.  2 days later I was very pleased to receive an email  from Dr Lyssa Randolph in Bristol who informed me that there is a 'Mary Seacole Court' in James Street, St Werburgh's, Bristol. 

August 2005: Lambeth Hospital (which is part of  South London and Maudsley NHS Trust) has named a ward after Mary Seacole in Bridge House, a new unit at the hospital.

Here are some more places named after Mary (many thanks to everyone who has sent me information):
Mary Seacole House Local Adoption and Fostering, Lambeth Social Services (although I have heard this building has or will be demolished - any news anybody???)
Seacole House, Mary Seacole Villas, Brent and a Mary Seacole Housing Association in Luton
Seacole Wards - Central Middlesex Hospital, Brent, West London Mental Health NHS Trust, Ealing, Basildon Hospital, Essex, plus a Mary Seacole Nursing Home in Hackney
Mary Seacole Nursery - Islington
Mary Seacole Nursery - Reading
Mary Seacole Nurses Association, Leeds  and the Mary Seacole Memorial Association,  London   

Some interesting letters published in the Guardian on 11February  2004 following Mary coming first in the online 100 Greatest Black Britons poll: 

"Jamaican-born Mary Seacole may have been forgotten by many history books, but not by 1,200 students in St Albans. When we introduced a system of houses last September, we chose as their names seven women who had made a special contribution to British life. One was Mary Seacole. We all, and the girls in Seacole House in particular, are proud to have marked her memory in our own small way."
Margaret Wesley
St Albans Girls' School   

"You may not have heard of Mary Seacole, but everyone who works for Lambeth* council has. We named the social services department building Mary Seacole House two decades ago. Of course, we were dismissed as the loony left then, but like everything else we did - exposing institutional racism in the Met, promoting equal rights for gay people and the disabled etc, we were simply 20 years ahead of our time."
Luke Sorba
London"     

There has also been an  opera and a musical, both based on the life of Mary Seacole - click here to read a stunning review of the musical.


Last updated: 16/05/2011