Focus on Statue of Mary Seacole and explore the History.
The idea for a statue to commemorate Seacole was raised in 2004, when she topped an online poll to identify 100 Great Black Britons. Her victory led the then President of the Royal College of Nursing, Sylvia Denton, to call for the erection of a commemorative statue. The idea was supported by the London M.P. Clive Soley, who had become interested in Seacole when a group of black women from his constituency, who had served in the Women's Royal Voluntary Service, approached him for help in identifying and refurbishing Seacole's grave in St Mary's Catholic Cemetery, Kensal Green in West London. Soley subsequently became chair of the Mary Seacole Memorial Statue Appeal which undertook a twelve-year campaign to raise the necessary funds to pay for the statue. Over £500,000 was raised in private donations, and this was supplemented by the granting of £240,000 by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, who diverted fines levied following the Libor banking scandal for the purpose of landscaping and preparing the statue's site.The commissioning of the statue generated controversy. Opposition was led by the Nightingale Society, and its co-founder Lynn McDonald, the editor of the 16-volume Collected Works of Florence Nightingale. The society's main objection was to what it perceived as the embellishment of Seacole's work and reputation, to the detriment of that of Florence Nightingale. The proposed site for the statue, the grounds of St Thomas', provoked particular hostility, as Seacole had no connection to the hospital while Nightingale had founded her school of nursing there in 1860. In 2013 the controversy became linked to, ultimately unsuccessful, efforts by the then Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, to remove mention of Seacole from the English schools National Curriculum. The statue's sculptor, Martin Jennings, noted the substantial length of time it took to raise the necessary funds, contrasting it with the more usual period of around two years, and asked, in an interview in The Guardian newspaper in 2016, "would there really be such energy behind the[..] resistance if the person the statue honours was white-skinned"?By 2016, work on the statue, cast in the foundry of Pangolin Editions in Gloucestershire, and on its site, was complete. The statue was unveiled on 30 June 2016 by Floella Benjamin. Speaking at the unveiling, Elizabeth Anionwu, Emeritus Professor of Nursing at the University of West London and vice-chair of the appeal committee, referenced the importance of the site and of the statue itself; "There are not enough statues of women, let alone of black women. St Thomas’ are proud to host the statue of Mary Seacole both in recognition of the work done by their black and minority ethnic healthcare staff, and also because of the diverse community they serve".
University of West London Libor banking scandal Gloucestershire Mary Seacole Chancellor of the Exchequer Clive Soley George Osborne Sylvia Denton Michael Gove St Mary's Catholic Cemetery, Kensal Green Pangolin Editions Royal Voluntary Service Seacole Lynn McDonald Florence Nightingale M.P. Nightingale Society Martin Jennings The Guardian Floella Benjamin Secretary of State for Education English schools National Curriculum 100 Great Black Britons Black Britons Royal College of Nursing Women's Royal Voluntary Service school of nursing Elizabeth Anionwu