Mary Seacole and Florence Nightingale were significant women of their time in the 19th century. Both women had involvement in medicine helping soldiers in the Crimean war. he pair suffered sexism and Mary suffered racism as she was Jamaican in addition to this.

Mary Seacole was admired in her day for her charitable efforts during the Crimean war gaining her a letter of recognition from the Queen. Seacole was important because she was a personal medic, which is why she was constantly on the front line. Mary had great passion for helping people, she later established the 'British Hotel' which sold a range of things from food to mens boots. Money she made was used for the soldiers to help them. Her medical knowledge was great, she inherited knowledge of herbs, from her mother. She could even make a remedy for Cholera. She also carried out operations, especially from knife wounds.

Florence Nightingale went on an expedition with 38 other nurses behind her to run a hospital in Turkey. Nightingale wasn't a personal doctor, she was more professional. She didn't make contact with patients, unlike seacole, for medical reasons. Florence Nightingale was the reason hospitals changed for the better in the 19th century. The four main objectives she had for her hospitals were; sanitation, ventilation, good food and clothing. These four key objectives turned around everything that was wrong with hospitals, before this they were cramped, stuffy, bed linens were dirty and nurses were drunk half the time from having been paid half their wages in gin. In opposition to this, Florence and her team of nurses boiled bed linens (killing germs but unknowingly) and paid for good food out of their own pocket, ensured the wards were ventilated. The death rate fell from 40% to an astonishing 2% all because of her, and she became a national heroine known as 'The Lady with the Lamp'.. She also set up Britain's training school for nurses and by 1900 60,000 nurses were trained.

In comparison with these two individuals it can be said that unfortunately as useful as Mary Seacole was on the frontline she didn't contribute much to the development of hospitals, in doing so her work was only short-term. Florence nightingale made such a big impact that her work was carried on, and she is still very known in the 21st century. Nightingale recognised the issues in hospitals and effectively improved them. Seacole did make excellent use of the knowledge she had except 'The lady with the lamp' expanded on hers to change hospitals for the better, set up a training school for nurses and publish a book.

In conclusion Mary Seacole had a short-term effect on medicine making Florence Nightingale more important as she has had a long-term effect.

	Created by Lia Beart almost 8 years ago

A brief description of the significance these two women made to 19th century medicine.