Mary Seacole Statue and Florence Nightingale Outside St Thomas's Hospital, London

Mary Seacole statue

The Mary S e a c o l e statue was placed outside St Thomas's Hospital in London in June 2016. Another statue to see in London.

(I have had to insert spaces in her surname because the autocorrect wants to change the word to Seattle.)

The statue is an impressive size, ten foot high. I read about the controversy and my own emotions went through this sequence.

1 Hurray - another statue. A new person. A new part of history.
2 Any connection with me? She is a woman.
3 She is black. I am not. But we don't have many black people. Why not.
4 Position of the statue - a rival to Florence Nightingale? Facing Parliament? Well, Trafalgar Square has Nelson and parliament square area has lots of statues - I don't think that the statue of Canning detracts from the state of Churchill. I feel that people who go to see the statue of Mary S e a c o l e will also see the statue of Florence Nightingale.
5 Why put the statue outside a hospital if she was not a nurse? If lots of nurses are black they might appreciate seeing a black woman who did nursing, and learning that she was not trained, they might appreciate how lucky they are to get training.

Purely from the point of view of a tourist and a photographer, the more statues and landmarks on London, the better.

When I went to the USA, I discovered Clara Barton, and no mention of Florence Nightingale. In England we learned about Florence Nightingale, with no mention of Clara Barton. I am all for celebrating heroes and heroines. As for villains, not celebrating people for only villainy. Unfortunately villains have an important place in history and many people declined when in power. Let us celebrate the good done by those who did good. If two wrongs don't make a right, two rights don't make a wrong.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/florence-vs-mary-the-big-nurse-off-a7100676.html