An international appeal has been launched for the erection of the statue of the late Jamaican nurse, Mary Seacole in the precinct of the British Parliament.
Lord Clive Soley of Hammersmith is chairing the Mary Seacole Memorial Statue Appeal.
The fund’s target is 500 thousand pounds sterling.
Speaking recently at the House of Lords, Lord Soley said Mary Seacole will become the first woman of African descent to have her statue mounted at the British Parliament.
It will join statues of such prominent figures as former British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill; former U.S. President, Abraham Lincoln and former South African President, Nelson Mandela.
Jamaica’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Anthony Johnson says Nurse Seacole is deserving of the honour based on her work to pioneer the involvement of Jamaican women in British military exercises.
At her own expense, Mary Seacole established a military hospital for the British Forces during the Crimean War.
Ambassador Johnson notes that since then, Jamaican volunteers have played a critical supporting role in every major British war right up to the current conflict in Afghanistan.
The statue is to be erected on the grounds of the St. Thomas Hospital by the River Thames facing the British Houses of Parliament in London.
