Since 2001 one of my specialisms has been the life of Mary Seacole.

In the winter of 2003 I had the great good fortune to discover a lost portrait of this

pioneering Jamaican nurse who went to the Crimean War, and was even more fortunate to be able to purchase it.

The portrait was unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery on 10 January 2005 and on

13 January 2009 I sold it to the gallery. 

I am sorry that Mary Seacole will never return to my sitting room wall but she now belongs to the nation, and that is only right and fitting. I feel happy and privileged that she came into my life. My interest in her life and works continues and  I have much new information that I hope will one day go into a biography. In the meantime, for information about my original discovery of the portrait see: www.npg.org.uk and www.news.bbc.co.uk 

For my Woman’s Hour interview with Jeni Murray you can listen again at: www.bbc.co.uk/radio4

MARY SEACOLE

The Lost Portrait & Discovery

Mary Seacole by Albert Challen c.1869

Writer • Historian • Russianist

HELEN

© Copyright Helen Rappaport 2009       Contact Helen Rappaport here       Website design Peter Ware

Helen with Press interest at the National Portrait Gallery unveiling

To view the Channel 4 documentary The Real Angel of the Crimea, in which I appeared as a talking head, go to Channel 4 On Demand: www.channel4.com