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The only known surviving handwritten letter by Mary Seacole, discovered by Tom Beaumont James in family paperwork in 2008 Yet what makes the letter even more significant is its link with another Seacole-related artefact that languished in obscurity for decades – before returning to the public domain in spectacular fashion in 2008. The ‘lost’ letter was addressed to a Matilda Challen (1844–1943) – or as Seacole addresses her: “My dear Miss Challen”. Matilda was the eldest sister of Albert Challen, a London artist who, at the age of 22, painted the only known portrait of Seacole. Showing the pioneer of battlefield nursing proudly wearing her medals at the age of 65, Challen’s portrait in oils now resides in the National Portrait Gallery. The story of the painting’s journey from Challen’s easel to national treasure poses as many questions as it answers – purely because it ‘disappeared’ for well over a century. What we do know is that 1,320 were exhibited. The Seacole portrait was one of thousands of artworks rejected. The painting wasn’t heard of again until 2003 when, hidden behind a Victorian print, it was unknowingly purchased at a car-boot sale at Burford in Oxfordshire. In the intervening 134 years it had remained with the Challens until it was cleared from a cottage at East Hendred, Oxon in 1967 after the death of the artist’s niece, Dora Challen. Dora was my father’s cousin, and the last of the Challens. At first – as she passed from one local dealer to the next – the identity of the portrait’s bemedalled subject was a mystery. Yet the painting’s lengthy spell in the shadows ended abruptly when it was shown to the historian Helen Rappaport. Rappaport identified the sitter as Seacole, purchased the portrait, Mary’s gregarious personality endeared her to everyone from troops to Queen Victoria and in 2008 sold it to the National Portrait Gallery. Unlike the Royal Academy, where the criterion for inclusion remains subjective artistic in July 1869 Challen submitted the portrait for display in a summer exhibition at the Royal Academy’s new galleries at Burlington House, Piccadilly. Competition was stiff: of the 4,500 paintings submitted, only merit, artworks in the National Portrait Gallery should, in the words of its chief proponent, Philip 5th Earl Stanhope (1805–75) “…consist as far as possible of those persons who are most honourably commemorated in British This extract from Seacole’s letter reveals that she was on good terms with the family of the artist who painted her portrait 40 Upper Berkeley St., Portman Sqre March 31/69 My dear Miss Challen, I received your kind letter and many thanks to your Mama for Enquiring after my Cold which I am glad to say is a little Better… I hope Albert will be successful in getting the Painting in the Academy. With best love to your Mama and Papa also to your brothers And Believe me yours truly and Affectionately Mary Seacole history as warriors or as statesmen, or in arts, in literature or in science.” Seacole, who funded her trip to the Crimea in 1854, where she established the British Hotel to provide “a messtable and comfortable quarters for sick and convalescent officers”, meets these criteria triumphantly. But what of the letter that is so intimately connected to the portrait? What does it tell us about Seacole and her relationship with the artist’s family? It certainly appears to support Mary’s reputation for possessing a gregarious personality that endeared her to many – from the soldiers of the Crimea to JAMES BEAUMONT TOM 54 BBC History Magazine
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t Gallery Mar llen children in the 1850s. They prob ably knew her 1857 memoir, while t heir grandfather Clement James, Queen Victoria. Analysis of the handwriting in the letter (initially undertaken by a graphologist who was unaware that Seacole was the author) supports this view, suggesting traits of humility, intelligence and optimism. The signature is notably ornate, indicating a certain authority, and an affection for the recipient. Indeed the style of the signature is in contrast to the more formal writing of Seacole’s name in ‘the Winchester College album’ – a Crimean campaign scrapbook compiled by a Coldstream Guards officer. Mary’s is the only photo of a non-combatant in the book. Seacole’s letter may have been penned by one of the most remarkable Britons of the 19th century, but the topic it first addresses is resolutel y humdrum. When Seacole sat down i n London to write the missive to th e family of the young art student wh o hadpaintedherportrait,shefirsttur ns her pen to the weather. Writing on t he Wednesday after Good Friday, 186 9, Seacole refers to her intention to co me over to the Challens “on Friday” of th at week. “I should have Come out to s ee you all before,” she writes, “but t he weather has been so bad for the la st week that I have not been able to g et out. But I hope it will be a fine da y.” Freezing ga les Clearly Seacole had a bad cold and the weather from Good Friday to 31 Mar ch, the following Wednesday when the letter was written, was exceptiona lly bad. Snow storms had swept across the country during Easter, and freez ing easterly gales with sleet and snow had piled in from the continent, wreck ing ships at Dover and discouraging peo ple from venturing o ut. As well as exposing the Brit ish climate’s enduring ability to up set best-laid plans, the letter reveals the strong bond of friendship that exis ted between Seacole and the artist’s paren ts, sisters and brothers. Their respect and solicitude (“thanks to your Mama for Enquiring after my Cold which I our common ancestor, had plent y of contact with black people and the West Indies while wor king in west Afr  ere TOP: A pre-1860 photograph of Mary Seacole, wh ich appears in a Crimean War scrapbook compiled b y a Coldstream Guards off icer ABOVE: The signature that accompanies the photograp h of Seacole. This is more formal than the rather or nate signature that accompanies Mary’s letter to Matilda Cha ica. That this letter was preserved at all – co ming into my father’s posses sion when Albert Challen’s n iece Mildred Pringuer (née Challen, Dora’s sister) died in 1948 – is a s trong indication o f the importance tha t the Challens must have att ached to Mary Seacole. They may have seen in he r the opportunity to advance Alb ert’s career as an ar tist. Unfortunately, Albert’s aspira tions were to be thwarted. Two years after painting Mary, he is described i n the 1871 census as being in Hammers mith, and as “Art student (painting)”. In 1881, before his death that year, he desc ribed himself in Camberwell as “Pract ising Artist”.Nootherworksofh isare identified. A copy-portrait in o ils of another feisty woman – Emma , Lady Hamilton – may be b y him. The discovery of the Seacole po rtrait and the letter has ensured that C hallen the artist has not been lost to hi story. Just as significantly, it has also shone a light on a period of Mary Seacole ’s life which is poorly documen ted. It provides an address (now des troyed) for her in the wealthy J amaican community around Portman Square. Above all, it strengthens the sense of the respect that this great lady com manded, and it emphasises her ability to mix with all kinds of social classes – from royalty to soldiery and, of course, bohemian artists in b etween. Tom Beaumont James is professor e meritus at the University of Winchester. He wou ld like to thank the following: Prof El izabeth Anionwu CBE, Dr Geoffrey Day , Helen Rappaport and Angela Spencer -Harper J OURNE YS Book 􏰀 The Wonderful Adven tures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands by Mary Seacole (Pengui am glad to say is a little Better”) for t his irrepressible 65-year-old is immediat ely evident. The Challens had, no dou bt, heard a great deal about Seacol e’s exploits in the Crimea when they w gazine 55 Albert Challen’s portrai t of Mary Seacole in the National Portrai n, 2005) Website 􏰀 To read the entry on Mar y Seacole in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, go to: www.oxfo rddnb.com BBC History Ma

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t Gallery Mar llen children in the 1850s. They prob ably knew her 1857 memoir, while t heir grandfather Clement James,

Queen Victoria. Analysis of the handwriting in the letter (initially undertaken by a graphologist who was unaware that Seacole was the author) supports this view, suggesting traits of humility, intelligence and optimism. The signature is notably ornate, indicating a certain authority, and an affection for the recipient. Indeed the style of the signature is in contrast to the more formal writing of Seacole’s name in ‘the Winchester College album’ – a Crimean campaign scrapbook compiled by a Coldstream Guards officer. Mary’s is the only photo of a non-combatant in the book.

Seacole’s letter may have been penned by one of the most remarkable Britons of the 19th century, but the topic it first addresses is resolutel y humdrum. When Seacole sat down i n London to write the missive to th e family of the young art student wh o hadpaintedherportrait,shefirsttur ns her pen to the weather. Writing on t he Wednesday after Good Friday, 186 9, Seacole refers to her intention to co me over to the Challens “on Friday” of th at week. “I should have Come out to s ee you all before,” she writes, “but t he weather has been so bad for the la st week that I have not been able to g et out. But I hope it will be a fine da y.” Freezing ga les Clearly Seacole had a bad cold and the weather from Good Friday to 31 Mar ch, the following Wednesday when the letter was written, was exceptiona lly bad. Snow storms had swept across the country during Easter, and freez ing easterly gales with sleet and snow had piled in from the continent, wreck ing ships at Dover and discouraging peo ple from venturing o ut. As well as exposing the Brit ish climate’s enduring ability to up set best-laid plans, the letter reveals the strong bond of friendship that exis ted between Seacole and the artist’s paren ts, sisters and brothers. Their respect and solicitude (“thanks to your Mama for Enquiring after my Cold which I

our common ancestor, had plent y of contact with black people and the West Indies while wor king in west Afr



ere TOP: A pre-1860 photograph of Mary Seacole, wh ich appears in a Crimean War scrapbook compiled b y a Coldstream Guards off icer ABOVE: The signature that accompanies the photograp h of Seacole. This is more formal than the rather or nate signature that accompanies Mary’s letter to Matilda Cha ica. That this letter was preserved at all – co ming into my father’s posses sion when Albert Challen’s n iece Mildred Pringuer (née Challen, Dora’s sister) died in 1948 – is a s trong indication o f the importance tha t the Challens must have att ached to Mary Seacole. They may have seen in he r the opportunity to advance Alb ert’s career as an ar tist. Unfortunately, Albert’s aspira tions were to be thwarted. Two years after painting Mary, he is described i n the 1871 census as being in Hammers mith, and as “Art student (painting)”. In 1881, before his death that year, he desc ribed himself in Camberwell as “Pract ising Artist”.Nootherworksofh isare identified. A copy-portrait in o ils of another feisty woman – Emma , Lady Hamilton – may be b y him. The discovery of the Seacole po rtrait and the letter has ensured that C hallen the artist has not been lost to hi story. Just as significantly, it has also shone a light on a period of Mary Seacole ’s life which is poorly documen ted. It provides an address (now des troyed) for her in the wealthy J amaican community around Portman Square. Above all, it strengthens the sense of the respect that this great lady com manded, and it emphasises her ability to mix with all kinds of social classes – from royalty to soldiery and, of course, bohemian artists in b etween. Tom Beaumont James is professor e meritus at the University of Winchester. He wou ld like to thank the following: Prof El izabeth Anionwu CBE, Dr Geoffrey Day , Helen Rappaport and Angela Spencer

-Harper J

OURNE YS Book 􏰀 The Wonderful Adven tures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands by Mary Seacole (Pengui am glad to say is a little Better”) for t his irrepressible 65-year-old is immediat ely evident. The Challens had, no dou bt, heard a great deal about Seacol e’s exploits in the Crimea when they w gazine 55 Albert Challen’s portrai t of Mary Seacole in the

National Portrai n, 2005) Website 􏰀 To read the entry on Mar y Seacole in the Oxford Dictionary of

National Biography, go to: www.oxfo rddnb.com BBC History

Ma

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