1 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:06,440 Speaker 1: Hello, everybody. We are doing something slightly different for our 2 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:09,680 Speaker 1: classic this Saturday. I really wanted to share our previous 3 00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:12,960 Speaker 1: episode on Mary Sekel and the Crimean War because it's 4 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:16,560 Speaker 1: a really frequent listener request, and it's from far enough 5 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:19,280 Speaker 1: back in the archive that it's also pretty short by 6 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:22,840 Speaker 1: the standards of our show today, but it also makes 7 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:27,360 Speaker 1: several references back to another past episode, John Snow's Ghost Map, 8 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:30,800 Speaker 1: which is also a frequent listener request and also not 9 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:33,160 Speaker 1: quite up to the length that our shows today tend 10 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:36,280 Speaker 1: to be. So today we're having a Saturday double feature. 11 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:39,280 Speaker 1: We will have John Snow first and Mary Seacole second. 12 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:45,320 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class 13 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:55,040 Speaker 1: from how Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to 14 00:00:55,080 --> 00:00:58,160 Speaker 1: the podcast. I'm Katie Lamberg, joined by Sarah Dowdy. How 15 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:00,280 Speaker 1: are you, Sarah? I'm great, Katie, how are you? You 16 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:02,680 Speaker 1: won't be as great as we start talking about what 17 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:06,200 Speaker 1: we're talking about, which was a listener request. Jamie from 18 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:08,920 Speaker 1: d C wanted to hear all about John Snow and 19 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:11,920 Speaker 1: the cholera outbreak in Victorian London. I don't know, I'm 20 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:15,120 Speaker 1: kind of a fan of slummy Victorian London. So I 21 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:17,600 Speaker 1: think I'm going to enjoy this one. John Snow was 22 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:21,600 Speaker 1: born in eighteen thirteen in Yorkshire, England, and he was 23 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:26,200 Speaker 1: actually the son of a coal yard laborer, but quickly 24 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:30,040 Speaker 1: gets into the medical field of fourteen when he starts 25 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:36,559 Speaker 1: three consecutive apprenticeships and first encounters cholera. Not that long after, 26 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:40,720 Speaker 1: while visiting coal miners in eighteen thirty one, he gets 27 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:44,360 Speaker 1: his first exposure to contagious disease. He doesn't begin his 28 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:47,680 Speaker 1: formal medical education until eighteen thirty six, but he gets 29 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:49,880 Speaker 1: his m d in eighteen forty four from the University 30 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:52,680 Speaker 1: of London, and by eighteen forty nine he is a 31 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:56,040 Speaker 1: licensed specialist of the Royal College of Physicians of London, 32 00:01:56,080 --> 00:01:59,760 Speaker 1: which was a really elite organization. Yeah, this guy gets 33 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:03,960 Speaker 1: big fast. Um. He kind of enters the realm of 34 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:07,760 Speaker 1: what today we'd probably call a celebrity doctor, especially when 35 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:12,720 Speaker 1: he treats Queen Victoria. That's because he learned about ether 36 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:18,639 Speaker 1: being used in America but pioneered how it was dispensed. Right, 37 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:21,920 Speaker 1: So he helps Queen Victoria through her childbirth on the 38 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:25,760 Speaker 1: birth of Prince Leopold and Princess Beatrice and makes the 39 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:29,320 Speaker 1: public more accepting of the process at all. If Victoria 40 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:32,320 Speaker 1: is into it, whether it's Christmas trees or big white 41 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 1: weddings or ether, the Kingdom likes it to trends center Victoria. 42 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:39,960 Speaker 1: But we don't think of him today for his work 43 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:42,880 Speaker 1: in anesthesia. We think about him for his pioneering work 44 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:45,320 Speaker 1: in germ theory. And to do that will give a 45 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:52,480 Speaker 1: little background first about Victorian London, which was really disgustingly dirty. 46 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:56,239 Speaker 1: The life expectancy for a gentleman in Victorian London was 47 00:02:56,280 --> 00:02:58,320 Speaker 1: forty five, but if you were a tradesman it was 48 00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:01,440 Speaker 1: your mid twenties, so I would be killed off by now, 49 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:07,040 Speaker 1: and so would you say. And London was really really stinky, 50 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:10,000 Speaker 1: like known worldwide for being stinky. It was the biggest 51 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:14,760 Speaker 1: city in the world. But sewage was just piled up everywhere. 52 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:19,120 Speaker 1: Toilets drained into basement suspits, so there would just be 53 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: piles and piles of sewage in your basement, stinking too 54 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:25,360 Speaker 1: high heaven, and the suspits were flushed into the river 55 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:28,639 Speaker 1: if they were cleaned, which of course is where everyone 56 00:03:28,680 --> 00:03:30,960 Speaker 1: got their water. Maybe you can see where this is going. 57 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:36,720 Speaker 1: So needless to say, London overcrowded, dirty, stinky, a good 58 00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:40,800 Speaker 1: place for diseases to spread. And at the time, it 59 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:44,800 Speaker 1: was thought of that diseases came from my asthma or 60 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:50,360 Speaker 1: bad air from decayed organic matter, so bad smells meant disease. 61 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:54,560 Speaker 1: And when the entire city stinks, people thought you were 62 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:58,960 Speaker 1: getting sick from the sewage. There's also a moral element 63 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:03,720 Speaker 1: to the whole my asthma ory um that stinky people were, 64 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:08,800 Speaker 1: you know, unclean and more prone to disease, not just 65 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:13,200 Speaker 1: because they were poor and destitute and living in overcrowded hovels. 66 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:18,280 Speaker 1: They were morally unsound, so too bad for you poor 67 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:21,400 Speaker 1: people in Victorian London. Everyone thought your illness was your 68 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:25,640 Speaker 1: own darn fault. So Snow doesn't buy this though. He 69 00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:32,000 Speaker 1: thinks that diseases are caused by some agent, not by 70 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:37,279 Speaker 1: a smell, right, So they started calling that germ theory. 71 00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:40,480 Speaker 1: And so we've got these two philosophies that are kind 72 00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:42,400 Speaker 1: of going head to head, and they go head to 73 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:47,120 Speaker 1: head for for decades, surprisingly enough to to us, who 74 00:04:47,240 --> 00:04:50,359 Speaker 1: you know, my asthma sounds like such a bad idea, um, 75 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:54,520 Speaker 1: But people aren't quick to buy germ theory. So there 76 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:57,680 Speaker 1: have been a few outbreaks of cholorado in London. The 77 00:04:57,760 --> 00:05:02,159 Speaker 1: eighteen eighteen forty nine color out break killed fifty thousand people, 78 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:05,920 Speaker 1: and this is where John Snow wants to figure out 79 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:08,679 Speaker 1: how this is happening. Color is not a pretty disease. 80 00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:14,159 Speaker 1: You die from basically diarrhea that's unstoppable, and various digestive ills. 81 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:17,159 Speaker 1: You die from dehydration because your body doesn't have any 82 00:05:17,160 --> 00:05:20,080 Speaker 1: fluid left and you can die really quickly, like within 83 00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:23,360 Speaker 1: a day. So John Snow wants to figure out this 84 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:25,320 Speaker 1: germ theory and see if he can prove it. But 85 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:28,680 Speaker 1: in that particular outbreak, there weren't any public death records 86 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:31,000 Speaker 1: and you couldn't figure out who was giving water to 87 00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:34,000 Speaker 1: witch households, so this wasn't a good test case for him. 88 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:36,880 Speaker 1: And in the summer of eighteen fifty four, another color 89 00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:40,600 Speaker 1: outbreak happens. Seven people are dead in two weeks, and 90 00:05:40,640 --> 00:05:44,080 Speaker 1: this is when he starts his experimentation and runs around 91 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:46,680 Speaker 1: testing water and interviewing people and trying to figure out 92 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:48,920 Speaker 1: where this is coming from so he can stop it. 93 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:54,440 Speaker 1: And he performed two classic experiments during this eighteen fifty 94 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:59,359 Speaker 1: four outbreak. The first was the broad Street pump outbreak 95 00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:02,840 Speaker 1: experiment it which is my favorite. He's like Sherlock Holmes 96 00:06:02,839 --> 00:06:07,200 Speaker 1: of medicine, and it's pretty amazing. So Um, in the 97 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:11,640 Speaker 1: Soho district of London, where he's actually based his medical 98 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:16,479 Speaker 1: offices are actually based, there is a sudden case of cholera. 99 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:20,440 Speaker 1: Seventy fatalities within a twenty four hour period, most of 100 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:25,520 Speaker 1: them within five square blocks Um, and all of these 101 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:31,920 Speaker 1: fatalities are based around the broad Street Pump, which is 102 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:36,000 Speaker 1: a free water pump for the poor. It draws the 103 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:40,520 Speaker 1: water from a well underneath the Golden Square, which has 104 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:45,719 Speaker 1: some of London's poorest, most overcrowded people. So in the 105 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:48,800 Speaker 1: last week of August eighteen fifty four, all the residents 106 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:51,520 Speaker 1: of Golden Square start dying. And it starts with an 107 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:55,240 Speaker 1: upset stomach and then goes to vomiting and severe cramps 108 00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:57,800 Speaker 1: in the gut, and then to diarrhea and thirst, and then, 109 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:01,440 Speaker 1: like we said, death from dehydration. And it's fast to kill. 110 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:04,279 Speaker 1: Some people are dying within twelve hours after it starts, 111 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:07,520 Speaker 1: and it's really fast to spread. So the medical authorities 112 00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:11,280 Speaker 1: are pretty quick to identify this as cholera, and Snow 113 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:16,000 Speaker 1: moves in to start studying what's happening, and he takes 114 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:21,280 Speaker 1: a really multidiscipline approach. He looks at water samples and sees, 115 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:23,640 Speaker 1: you know, what he can find in the water, but 116 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:28,080 Speaker 1: he also starts looking at the maps of London dead 117 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:32,000 Speaker 1: or the weekly statistics about who's dying of cholera in London, 118 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:36,880 Speaker 1: looking for geographical patterns, and he draws a ghost map 119 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:42,200 Speaker 1: that showed a correlation between cholera cases in this neighborhood 120 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:45,360 Speaker 1: and the Broad Street pump. Basically, if you lived within 121 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:48,640 Speaker 1: walking distance of the Broad Street pump, if that was 122 00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:52,920 Speaker 1: your nearest water source, you were very likely to come 123 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:55,920 Speaker 1: down with cholera. And it's really intense. You can find 124 00:07:56,280 --> 00:07:58,760 Speaker 1: a bunch of them online, of the ghost maps, but 125 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:03,880 Speaker 1: they're just black lines everywhere showing people. They're very disturbing, 126 00:08:03,880 --> 00:08:07,160 Speaker 1: little stacks of black lines. And you'll see the pump 127 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:12,200 Speaker 1: location in the houses immediately adjacent to the pump just 128 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:16,240 Speaker 1: have these huge stacks of black lines coming from them. 129 00:08:16,320 --> 00:08:18,200 Speaker 1: And this is part of the reason he's called the 130 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:21,680 Speaker 1: father of modern epidemiology and starts right here. UM So, 131 00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:25,560 Speaker 1: after about a week he goes to the local Board 132 00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:28,800 Speaker 1: of Guardians of St James Parish with his findings with 133 00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:33,680 Speaker 1: this ghost map, and UM convinces them to shut down 134 00:08:33,720 --> 00:08:36,320 Speaker 1: the Broad Street pump, to take the literally take the 135 00:08:36,360 --> 00:08:38,720 Speaker 1: handle off the pump so people can't use it. And 136 00:08:38,720 --> 00:08:41,959 Speaker 1: they're not totally into it though, are They know, they're 137 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:45,600 Speaker 1: still thinking about the whole miasthma thing. So they're engaged 138 00:08:45,679 --> 00:08:49,240 Speaker 1: in this pursuit to spread lime all over the streets 139 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:52,800 Speaker 1: because that'll kill the smells. That will kill it. But 140 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:57,840 Speaker 1: they decide, okay, so let's go ahead and take the 141 00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:01,600 Speaker 1: pump handle off and surprise, surprise, as the outbreak ends. 142 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:05,880 Speaker 1: But what's so great about Snow's experiment here is he 143 00:09:05,920 --> 00:09:09,560 Speaker 1: doesn't just look at the overwhelming evidence on the side 144 00:09:09,559 --> 00:09:13,280 Speaker 1: of if you, you know, drink this water, you very 145 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:15,680 Speaker 1: well might get sick. He looks at kind of the 146 00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:20,280 Speaker 1: statistical outliers. Yes, he's very thorough. I love this. Yeah, 147 00:09:20,480 --> 00:09:23,680 Speaker 1: he um. There's some school children who don't live near 148 00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:27,360 Speaker 1: the pump who end up dying. He reasons that they 149 00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:30,160 Speaker 1: passed by the pump on their way to school. And 150 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:33,440 Speaker 1: my favorite, there's a widow in west End Hampstead and 151 00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:35,760 Speaker 1: her niece in Ailington and they got sick, but neither 152 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:38,640 Speaker 1: of them had been anywhere near so how so he 153 00:09:38,679 --> 00:09:42,640 Speaker 1: did some investigation did some interviewing and discovered that the 154 00:09:42,640 --> 00:09:45,200 Speaker 1: widow had once lived on Broad Street and liked the 155 00:09:45,240 --> 00:09:47,280 Speaker 1: taste of the well water so much that she had 156 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:50,160 Speaker 1: a servant go to Soho every day and bring her 157 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:52,400 Speaker 1: back a bottle of it to drink. It's like when 158 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:54,960 Speaker 1: you go to Florida, South Georgia and you like bring 159 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:59,640 Speaker 1: your Atlantic water. Um. So yeah, And he actually finds 160 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:02,360 Speaker 1: the law Us bottle of water that the widow had 161 00:10:02,360 --> 00:10:06,640 Speaker 1: gotten was from August thirty one, which is the start 162 00:10:06,679 --> 00:10:09,960 Speaker 1: of the epidemics, so bad bad timing. There. There's also 163 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:13,439 Speaker 1: an army officer living in St. John's Woods who dies 164 00:10:13,559 --> 00:10:17,000 Speaker 1: after dining in Water Street where he had drunk in 165 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:19,840 Speaker 1: a glass of water from the Broad Street well. And 166 00:10:19,920 --> 00:10:22,959 Speaker 1: he also, in his thoroughness looks at the people who 167 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:25,640 Speaker 1: didn't get sick. So the people at the Poland Street 168 00:10:25,679 --> 00:10:28,760 Speaker 1: workhouse are just around the corner from the Broad Street pumps. 169 00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:31,640 Speaker 1: So I mean, if you're thinking about it, they should 170 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:34,440 Speaker 1: have been sick, but they weren't. And so he went 171 00:10:34,480 --> 00:10:36,720 Speaker 1: and looked into that. And that's because the workhouse had 172 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:38,760 Speaker 1: its very own water source. They weren't using the Broad 173 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:41,360 Speaker 1: Street pump. And that's also a good case against the 174 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:45,240 Speaker 1: miasthma theory. These people are in the workhouse, they're dirty, 175 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:50,600 Speaker 1: they're more likely to be morally correct, but here they are, 176 00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:55,280 Speaker 1: you know, safe from cholera. Also, the Broad Street Brewery, 177 00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:58,880 Speaker 1: which you know, right down the street from the pump um, 178 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:02,880 Speaker 1: no deaths because the workers are given a daily beer allowance, 179 00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:05,040 Speaker 1: so they don't need to drink water. I feel like 180 00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:09,240 Speaker 1: there's a lesson in there's somewhere for my bosses. He 181 00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:12,800 Speaker 1: also has the help of Reverend Henry Whitehead, who's the 182 00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:17,000 Speaker 1: vicar of St. Luke's Church, and Whitehead actually wasn't originally 183 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:20,079 Speaker 1: on his side. He thought the outbreak was caused by 184 00:11:20,720 --> 00:11:23,960 Speaker 1: God's intervention, and he started a report to prove it, 185 00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:27,440 Speaker 1: but it actually only ended up confirming john snow study. 186 00:11:27,720 --> 00:11:30,200 Speaker 1: But he was man enough to come to a minute 187 00:11:30,240 --> 00:11:32,520 Speaker 1: to Snow and admit, you know, my research is the 188 00:11:32,559 --> 00:11:36,400 Speaker 1: same as years and he actually helped Snow track down 189 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:41,199 Speaker 1: the source of the local outbreak of sick child at 190 00:11:41,280 --> 00:11:45,200 Speaker 1: number forty Broad Street, right near the pump um had 191 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:48,360 Speaker 1: had his diapers washed and the water was dumped into 192 00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:50,960 Speaker 1: a cesspool. There's only a few feet away from the 193 00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:54,280 Speaker 1: well and after the child died no more diaper pale 194 00:11:54,280 --> 00:11:57,400 Speaker 1: water had been dropped in that cesspitt, so people stopped 195 00:11:57,400 --> 00:12:00,840 Speaker 1: getting sick. Yeah. So later in the or Our Sherlock 196 00:12:00,920 --> 00:12:06,119 Speaker 1: Holmes John Snow conducts a grand experiment and he compares 197 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:09,880 Speaker 1: the London neighborhoods who are receiving water from two different companies, 198 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:12,920 Speaker 1: and one company uses water that comes from the Upper 199 00:12:12,960 --> 00:12:15,840 Speaker 1: Thames and the other uses water that comes from the 200 00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:20,720 Speaker 1: heart of London. And interestingly, Parliament had actually required the 201 00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:24,960 Speaker 1: metropolitan water companies to improve the quality of their intake, 202 00:12:25,040 --> 00:12:28,440 Speaker 1: but not all of them had complied, and of course 203 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:32,040 Speaker 1: sewage is being dumped into the Thames. The sanitation commissioner 204 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:35,200 Speaker 1: named Edwin Chadwick believed in the miasma thing, and he 205 00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:37,480 Speaker 1: thought that if you dumped sewage in the river, you 206 00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:40,240 Speaker 1: were keeping that air away from people. So he thought 207 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:43,000 Speaker 1: what he was doing was actually really good. But of 208 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:46,640 Speaker 1: course he's dumping sewage into water that's then getting turned 209 00:12:46,640 --> 00:12:50,440 Speaker 1: into drinking water. But this dual water company thing kind 210 00:12:50,440 --> 00:12:54,240 Speaker 1: of presents the perfect opportunity for an experiment for Snow 211 00:12:54,800 --> 00:12:58,199 Speaker 1: because the companies were rivals and it had at one 212 00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:02,960 Speaker 1: point competed head to head, so some houses had mains 213 00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:06,120 Speaker 1: from one company, while their next door neighbor had a 214 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:08,400 Speaker 1: maine from the other company. So essentially you had this 215 00:13:08,679 --> 00:13:13,440 Speaker 1: controlled experiment. Everything was the same in this neighborhood except 216 00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:16,760 Speaker 1: for the water where they got their water from. And 217 00:13:16,920 --> 00:13:20,439 Speaker 1: it turned out for people who got the London sourced water, 218 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:25,360 Speaker 1: they had a much higher chance of contracting cholera. And 219 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:29,360 Speaker 1: Snow is overjoyed because he thinks, wow, he's finally proved it. 220 00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:32,079 Speaker 1: The ratio of people who died from one source of 221 00:13:32,120 --> 00:13:34,560 Speaker 1: water versus the other was something ridiculous like seventy five 222 00:13:34,679 --> 00:13:37,520 Speaker 1: to five. I mean, if that's not proof, you know 223 00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:42,080 Speaker 1: what is. And he suggests intervention strategies to control epidemics. 224 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:45,520 Speaker 1: And he's thinks that he's proven that contaminated water is 225 00:13:45,559 --> 00:13:49,280 Speaker 1: what gets people. But it didn't seem to stick. No, 226 00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:55,319 Speaker 1: people are still stuck on the miasma theory and it's 227 00:13:55,559 --> 00:13:58,880 Speaker 1: not sadly, it's not really until the eighteen eighties when 228 00:13:59,160 --> 00:14:04,319 Speaker 1: germ theory is you know, golden people, people go with 229 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:11,480 Speaker 1: that when the causative organism of cholera fibrio cholera is 230 00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:16,079 Speaker 1: actually finally understood. So when John Snow died in eighteen 231 00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:19,000 Speaker 1: fifty eight, people still thought it was my asthma, and 232 00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:22,720 Speaker 1: no one accepted all the things he'd worked out so hard. 233 00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:26,440 Speaker 1: Chadwick was still suggesting ridiculous things. At one point he 234 00:14:26,480 --> 00:14:29,240 Speaker 1: was quoted as saying, all smell is if it be intense, 235 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:33,440 Speaker 1: immediate acute disease. And in the eighteen nineties he suggested 236 00:14:33,480 --> 00:14:36,520 Speaker 1: bringing down fresh air from places like the Eiffel Tower 237 00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:40,800 Speaker 1: and distributing it. You know, we're discussing how that would 238 00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:44,360 Speaker 1: actually be done, Like how how do you catch the 239 00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:49,080 Speaker 1: air and then distribute it? I can't ask Mr Chadwick. 240 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:53,880 Speaker 1: The Great Stink of eighteen fifty eight, which is my 241 00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:57,240 Speaker 1: favorite name of anything that has ever happened ever, is 242 00:14:57,280 --> 00:15:02,400 Speaker 1: what starts to change things. Because this summer was incredibly 243 00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:06,280 Speaker 1: hot and sewage was everywhere in London. The flush toilets 244 00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:08,760 Speaker 1: were overflowing the basement suspits which are going into the 245 00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:11,960 Speaker 1: street drains, and I mean it was so bad. No 246 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:15,160 Speaker 1: one wanted to be in the city. It was so horrible. 247 00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:17,800 Speaker 1: The people in the House of Commons were draping their 248 00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:21,320 Speaker 1: curtains and soaking them in chloride of lime just so 249 00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:24,800 Speaker 1: they wouldn't be smelling the sewage, and so a committee 250 00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:26,760 Speaker 1: was set up to figure out how to fix the stink, 251 00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:29,600 Speaker 1: and this is where the modernization of the sewage system 252 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:34,240 Speaker 1: in London started to happen. So even though sanitation is 253 00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:38,360 Speaker 1: much better in London today, it's still a problem in 254 00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:40,960 Speaker 1: a lot of places in the world, and cholera is 255 00:15:41,080 --> 00:15:45,800 Speaker 1: actually still causing a lot of deaths. Diarrhea is one 256 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:48,000 Speaker 1: of the leading causes of death for kids in the 257 00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:51,000 Speaker 1: developing world, and there's a treatment for it today, oral 258 00:15:51,040 --> 00:15:55,560 Speaker 1: rehydration salts, which you know, basically keep you from dying 259 00:15:55,560 --> 00:15:59,360 Speaker 1: of dehydration in twelve hours twenty four hours, and it's 260 00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:10,120 Speaker 1: it's estimated that it's prevented forty million death since nineteen Hello, 261 00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:12,720 Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I'm Katie Lambert and I'm 262 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:15,160 Speaker 1: Sarah Dowdy, and today we're going to be covering our 263 00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:18,880 Speaker 1: third installment in our Black History series. And the woman 264 00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:21,640 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about today, Mary Sekel, is actually 265 00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:24,880 Speaker 1: someone Katie blogged about recently and we both liked her 266 00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:27,120 Speaker 1: so much that we wanted to look into her life 267 00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:30,200 Speaker 1: even more. I love her even more because she is 268 00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:32,000 Speaker 1: a nurse, as is my mother, and I have a 269 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:34,520 Speaker 1: lot of respect for the professions. So today we'd like 270 00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:38,000 Speaker 1: to introduce you to Mary Sekel. She was born Mary 271 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:41,240 Speaker 1: Anne Grant in Jamaica in eighteen o five, and she 272 00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:43,720 Speaker 1: was born free and of mixed race. She was the 273 00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:46,600 Speaker 1: daughter of a Scottish army officer and a free black 274 00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:50,200 Speaker 1: boarding housekeeper. And she says in her autobiography, I am 275 00:16:50,240 --> 00:16:53,400 Speaker 1: a Creole and have good Scotch blood coursing in my veins. 276 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:56,880 Speaker 1: And she gets a travel bug pretty early on. She 277 00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:00,680 Speaker 1: takes two trips to England when she's young and gets 278 00:17:00,680 --> 00:17:04,080 Speaker 1: her start and what would become her life's calling eventually, 279 00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:07,760 Speaker 1: which is nursing through her mother. Um, she's really knowledgeable 280 00:17:07,760 --> 00:17:11,480 Speaker 1: about herbal medicine. She's actually called a doctress. Yeah. I 281 00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:13,199 Speaker 1: like that term a lot. It's like when I call 282 00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:14,960 Speaker 1: myself an edit trix, because I don't feel like just 283 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:18,359 Speaker 1: being an editor. She did marry, but it's interesting that 284 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:21,880 Speaker 1: he doesn't figure too much into her autobiography or even 285 00:17:21,920 --> 00:17:24,280 Speaker 1: really the story of her life when you're looking at it. 286 00:17:24,359 --> 00:17:27,119 Speaker 1: She does mention that he was delicate and that she 287 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:29,560 Speaker 1: nursed him through illness, and that when she died, she 288 00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:32,680 Speaker 1: didn't leave her room for days, and her mother died 289 00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:35,880 Speaker 1: soon after that. So these were two big personal blows 290 00:17:35,960 --> 00:17:38,240 Speaker 1: in her life. Yeah. Well, and it comes with money 291 00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:42,199 Speaker 1: problems too, because as a widow, she's not bringing in 292 00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:47,000 Speaker 1: as much income, and eventually her Kingston house burns down 293 00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:51,960 Speaker 1: in eighty three, leaving her in even worse financial straits. 294 00:17:52,320 --> 00:17:55,080 Speaker 1: But she resolved to work hard, and she gained this 295 00:17:55,160 --> 00:17:59,159 Speaker 1: reputation as being a very capable nurse. And it's funny, 296 00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:01,639 Speaker 1: she says, and if the hardest struggles of my life 297 00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:04,399 Speaker 1: in Kingston was to resist the pressing candidates for the 298 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:07,720 Speaker 1: late Mr Sekele's shoes, which is just a little aside 299 00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:09,760 Speaker 1: that I love like well, I was very much in demand, 300 00:18:09,960 --> 00:18:12,560 Speaker 1: but however I said no. Well, and we were talking 301 00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:15,520 Speaker 1: about how it's interesting that she doesn't remarry, because it 302 00:18:15,560 --> 00:18:19,280 Speaker 1: would certainly make her financial problems a little easier to 303 00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:21,120 Speaker 1: deal with. But she wouldn't have been able to do 304 00:18:21,359 --> 00:18:24,159 Speaker 1: all these amazing things that she goes onto. When she 305 00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:26,960 Speaker 1: seemed to have a very independent street, she must have 306 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:29,000 Speaker 1: had something in mind. I think a husband would have 307 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:31,880 Speaker 1: been a bit of a hindrance. So in eighteen fifties 308 00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:35,760 Speaker 1: there weren't any formal nursing programs. Mary see Cole learned 309 00:18:35,880 --> 00:18:39,119 Speaker 1: to care for patients during an eighteen fifty cholera epidemic 310 00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:43,000 Speaker 1: in Jamaica which killed thousands and thousands of people, by 311 00:18:43,040 --> 00:18:47,840 Speaker 1: watching and experimenting and gathering evidence on what techniques and 312 00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:51,400 Speaker 1: remedies seemed to work, you know, taking a rigorous scientific 313 00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:54,000 Speaker 1: approach to what she was doing. Yeah, this reminded us 314 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:56,520 Speaker 1: of our episode we did a while ago on John 315 00:18:56,600 --> 00:18:59,239 Speaker 1: Snow and the Ghost Map, which is also cholera. And 316 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:03,720 Speaker 1: also this very scientific approach to medicine, which is so 317 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:07,280 Speaker 1: second nature to how we think of it now, but 318 00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:12,200 Speaker 1: not in the days of No, not at all. So 319 00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:15,280 Speaker 1: she goes off traveling again when she's through with this epidemic, 320 00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:17,199 Speaker 1: which she really loved to do, and she is of 321 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:20,240 Speaker 1: course alone, which you know, horrors for a Victorian woman. 322 00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:23,879 Speaker 1: And she ended up at her brother's hotel in Cruisis, Panama, 323 00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:27,760 Speaker 1: which was a place that many California gold seekers stopped by, 324 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:31,440 Speaker 1: and cholera has broken out there too in eighteen fifty one, 325 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:36,320 Speaker 1: and there aren't many doctors around. Two important takeaways from 326 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:39,520 Speaker 1: her time in Panama. She saves a lot of people, 327 00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:43,280 Speaker 1: and she advances her medical knowledge. She even does an 328 00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:46,520 Speaker 1: autopsy on a little boy who's died of color. She 329 00:19:46,560 --> 00:19:49,560 Speaker 1: wants to know what what the insides look like of 330 00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:52,919 Speaker 1: someone who's been ravaged by cholera, and she says she 331 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:55,720 Speaker 1: learned a lot from that too. She was one of 332 00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:58,639 Speaker 1: the few who believed that cholera was contagious, and she 333 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:02,800 Speaker 1: also thought cleanliness was important, which again, like our ghost up, yeah, 334 00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:05,600 Speaker 1: not so much. So this makes her a little bit 335 00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:09,280 Speaker 1: different from your average nurse who's usually under the direction 336 00:20:09,359 --> 00:20:14,080 Speaker 1: of a doctor. She's got a broader practice. She's diagnosing, 337 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:19,800 Speaker 1: she's um prescribing, you know, herbals or pharmaceutical medicines, and 338 00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:24,400 Speaker 1: um she's even doing light surgery eventually in this postmortem. 339 00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:27,760 Speaker 1: So she's of a different mold than your than your 340 00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:32,000 Speaker 1: average nineteenth century nurse, and she's extremely talented. But she 341 00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:35,480 Speaker 1: didn't enjoy her acquaintance with Americans in Panama, and she 342 00:20:35,560 --> 00:20:38,040 Speaker 1: returned to Jamaica just in time to fight a big 343 00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:41,600 Speaker 1: outbreak of halo fever. But when the Crimean War broke out, 344 00:20:42,119 --> 00:20:44,520 Speaker 1: she was convinced that she found her real calling. She 345 00:20:44,560 --> 00:20:46,760 Speaker 1: wanted to go to the front lines and take care 346 00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:49,239 Speaker 1: of the men. So we're going to take you on 347 00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:52,080 Speaker 1: a little detour to understand a bit more about the 348 00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:55,919 Speaker 1: Crimean War. Well, the Crimean War ultimately breaks down to 349 00:20:56,280 --> 00:21:00,560 Speaker 1: a lot of European powers against Russia, but specifically it's 350 00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:03,960 Speaker 1: a war fought on the Crimean Peninsula between the Russians 351 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:07,600 Speaker 1: and the British, French, and Ottoman Turkish later with the 352 00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:11,200 Speaker 1: support of Sardinia Piedmont. So we've got all of these 353 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:15,479 Speaker 1: European powers U Niny together and to understand why that happens, 354 00:21:15,480 --> 00:21:17,840 Speaker 1: we have to go back even further further away from 355 00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:21,639 Speaker 1: Mary Siegel. Sorry, but we've had the Napoleonic Wars at 356 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:25,200 Speaker 1: the beginning of the nineteenth century, and the great powers 357 00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:29,880 Speaker 1: have gotten together and weren't to rebalance the European states, 358 00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:35,159 Speaker 1: and they want peace and monarchies, no revolutions please, no republics, 359 00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:40,080 Speaker 1: and so Russia, yeah, just be cool. Everyone, Russia, Prussia, Austria, 360 00:21:40,160 --> 00:21:43,640 Speaker 1: Britain and France all want different things. But they managed 361 00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:45,800 Speaker 1: to come together and work out the Treaty of Vienna 362 00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:49,880 Speaker 1: after the Napoleonic Wars, and they established a kind of 363 00:21:50,560 --> 00:21:54,240 Speaker 1: shaky but still impressive peace peace for the most part 364 00:21:54,520 --> 00:22:00,520 Speaker 1: for thirty years um until the Vienna system breaks down. 365 00:22:00,880 --> 00:22:04,400 Speaker 1: So this initial problem is that the Ottoman Turkish Empire, 366 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:08,720 Speaker 1: which you know, is this vast ancient deely old, it's weakening, 367 00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:13,159 Speaker 1: and the other European countries are starting to butt in 368 00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:18,080 Speaker 1: to support the various Christian populations. Yeah, we have issues 369 00:22:18,119 --> 00:22:20,560 Speaker 1: going on between France and Russia that we're not going 370 00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:23,480 Speaker 1: to get into too much. But our main point here 371 00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:28,119 Speaker 1: is that Czar Nicholas the First is seeing an opportunity 372 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:31,280 Speaker 1: to cash in on this breakdown of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, 373 00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:36,000 Speaker 1: and he wants to exercise protection over the Orthodox subjects 374 00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:39,280 Speaker 1: of the Ottoman Empire. So this is the Christian populations 375 00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:43,480 Speaker 1: we're mentioning, and um, he thinks that he'll settle the 376 00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:46,399 Speaker 1: sick man of Europe as he calls the Empire the 377 00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:49,560 Speaker 1: aging Empire um, and carve it up. And he thinks 378 00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:53,120 Speaker 1: that Prussia, Austria and Britain will be into this, they'll 379 00:22:53,119 --> 00:22:56,520 Speaker 1: stand behind him because they might stand to benefit too. 380 00:22:56,640 --> 00:23:01,159 Speaker 1: But surprise, Yeah, Britain and Austria are not interested in 381 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:07,000 Speaker 1: Russia controlling this huge contentious area, this area that links 382 00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:11,400 Speaker 1: Europe to Asia. So it's important. And the Turks resist 383 00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:13,679 Speaker 1: the Czar. They put up quite a fight, which I 384 00:23:13,680 --> 00:23:16,840 Speaker 1: don't think Russia was entirely expecting and I supported by 385 00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:20,639 Speaker 1: not only Britain in Austria, but also France. So the 386 00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:23,520 Speaker 1: Turks put up a fight and the Brits and French 387 00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:26,760 Speaker 1: get involved in not just a diplomatic way. They're they're 388 00:23:26,760 --> 00:23:29,160 Speaker 1: still thinking that maybe we can all talk this out, 389 00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:32,160 Speaker 1: but that's not going to happen. They get involved after 390 00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:36,760 Speaker 1: the Russian Black Sea Fleet destroys a Turkish squadron and 391 00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:40,160 Speaker 1: the British and French fleets are entering the Black Sea 392 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:43,640 Speaker 1: to protect Turkish transports. And this is the important part 393 00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:46,439 Speaker 1: we were talking about earlier. You don't mess with Britain 394 00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:49,960 Speaker 1: or Frances trading operation. They will fight back, and they 395 00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:52,960 Speaker 1: will fight a little bit dirty. So by September eighteen 396 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:56,560 Speaker 1: fifty four, we have all out war as the Allies 397 00:23:56,680 --> 00:23:59,920 Speaker 1: land troops in the Russian Crimea, which is the north 398 00:24:00,359 --> 00:24:03,680 Speaker 1: shore of the Black Sea, and they start a year 399 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:08,160 Speaker 1: long siege on the Russian fortress of Sebastopol. And that's 400 00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:10,679 Speaker 1: where our focus and mary sequel is going to be. 401 00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:14,000 Speaker 1: So over the next year we have some big battles, 402 00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:18,240 Speaker 1: particularly at Alma River, Bala, Clava and Inkerman, and there's 403 00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:21,119 Speaker 1: a desperate need for medical help, not because there are 404 00:24:21,119 --> 00:24:23,760 Speaker 1: a lot of casualties, because on that front we're actually 405 00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:27,440 Speaker 1: doing all right, but because of infection and poor hygiene. 406 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:30,480 Speaker 1: And that brings us back to Mary Sequel, who again 407 00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:33,400 Speaker 1: really wants to go to the front, but she's met 408 00:24:33,440 --> 00:24:37,919 Speaker 1: with an obstacle. Despite the fact that nurses are desperately needed. 409 00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:41,359 Speaker 1: She's turned down by every single war office she applied to, 410 00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:45,240 Speaker 1: including the one that Florence Nightingale headed up. And it 411 00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:47,719 Speaker 1: was because of her race. Apparently that happened with a 412 00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:50,680 Speaker 1: lot of black female nurses who wanted to go find 413 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:53,320 Speaker 1: at the war. They were turned down everywhere they went. 414 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:57,399 Speaker 1: But if you think that stopped her, it did not. Yeah, 415 00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:00,520 Speaker 1: she makes her own way to Bala Clava on her 416 00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:03,520 Speaker 1: own dime and sets up a British hotel which was 417 00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:06,840 Speaker 1: kind of half boarding house, half sick bay. She went 418 00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:09,879 Speaker 1: into partnership with Thomas Day, who was a sort of 419 00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:13,600 Speaker 1: distant connection to her late husband, and stocked up on 420 00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:17,440 Speaker 1: food and medicine and all sorts of supplies and left 421 00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:22,760 Speaker 1: for Turkey as a sutler, which is um somebody who 422 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:26,800 Speaker 1: provides supplies to troops on the front line, and she 423 00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:29,320 Speaker 1: worked with a lot of men who didn't want to 424 00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:31,960 Speaker 1: go to the hospitals. But eventually she got a pass 425 00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:34,960 Speaker 1: allowing her to be the first woman to enter Sevestopol, 426 00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:38,880 Speaker 1: and the soldiers started calling her the Black Nightingale. Later 427 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:41,840 Speaker 1: she moved onto the battlefields themselves, and she was known 428 00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:45,560 Speaker 1: for wearing really really bright clothing, lots of yellows and reds, 429 00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:49,280 Speaker 1: red ribbons on her cap. It was apparently a very 430 00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:52,480 Speaker 1: welcome sight to the men, who started calling her mother's 431 00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:56,160 Speaker 1: sea coal. And she really thrived there. This is exactly 432 00:25:56,160 --> 00:25:57,800 Speaker 1: where she wanted to be, right in the middle of 433 00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:00,400 Speaker 1: the action, doing what she loved to do best. Well 434 00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:04,399 Speaker 1: in all her experience with hygiene and treating these tropical 435 00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:08,479 Speaker 1: diseases prepared her for dealing with the infections and the 436 00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:20,640 Speaker 1: horrible hygiene of the Crimean War. But the war ended suddenly, 437 00:26:20,920 --> 00:26:24,320 Speaker 1: So we know what's been going on with Mary. Let's 438 00:26:24,359 --> 00:26:28,080 Speaker 1: switch back to the rest of Europe. So by September eleven, 439 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:32,240 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty five, are year long siege of Sebastopol. The 440 00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:35,000 Speaker 1: Russian fortress is coming to an end and the Russians 441 00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:37,360 Speaker 1: are forced to evacuate it, and they blow up their 442 00:26:37,359 --> 00:26:40,480 Speaker 1: forts and sink their ships and the war sort of 443 00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:43,440 Speaker 1: straggles on a bit and the Caucuses in the Baltic Sea, 444 00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:48,719 Speaker 1: but Russia finally accepts preliminary peace terms in eighteen fifty 445 00:26:48,760 --> 00:26:52,000 Speaker 1: six and later signed the Treaty of Paris. There are 446 00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:55,080 Speaker 1: some important takeaways from the Crimean War. When we got 447 00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:57,760 Speaker 1: was from the BBC, which said in military terms that 448 00:26:57,800 --> 00:27:00,399 Speaker 1: this war was a midway point between water Loo and 449 00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:02,960 Speaker 1: World War One. Yeah, and that's because you've got the 450 00:27:03,119 --> 00:27:07,280 Speaker 1: Napoleonic strategies, which on a side note here, this war 451 00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:10,480 Speaker 1: was terribly managed on all sides. That's why there's so 452 00:27:10,600 --> 00:27:13,879 Speaker 1: much disease and so much need for nurses like Mary 453 00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:18,160 Speaker 1: or Florence Nightingale. But when when you have these sort 454 00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:22,879 Speaker 1: of antiquated military strategies, you also have modern weaponry, armored warships, 455 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:28,520 Speaker 1: rifles at least for the British, um, intercontinental electric telegraphs 456 00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:32,720 Speaker 1: and submarine minds, and war photography and even um even 457 00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:38,160 Speaker 1: war journalism, which is something that you've just it goes 458 00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:41,480 Speaker 1: without saying. Now, yeah, this was the first real media war. 459 00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:44,240 Speaker 1: There was a Times correspondent, William Howard Russell, who was 460 00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:47,600 Speaker 1: sending firsthand dispatches from the front line. That's a pretty 461 00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:49,680 Speaker 1: big deal. We might talk about him in another podcast. 462 00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:54,840 Speaker 1: But of course the Crimean War doesn't sort out Europe's problems. 463 00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:58,040 Speaker 1: Russia does realize that it better get its act together 464 00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:01,520 Speaker 1: if it's gonna compete on this ame level as the 465 00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:06,080 Speaker 1: rest of Europe, and also Austria loses Russia's support because 466 00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:14,120 Speaker 1: they haven't behaved neutral or they haven't behaved with complete 467 00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:17,640 Speaker 1: neutrality during this war, not at all. Um So they've 468 00:28:17,680 --> 00:28:20,680 Speaker 1: become dependent on Britain and France, which don't end up 469 00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:23,800 Speaker 1: supporting them through the rest of the century. And consequently 470 00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:27,560 Speaker 1: we have Italy and Austria left prime for nation building 471 00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:32,399 Speaker 1: and ready for unification. So this is the collapse of 472 00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:35,560 Speaker 1: the Vienna Settlement and of thirty years of relative peace, 473 00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:38,719 Speaker 1: and we end up with this new six power system, 474 00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:42,200 Speaker 1: but that, of course is also terribly unstable, and Europe 475 00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:45,480 Speaker 1: re enters war in nineteen fourteen, ninety nine years after 476 00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:48,120 Speaker 1: the vin S Settlement. Perhaps you've heard of that war, 477 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:52,680 Speaker 1: but another takeaway from the Crimean War is the deaths. 478 00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:55,320 Speaker 1: We've got twenty five thousand for the British, one hundred 479 00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:57,800 Speaker 1: thousand for the French, and up to a million for 480 00:28:57,840 --> 00:29:00,520 Speaker 1: the Russians. And a lot of this was because of 481 00:29:00,560 --> 00:29:05,400 Speaker 1: disease and neglect, not outright battle casualties. No, so what 482 00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:08,840 Speaker 1: people like Mary see Cole we're doing was really important. 483 00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:12,760 Speaker 1: And after the war, Mary herself came into a lot 484 00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:15,880 Speaker 1: of financial difficulty. She lost money from her war efforts, 485 00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:17,400 Speaker 1: since she did a lot of this on her own, 486 00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:19,880 Speaker 1: and since part of what she was doing was buying 487 00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:23,760 Speaker 1: supplies and selling them to people. Once the war suddenly ended, 488 00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:25,640 Speaker 1: she was left with all the supplies and no one 489 00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:29,280 Speaker 1: to sell them too. She's not totally unappreciated by the 490 00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:32,600 Speaker 1: Brits though, and um, some people, especially those who have 491 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:36,240 Speaker 1: seen the service that she provided during the war, want 492 00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:39,200 Speaker 1: to help her get out of her financial straits. Um, 493 00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:41,400 Speaker 1: the Brits try to help her raise money to get 494 00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:45,320 Speaker 1: out of debt. It doesn't go as well as hoped. 495 00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:48,080 Speaker 1: You know, a lot of those fundraising efforts, you know, 496 00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:50,040 Speaker 1: you throw the charity ball and then it turns out 497 00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:52,480 Speaker 1: you spent so much money trying to set up the 498 00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:55,200 Speaker 1: boa that happened before. There's not a lot of money 499 00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:58,200 Speaker 1: left over to actually give to Mary see Cole. But 500 00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:01,520 Speaker 1: the publication of her autobio graphy in eighteen fifty seven 501 00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:03,640 Speaker 1: really helped and Sarah and I think this is the 502 00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:07,800 Speaker 1: most fantastic title for an autobiography, The Wonderful Adventures of 503 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:10,960 Speaker 1: Mrs s Cole in Many Lands. And part of the 504 00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:14,560 Speaker 1: reason her book is so notable is because it wasn't 505 00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:17,720 Speaker 1: a slave narrative. It was the story of a free 506 00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:23,120 Speaker 1: woman of color who was doing interesting, courageous work in wartime, 507 00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:26,800 Speaker 1: which you know, was considered a man's sphere, and she 508 00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:29,120 Speaker 1: was doing it on her own because she was also 509 00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:33,400 Speaker 1: a widow. Yeah, as we were talking about earlier, she's 510 00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:37,640 Speaker 1: chosen to have this um single life when she easily 511 00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:40,360 Speaker 1: could have remarried, So that makes it different from some 512 00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:44,200 Speaker 1: of the earlier nineteenth century narratives we have from women. 513 00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:48,680 Speaker 1: The fundraising eventually sways a little more in her favor too. 514 00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:51,320 Speaker 1: By the late eighteen sixties, some of the royals in 515 00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:55,840 Speaker 1: London have gotten involved in um raising money and publicity 516 00:30:55,880 --> 00:31:00,320 Speaker 1: to celebrate Mary Siegel. She died in eighteen eighty one, 517 00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:03,680 Speaker 1: and while she was honored during her lifetime, her name 518 00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:06,880 Speaker 1: dropped out of public consciousness after her death. Now when 519 00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:09,760 Speaker 1: you're reading things about her, it's pretty much always a 520 00:31:09,800 --> 00:31:14,000 Speaker 1: reference to the Black Florence Nightingale, which is a it's 521 00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:16,720 Speaker 1: kind of a shame. Well, and it wasn't even a 522 00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:21,040 Speaker 1: competition between the two of them. They did completely different things. 523 00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:23,719 Speaker 1: Like you were saying earlier, Florence Nightingale did a lot 524 00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:26,560 Speaker 1: more with bureaucracy. Well, I was reading a piece by 525 00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:31,120 Speaker 1: Helen J. Seaton, and yeah, she was raising the point 526 00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:34,320 Speaker 1: that it doesn't need to be a competition between them, 527 00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:37,360 Speaker 1: and people will try to, I guess, defend Mary Secal 528 00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:39,480 Speaker 1: by saying, oh, she does so much more hands on 529 00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:43,400 Speaker 1: stuff than Florence Nightingale. But yeah, there there is no 530 00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:46,760 Speaker 1: reason why there shouldn't be room for two, at least 531 00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:50,120 Speaker 1: two amazing nurses during the Crimean War. We always have 532 00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:53,400 Speaker 1: to pit the women against each other. Let's stop doing that. 533 00:31:53,440 --> 00:31:57,920 Speaker 1: They're completely different. Although supposedly Florence Nightingale wasn't entirely too 534 00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:02,080 Speaker 1: fond of Mary Secl's work, but that's a story for 535 00:32:02,200 --> 00:32:06,920 Speaker 1: another day. So after Mary's short lived Victorian celebrity, which 536 00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:10,040 Speaker 1: extends a little bit beyond her death, she really slips 537 00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:14,680 Speaker 1: into obscurity and doesn't have a major effort to restore 538 00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:18,040 Speaker 1: her place in history until nineteen fifty four, which is 539 00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:22,520 Speaker 1: the centenary of the Crimean War. UM, the Jamaican General 540 00:32:22,560 --> 00:32:26,920 Speaker 1: Trained Nurses Association decided to name their Kingston headquarters Mary's 541 00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:30,880 Speaker 1: Seckel House, and British recognition didn't come until in nineteen 542 00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:34,240 Speaker 1: seventy three, but just a bit late, abit late. Yeah, 543 00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:37,160 Speaker 1: But since then we've had kind of a movement to 544 00:32:38,280 --> 00:32:48,080 Speaker 1: um revitalized Mary Siegel's image. Thank you so much for 545 00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:51,360 Speaker 1: joining us on this Saturday. If you have heard an 546 00:32:51,360 --> 00:32:53,560 Speaker 1: email address or a Facebook you are l or something 547 00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:56,440 Speaker 1: similar over the course of today's episode, since it is 548 00:32:56,520 --> 00:32:58,600 Speaker 1: from the archive that might be out of date now, 549 00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:02,200 Speaker 1: you can email us at History podcast at how stuff 550 00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:04,160 Speaker 1: Works dot com, and you can find us all over 551 00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:07,680 Speaker 1: social media at missed in History. And you can subscribe 552 00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:10,840 Speaker 1: to our show on Apple podcasts, Google podcast, the I 553 00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:14,040 Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. 554 00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:20,840 Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit 555 00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:27,160 Speaker 1: how stuff Works dot com.