A LAW firm in Hampshire is supporting a historic mission to raise a statue of a pioneering nurse.

Moore Blatch Solicitors is backing an appeal to commemorate Mary Seacole, who set up a hotel to care for soldiers during the Crimean War.

Trevor Sterling is a partner at the firm, which has offices in Southampton, Lymington and Whiteley.

He is an ambassador for the appeal to raise awareness of Mary’s work and create the UK’s first ever statue of a named black woman.

Mary was a mixed race woman who applied at the age of 49 to help as a healthcare professional alongside Florence Nightingale in 1854.

Daily Echo: Mary Seacole

Despite references from senior medics in Jamaica and Panama, her help was refused and Mary responded by raising enough money to pay for her own passage and set up a hotel close to the war zone.

The hotel provided soldiers with food and nursing care and Mary also rode out to the front line with medicine to treat the wounded. She became well known by the soldiers, who called her Mother Seacole.

Now the appeal has had a breakthrough after raising more than £80,000 and the 10ft statue will be unveiled at St Thomas’s Hospital in London later this year.

Trevor has had the chance to look at an |original letter sent by Mary to the war minister and, having worked as a personal injury lawyer in health and social care teams across the south, he believes the statue would be an inspiration to hundreds, showing how important the nursing profession is.

He said: “Mary is an incredibly inspirational person, who was unswerving in her pursuit to provide care.

“We at Moore Blatch believe it is important to recognise her work today, as she epitomises the caring spirit of healthcare professionals and will also serve to be a valuable role model to many others entering the healthcare profession.”