Mary Stanley (1813–1879) philanthropist and nurse, is best known for her dispute in the

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

with her friend

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during th ...

Personal life

She was born in

Alderley, Cheshire Alderley was one of the eight ancient parishes of the Macclesfield Hundred of Cheshire, England. It included the following townships: * Over Alderley * Nether Alderley * Great Warford Under the Poor Law Amendment Act 1886, these townships became ...

, the second of five children to Edward Stanley, later to be the

Bishop of Norwich The Bishop of Norwich is the Ordinary (Catholic Church), ordinary of the Church of England Anglican Diocese of Norwich, Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers most of the county of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. Th ...

, and sister of

Arthur Penrhyn Stanley Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, (13 December 1815 – 18 July 1881) known as Dean Stanley, was an English Anglican priest and ecclesiastical historian. He was Dean of Westminster from 1864 to 1881. His position was that of a Broad Churchman and he wa ...

, Dean of Westminster and

Owen Stanley Captain Owen Stanley FRS RN (13 June 1811 – 13 March 1850) was a British Royal Navy officer and surveyor. Life Stanley was born in Alderley, Cheshire, the son of Edward Stanley, rector of Alderley and later Bishop of Norwich. A brother wa ...

, the naval explorer. She was also a close friend of Sidney Herbert, and his wife. She was an ardent Puseyite. She converted to Catholicism in 1856.

Nursing

Mary Stanley was one of the women who answered the appeal which went out for nurses for the Crimea. She shared Florence Nightingale's interest in nursing, the two having become friends in 1847, and like Florence Nightingale, was an advocate of the

Kaiserswerth Kaiserswerth is one of the oldest quarters of the City of Düsseldorf, part of Borough 5. It is in the north of the city and next to the river Rhine. It houses the where Florence Nightingale worked. Kaiserswerth has an area of , and 7,923 in ...

plan for a time. However, while Nightingale was initially an admirer of the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute for women in the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. In 2019, the institute had about 6,200 Religious sister, sisters worldwide, organized into a number ...

and later became an admirer of Kaiserswerth, Stanley went the other way and this led to her conversion. Mary Stanley helped the government recruit the first group of nurses to go to

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

which included a group of nuns from the Irish Sisters of Mercy. She and Nightingale were assisted in their nursing endeavours by Cardinal Manning. With his aid Stanley led a second party of predominately Catholic nurses to the Crimea. The rift between her and Nightingale began when she arrived. Despite the reviews given by Nightingale of these nurses some went on to have stellar careers in nursing and the primary objection was probably due to the argument about who was in charge and a degree of mistrust of Catholics at the time.

Published works

Stanley wrote a book outlining the issues with getting trained women for the role of nurses in British hospitals; 'Hospitals and Sisterhoods' published in 1854. Her second book 'True to Life: A Simple Story' was published in 1873.

Later life

On her return from the Crimea she continued with her philanthropic work, establishing savings clubs, an industrial laundry and creating employment for soldiers' wives in the production of army uniforms. In 1861, during the "cotton famine" in Lancashire caused by the American Civil War, she assisted

Elizabeth Gaskell Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (''née'' Stevenson; 29 September 1810 – 12 November 1865), often referred to as Mrs Gaskell, was an English novelist, biographer, and short story writer. Her novels offer detailed studies of Victorian era, Victoria ...

to distribute aid to the unemployed cotton workers.. In 1870 she became a founding member of the Ladies' Committee of the

British Red Cross The British Red Cross Society () is the United Kingdom body of the worldwide neutral and impartial humanitarian network the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The society was formed in 1870, and is a registered charity with 1 ...

. She died in 1879 at the age of 66. She is buried in Alderley, Cheshire.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanley, Mary 1813 births 1879 deaths People from Alderley Edge English nurses

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

English Roman Catholics