"This is an incredible woman who is a role model to us all," said Baroness Benjamin at the time. "Because we all have to face adversity, we all have to face obstacles but when you're determined, when you know you can break down those barriers and that's what she showed."

A painting of her hangs in the National Portrait Gallery after a local antiques dealer accidentally found it behind a framed print at the boot sale in Burford, Oxfordshire.

She is said have been awarded several medals for bravery.

What the critics say about Mary Seacole

There are those who say Seacole's achievements have been overstated.

Sociology professor Lynn McDonald wrote in the Times Literary Supplement: "During the Crimean War, probably her greatest kindness was to serve hot tea and lemonade to cold, suffering soldiers awaiting transport to hospital on the wharf at Balaclava.

"She deserves much credit for rising to the occasion, but her tea and lemonade did not save lives, pioneer nursing or advance health care."