Mary Seacole was voted greatest black Briton in 2004

Jamaican-born Seacole made her own way out to the Crimea when she was barred because of her colour.

The unveiling ceremony was held in George Street, Marylebone, central London, where she spent many of her last years before her death in 1888.

The green plaque, which celebrates the achievements of former Westminster residents, was unveiled on Tuesday.

Among those due to attend the ceremony, was actress Nina Grant wearing the costume in which she portrayed Seacole in a Channel Four documentary.

Born Mary Jane Grant in 1805 to a Scottish father and a Jamaican mother, she learned her nursing skills from her mother who kept a boarding house for wounded soldiers.

In 1836, she married Edwin Seacole but was widowed just eight years later.

Herbal-based medicine

Her love of travel took her to Haiti, Cuba and the Bahamas where she complemented her knowledge of traditional herbal-based medicine with European medical ideas.

She later travelled to England and, on learning of the Crimean War, asked the War Office for work as an army nurse but was rejected because of her colour.

Undaunted, she funded her own trip there and set up the British Hotel near Balaclava to provide quarters for sick and convalescing officers.

On the battlefront, she nursed wounded soldiers and became known as Mother Seacole.

She returned to England, destitute and in poor health after the war, but commanders in the Crimea raised money for her.

She was later awarded the British Crimean medal, the Turkish Medjidie and the French Legion of Honour. She died in 1888.

Last year, she beat the likes of Dame Shirley Bassey and Sir Trevor McDonald to be voted Greatest Black Briton in an online poll.