Podcast: The untold story of women in the Crimean War (UK)

Florence Nightingale was not the only woman in the Crimea - a misnomer in itself as she spent most of the war at the British hospital at Scutari, 300 miles away from the Crimea. Here, Helen Rappaport sheds new light on the many unsung women who followed the British army on campaign - the last time they were allowed to do so. This was the first war in which women were officially organised as nurses, and Helen describes the work of some of the heroic nurses on Nightingale's staff, and their French and Russian counterparts. Then there are the extraordinary exploits of the maverick Jamaican nurse Mary Seacole who came back a national heroine, and officers' wives such as Fanny Duberly, French cantinières, and lady tourists who went to the Crimea to see things for themselves. Helen Rappaport studied Russian at Leeds University before turning her hand to writing. Helen has written a number of historical books and biographies, including No Place for Ladies: the Untold Story of Women in the Crimean War (2007), Ekaterinburg: The Last Days of the Romanovs (2008) and Conspirator: Lenin in Exile (2009). Her latest venture is the Victorian true-crime story Beautiful for Ever: Madame Rachel of Bond Street - Cosmetician, Con-Artist and Blackmailer