![Targa commemorativa a Jessie White-Mario, Lendinara](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Targa_commemorativa_a_Jessie_White-Mario%2C_Lendinara.jpg)
Jessie White Mario (9 May 1832 in
Hampshire, England
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire is ...
– 5 March 1906 in
Florence, Italy) was an English (and naturalized Italian) writer and philanthropist. She is sometimes referred to as "Hurricane Jessie" in the Italian press.
She was a nurse to
General Giuseppe Garibaldi's soldiers in four wars; she researched living conditions in subterranean
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
and working conditions in Sicily's sulphur mines. She wrote copiously (in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
and
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
) as both a journalist and a biographer.
Her most famous biography was about Giuseppe Garibaldi.
Biography
Youth and education
Born Jessie Jane Meriton White, she was the daughter of Thomas White and Jane Teage Meriton of
Gosport,
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. Thomas was part of the White family of
Cowes,
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...
, boat builders for generations, but he moved to the mainland and switched from building boats to building docks and warehouses. His was a religiously strict,
non-conformist, household.
It was also an educationally non-conformist household. Unlike almost all middle-class girls growing up in Victorian England, Jessie received an excellent education culminating in studying philosophy with
Hugues Felicité Robert de Lamennais Hugues may refer to
People:
* Hugues de Payens (c. 1070–1136), French soldier
* Hugues I de Lusignan (1194/95 –1218), French-descended ruler a.k.a. Hugh I of Cyprus
* Hugues IV de Berzé (1150s–1220), French soldier
* Hugues II de Lusignan ...
at the
Sorbonne
Sorbonne may refer to:
* Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities.
*the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970)
*one of its components or linked institution, ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
between 1852 and 1854.
Also in Paris during those years was Mrs. Emma Roberts who considered herself engaged to Giuseppe Garibaldi. Jessie and Mrs. Roberts became friends and when Mrs. Roberts went to visit Garibaldi first in Nice and then Sardinia, she took Jessie as her companion.
Italian unification
Jessie, like many in Britain, had heard for some time about the atrocities of the Austrian, French and Bourbon dictatorships in various parts of the Italian peninsula. Garibaldi fired her imagination and she dedicated herself to the
Unification of Italy
The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...
.
Upon her return to
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
in the spring of 1855, Jessie applied to medical schools with the hope of becoming a doctor – some (Edwin Pratt in ''Pioneer Women in Victoria’s Reign'', for one) have said she was the first woman in England to do so. All her applications were rejected because of her gender.
![Abitazione con targa a Jessie White-Mario](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Abitazione_con_targa_a_Jessie_White-Mario.jpg)
She became a propagandist for the Italian cause working with
Giuseppe Mazzini
Giuseppe Mazzini (, , ; 22 June 1805 – 10 March 1872) was an Italian politician, journalist, and activist for the unification of Italy (Risorgimento) and spearhead of the Italian revolutionary movement. His efforts helped bring about the in ...
, then in exile in London, who noted approvingly that "she is very absolute in her opinions". She wrote newspaper articles explaining the issues in Italy, gave lectures and raised funds for the Italian cause in northern England and
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
.
When, in 1857, Mazzini went to
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...
, Jessie followed him. Her arrival was announced in the ''Italia del Popolo'' newspaper, which had been publishing accounts of her speaking tours. She was treated as a celebrity, toured the area and successfully deflected attention away from Mazzini, who was working on a clandestine expedition to break patriots out of a Bourbon prison near Naples. The operation failed badly, Mazzini escaped the police round-up and returned to London. Jessie was captured and sent to prison in Genoa for four months, where she met the man who would become her husband,
Alberto Mario. They married in December 1857 at her family's home in England.
Jessie continued her speaking tours in England and Scotland, to much acclaim. In the Fall of 1858 Jessie and Alberto went to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
to continue lecturing and fund-raising; she to English speaking audiences and he to Italian speakers.
Spring 1860 found them in Lugano,
Switzerland, from where they rushed to
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...
to be part of the second wave of volunteers going to Sicily to join Garibaldi in his lightning-fast conquest of the Bourbon-controlled southern half of Italy. Alberto was on Garibaldi's staff and Jessie was nurse to the wounded, doing whatever was needed. This included tightly holding a boy while his arm was amputated without anaesthesia. Skills learned and refined during this war were used again in 1866 in the war against the Austrians west of
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
; in 1867 at Monterotondo and Mentana, north of
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
; and in the 1870-71
Franco-Prussian War when Garibaldi led an army against the Germans in eastern
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
.
As the unification of the Italian peninsula became complete, in 1870, with the addition of Rome which quickly became the capital, attention shifted to the problems of this new country. Social issues were not high on the agenda; in fact, most social problems were not even recognised by the new government.
Social concerns
Starting in the early 1870s Jessie devoted herself to philanthropic work among the urban poor of South Italy,
[J Davis, 'Garibaldi and England' ''History Today'' 32 (Dec 1982) p. 24] working particularly on three research projects aimed at raising governmental awareness and encouraging subsequent action.
The first was to research the causes, effects and possible solution to the problem of
pellagra
Pellagra is a disease caused by a lack of the vitamin niacin (vitamin B3). Symptoms include inflamed skin, diarrhea, dementia, and sores in the mouth. Areas of the skin exposed to either sunlight or friction are typically affected first. Over t ...
. This disease, of the three D's —
dermatitis
Dermatitis is inflammation of the skin, typically characterized by itchiness, redness and a rash. In cases of short duration, there may be small blisters, while in long-term cases the skin may become thickened. The area of skin involved can ...
,
diarrhoea
Diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements each day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration due to fluid loss. Signs of dehydration often begin wi ...
and
dementia
Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...
— is caused by lack of protein-rich foods in the diet and a subsequent lack of
vitamin B3. Jessie's research into pellagra lasted for ten years, and her findings showed that even such simple, readily available diet supplements as two glasses of red wine per week reduced the effects of the illness.
![Via romana, targa jessie white-mario 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Via_romana%2C_targa_jessie_white-mario_2.JPG)
The second was research into the living conditions of the poor in
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
, which was viewed by the government as a very prosperous city. Jessie found large numbers of people living in grottos, under Naples' streets – huge communal spaces with no sanitation, where only crude curtains separated one family's area from the others, all unseen and ignored by Neapolitan citizens in the streets above, except for the grotto landlords who collected exorbitant rents. Her report, ''La miseria in Napoli'' ("The Poor of Naples"), was published in 1877, and is cited in timelines of important events in southern Italy. (see ''The New History of the Italian South'', edited by Robert Lumley and Jonathan Morris, 1997)
The third was research into working conditions in the Sicilian sulphur mines. There was a concern about child labour and the general health of the miners: many of whom were physically unfit for military service. Jessie made extensive personal tours and investigations of the mines, both above and below ground, and published her report, ''Le miniere di Zolfo in Sicilia'' (''The Sulphur Mines in Sicily'') in 1894.
Writings
Jessie made her living writing. Jessie's career as a journalist had started in England writing for British newspapers (
Litta Visconti Arese in his introduction to ''The Birth of Modern Italy'', says Jessie was the first woman journalist in England.) She also wrote for newspapers in the United States and Italian press. Starting in 1866 the first of what would be 143 articles over 40 years appeared in ''The Nation'' published weekly in New York. She was also a frequent contributor to ''Nuova Antologia'' a semi-monthly magazine published in Florence. (Rossella Certini
ee belowhas written that Jessie was the first journalist in Italy to explore the 'cracks' in the Italian reality.)
Writing was also a way of expressing her passion for Italy and its people. She wanted to make sure that some of the lesser known heroes of the
Risorgimento
The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...
were not forgotten. She wrote biographies of
Giuseppe Garibaldi and
Giuseppe Mazzini
Giuseppe Mazzini (, , ; 22 June 1805 – 10 March 1872) was an Italian politician, journalist, and activist for the unification of Italy (Risorgimento) and spearhead of the Italian revolutionary movement. His efforts helped bring about the in ...
, to be sure; but also biographies of Dr. Agostino Bertani,
Carlo Cattaneo (with Alberto Mario), Giuseppe Dolfo, Alberto Mario (with
Giosuè Carducci
Giosuè Alessandro Giuseppe Carducci (; 27 July 1835 – 16 February 1907) was an Italian poet, writer, literary critic and teacher. He was very noticeably influential, and was regarded as the official national poet of modern Italy. In 1906, h ...
),
Giovanni Nicotera
Giovanni Nicotera (9 September 1828 – 13 June 1894) was an Italian patriot and politician. His surname is pronounced , with the stress on the second syllable.
Biography
Nicotera was born at Sambiase, in Calabria, in the Kingdom of the Two ...
. She was gathering material for several more at the time of her death.
Jessie also wrote a couple of histories: ''I Garibaldini in Francia'' about the Franco-Prussian War; and ''The Birth of Modern Italy'', which was published posthumously.
She died on 5 March 1906 in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
. A non-religious ceremony was held at her apartment followed by a procession through the streets of Florence. Her ashes are buried in the cemetery at
Lendinara
Lendinara is a ''comune'' in the province of Rovigo, Veneto, northern Italy. It is part of the historical and geographical region of Polesine.
It is the birthplace of Domenico Montagnana (1680–1750), one of the world's finest violin and ce ...
, south of
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
, next to Alberto's.
Giosuè Carducci
Giosuè Alessandro Giuseppe Carducci (; 27 July 1835 – 16 February 1907) was an Italian poet, writer, literary critic and teacher. He was very noticeably influential, and was regarded as the official national poet of modern Italy. In 1906, h ...
, the 1906 Nobel Laureate for Literature, said: Jessie White Mario 'is a great woman to whom we Italians owe a lot.'
See also
*
Sir James Stansfeld
*
Giuseppe Garibaldi
*
Italian Risorgimento
The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...
Notes
Sources
* Certini, Rossella. ''Jessie White Mario una giornalista educatrice: tra liberalism inglese e democrazia italiana''. Florence: Casa Editrice Le Lettere, 1998.
* Daniels, Elizabeth Adams. ''Jessie White Mario Risorgimento Revolutionary''.
Athens, Ohio University Press, 1972
External links
Biography of Garibaldi written by Jessie White (Italian)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mario, Jessie White
Italian nurses
British women journalists
1832 births
1906 deaths
Female wartime nurses
Italian social workers
Women in European warfare
Women in 19th-century warfare
People of the Italian unification
19th-century Neapolitan people
Kingdom of Italy people
People from Gosport
19th-century British journalists
19th-century Italian journalists
19th-century British women writers
19th-century Italian women writers
Social workers
Women in war in Italy