SHE is the first black woman to have a UK statue in her honour, the half-Scottish nurse who cared for wounded British soldiers during the Crimean War.

But the £500,000 bronze memorial to Jamaican-born Mary Seacole at St Thomas' Hospital in London has sparked the ire of those who hold a candle for that conflict's other 'pioneer nurse', Florence Nightingale.

Livid the statue of the Seacole, the daughter of a Scots soldier, should be commemorated at St Thomas' Hospital with which she has no connection and where their hero founded her nursing school, the Florence Nightingale Society has lobbied everyone from David Cameron to construction magnate Sir Robert McAlpine and the Duchess of Cornwall objecting to it.

Another bone of contention is its size, taller than Florence Nightingale's statue in Pall Mall.

As actress and broadcaster Baroness Benjamin unveiled the statue and MP David Lammy described it as a "seminal moment for Londoners, and for the black community particularly", the Society announced its inaugural 'History Hoax' award.

Naming UK health secretary Jeremy Hunt as its winner for "promoting the replacement of Florence Nightingale with Mary Seacole as a founder of nursing, through its Heroes of Healthcare", critics of the statue have described Seacole as a businesswoman who sold alcohol to soldiers and did not frequent the battlefield.

They have also accused Seacole supporters of a "campaign of misinformation (where) false achievements were used at all stages of the promotion".

Seacole was proud of her Scottish ancestry and in her autobiography, The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole, she wrote she had "good Scots blood coursing through my veins. My father was a soldier of an old Scottish family".

She is regarded as one of the 'great black Britons', who advanced the cause of nursing.

But some historians have long complained that she has become almost as famous as that other nursing heroine, Florence Nightingale.

Overlooked for well over a century, Seacole's story was largely overlooked until around 15 years ago when her reputation was rehabilitated.

The statue was created by sculptor Martin Jennings and stands opposite the Houses of Parliament in the grounds of St Thomas' Hospital.

Emeritus Professor of Nursing Elizabeth Anionwu said: "For somebody like myself, a nurse of mixed heritage - Mary was Jamaican-Scottish, I'm Nigerian-Irish heritage - there's a link there.

"I have an eight-year-old granddaughter, and at last youngsters will be able to see a beautiful monument that they can identify with."

Announcing Mr Hunt as its History Hoax winner, the Florence Nightingale said: "In erroneously omitting Florence Nightingale from her role as founder of nursing, public health visionary, and pioneer in the use of statistical analysis to improve public health and save lives, the programme instead honoured Mary Seacole for nursing, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson for women in medicine, Edward Jenner for medicine, and Nye Bevan for the Healthcare system.

"All deserved credit for their contribution, but not to the exclusion of Florence Nightingale, whose quality and quantity of health impacts were far greater."