Cubah Cornwallis (died 1848) (often spelled Coubah, Couba, Cooba or Cuba a slave name variant of the Twi day name Akua meaning a girl born on Wednesday) was a nurse or "doctress" and Obeah woman who lived in the colony of Jamaica during the late 18th and 19th century.
[5] Cubah became so well known for her treatment of the sick that in 1780 when Horatio Nelson, then a captain, fell ill with dysentery during an expedition to Nicaragua, he was taken to her by Admiral Parker, the commander-in-chief of the Royal Naval forces in Jamaica.
[8] Cubah, and other nurses in the West Indies during the period, treated patients with traditional home remedies, often mistaken for magic, religion or witchcraft.
[10] Other Jamaican doctresses of the 18th century included Mrs Grant, the mother of Mary Seacole, and Grace Donne, who nursed Jamaica's wealthiest planter, Simon Taylor.
Cubah Cornwallis, Mrs Grant, Grace Donne and Sarah Adams used hygienic practices long before it became one of the main planks in the reforms of Florence Nightingale, in her book Notes on Nursing in 1859.