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The Extraordinary Gertrude Bell
The Extraordinary Gertrude Bell
Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell (1868-1926) was born into a wealthy
family at Washington New Hall. Initially home-schooled, she then
attended school in London and graduated with a first-class degree in
Modern History from Oxford University. Thereafter she travelled
in Europe and also spent several months in Bucharest and in Tehran. Her
travels continued with two round-the-world trips: one in 1897-1898 and
one in 1902-1903.
From the turn of the century, Gertrude developed a love of the Arab peoples - she learned their languages, investigated their archaeological sites
and travelled deep into the desert. This intimate knowledge of the
country and its tribes made her a target of British Intelligence
recruitment during the First World War.
At the end of the war, Gertrude focussed on the future of Mesopotamia
and was to become a powerful force in Iraqi politics, becoming a
kingmaker when her preferred choice, Faisal was crowned King of the
state of Iraq in 1921.
Gertrude's first love remained archaeology and, as Honorary Director of Antiquities in Iraq, she established the Iraq Museum in Baghdad.
Her 1905 expedition through the Syrian Desert to Asia Minor was
published as The Desert and the Sown and her study, in 1907, of
Binbirkilise on the Kara Dag mountain was published as The Thousand and
One Churches and remains the standard work on early Byzantine
architecture in Anatolia.
Gertrude Bell's achievements were considerable at a time when a
woman's role was deemed to be limited to the home and the family. Yet,
it might seem contradictory that in spite of her exceptional education
and career she campaigned against votes for women and was a founder member of the Northern branch of the Women's National Anti-Suffrage League.
Resources
NEW The Extraordinary Gertrude Bell exhibition catalogue
Gertrude Bell Writings
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Bell, G. L. 1892, Poems from the Divan of Hafiz, London.
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Bell, G. L. 1894, Safar Nameh, Persian pictures. A book of travel (1894). Republished in 1928 as Perian Pictures.
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Bell, G. L. 1906, Notes on a journey through Cilicia and Lycaonia, Revue Archéologique 7: 1–29.
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Bell, G. L. 1906, Notes on a journey through Cilicia and Lycaonia, Revue Archéologique 7: 385–414.
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Bell, G. L. 1906, Notes on a journey through Cilicia and Lycaonia, Revue Archéologique 8: 7–36.
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Bell, G. L. 1906, Notes on a journey through Cilicia and Lycaonia, Revue Archéologique 8: 225–252.
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Bell, G. L. 1906, Notes on a journey through Cilicia and Lycaonia, Revue Archéologique 8: 390–401.
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Bell, G. L. 1906, Notes on a journey through Cilicia and Lycaonia, Revue Archéologique 9: 18–30.
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Bell, G. L. 1907, The Desert and the Sown: Travels in Palestine and Syria, London.
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Ramsay, W. M. and Bell, G. L. 1909, The Thousand and One Churches, London.
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Bell, G. L. 1910, 'The Churches and monasteries of the Tur Abdin', in Berchem, M. van; Strzygowski, J., Amida, Heidelberg: 224-262.
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Bell, G. L. 1911, Amurath to Amurath, London.
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Bell, G. L., 1913, The Churches and monasteries of the Tur 'Abdin and neighbouring districts, Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Architektur, Beiheft 9, Heidelberg: 57-112.
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Bell, G. L. 1914, Palace and Mosque of Ukhaidir. A Study in Early Mohammadan Architecture, Oxford.
- Talbot W.A. and Bell, G. L. 1920, Review of the Civil Administration of Mesopotamia, London.
Organizations with related Gertrude Bell interests
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