Further correction 13th Oct 2018 - thanks to sharped-eyed Cathy McSweeney. There were a number of reasons why Bell was extremely unhappy, some due to circumstances outside her control, and some which were part of her character. As academic institutions did not support women in archaeology at that time, Bell had to organize and finance her own expeditions and collaborate with professionals for her work to be recognized. British forces eventually captured Baghdad in 1917. But either way, as Werr points out, "The Gertrude Bell story is definitely worthy of a film. Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell was born on July 14, 1868 in what is now Dame Margaret Hall on The Avenue in Washington Village, the daughter of local bigwig Sir Hugh Bell and his wife Mary. Gertrude Bell : biography 14 July 1868 – 12 July 1926 Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell, CBE (14 July 1868 – 12 July 1926) was an English writer, traveller, political officer, administrator, archaeologist and spy who explored, mapped, and became highly influential to British imperial policy-making due to her skill and contacts, built up through extensive travels […] She was aware that she was starting to be regarded by men whom she thought of as her social and intellectual inferiors as being insufferable. Why would a woman as brilliant as she - as accomplished, as well-known - either take her own life or be so reckless with the risks of such a large and lethal dose of sleeping pills? The remains were brought here Tuesday, and services were held at … © 2021 Biography and the Biography logo are registered trademarks of A&E Television Networks, LLC. She is buried in a British cemetery in Baghdad. It is unknown whether the overdose was an intentional suicide or accidenta… What have I achieved? Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell, CBE (14 July 1868 – 12 July 1926) was an English writer, traveller, political officer, administrator, and archaeologist who explored, mapped, and became highly influential to British imperial policy-making due to her knowledge and contacts, built up through extensive travels in Greater Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and Arabia. She pushed herself with extreme challenges which would have led to intense adrenaline highs. The Early Life of Gertrude Bell. Gertrude Bell died in 1926, but before then, she lived the kind of life that most people can scarcely dream of. Gertrude Stein was an American author and poet best known for her modernist writings, extensive art collecting and literary salon in 1920s Paris. She had always been able to solve a problem, to punctuate boredom, to remove herself from awkward situations, to find a better place, by going on a journey. On 12 July 1926, Bell was discovered to have overdosed on sleeping pills. There, she collaborated with famed British traveler T. E. Lawrence to try to forge alliances with Arab tribes. Cornwallis, I think, ignored the note, and ignored the implicit 'cry for help' within it. The constraints of western clothing and the framework of the western working day - which we seem to take everywhere with us, at least partly -  make everything seem ten times worse. Gertrude drinks poison. And what if Cornwallis knew of her illness also, and distanced himself ... and Faisal was absent, too. Gertrude Bell : biography 14 July 1868 – 12 July 1926 Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell, CBE (14 July 1868 – 12 July 1926) was an English writer, traveller, political officer, administrator, archaeologist and spy who explored, mapped, and became highly influential to British imperial policy-making due to her skill and contacts, built up through extensive travels […] This article was most recently revised and updated by Chelsey Parrott-Sheffer, Research Editor. In the late 19 th and early 20 th century, Gertrude’s Grandfather, Sir Lowthian Bell, and Gertrude’s father, Sir Hugh Bell, commissioned noted Arts and Crafts architects to build Rounton Grange, and the houses of the surrounding village of East Rounton.. Did he have suicidal intentions of his own that day? John Donne, leading English poet of the Metaphysical school, is often considered the greatest loved poet in the English language. ), Polyandry in Late Iron Age & Roman Britain, PhD thesis on R-B Villas - detailed contents, ← Excavation - Let's Talk about the Mental And Physical Challenges. It was inevitable that this would be greeted with further publicity and notoriety for Lawrence. Gertrude Bell has 67 books on Goodreads with 7160 ratings. According to Gertrude, Ophelia had climbed into a willow tree, and then a branch had broken and dropped her into the water, where she drowned. When did she die? I remember giving a talk to the Palestine Exploration Fund in the early 1990s, having returned from fieldwork for the Gertrude Bell Photographic Project, and being extremely circumspect in what I had to say about Bell's final days and death. During World War I, Bell worked for the Red Cross in France before joining the British intelligence unit in Cairo, Egypt, known as the Arab Bureau. Her mother Mary died in 1871 after giving birth to her younger brother Maurice. This way I can keep a quality website alive and provide further free content about Gertrude Bell and T E Lawrence, Many thanks. Gertrude Bell's funeral, Baghdad, 12th July 1926. Twice named prime minister of Great Britain, he helped to defeat Nazi Germany in World War II. Bell would go on to attend Oxford University, where she studied history. Link to forthcoming book added 13th Oct 2018. Bell briefly returned to Britain in 1925, and found herself facing family problems and ill health. Bell also maintained a vast correspondence during this period, which was eventually compiled and published in 1927. Dobbs, his replacement, did not need her counsel. Gertrude Bell had two epic romances, to be sure. Whilst she kept more moral integrity than the rest of them, by 1926 it must have been becoming clear that the new states created after World War 1 were not coalescing into successful countries. Gertrude Bell’s brilliant career at Oxford, where she took a first in history in 1887, was followed by some time spent in Tehrān, where her When she recovered, she heard that her younger brother Hugo had died of typhoid. Gertrude Bell lived in Baghdad serving in the British administration and as Honorary Director of the Baghdad Museum until her death in 1926 at age 57 from an overdose of sleeping pills. The Cambridge City (IN) Tribune, Thursday, November 5, 1891 Miss Gertrude Bell, daughter of Wm. But I think she was quite conflicted on the fairness of this, and 'performed gender' with class concerns being her driving force. And so began a lifetime of travel and a lifelong enchantment with what she saw as the romance of the East, which evolved into a deep understanding of its cultures and people. After taking a fatal dose of sleeping pills, Bell died on July 12, 1926, in Baghdad. Gertrude fell in love, aged 24, with an impecunious official in the Teheran Legation called Henry Cadogan, and they announced their engagement. Between visits to the Middle East, Gertrude Bell’s experience of war work in the south of England and in France was brief, but formative. It was a unique and special Christmas at an extraordinary time in history - and it shaped Gertrude Bell. She had also travelled extensively in Iran, Turkey, Syria and Palestine, spending long days in the saddle in difficult terrain. Gertrude Bell - in Search of the ‘Real Woman’, Short review of the film 'Queen of the Desert’. The death of Gertrude Bell on the 12th July 1926, from an overdose of 'sleeping pills' in her bedroom in Baghdad, is now well documented in her biographies, and in more recent years it has certainly been fairly openly discussed in terms of suicide. In some classes, Gertrude and the other women even had to sit with their backs to the lecturer! The need for this drug alone suggests that Bell was very unwell, as the side-effects would have outweighed the benefits were this not the case. "At dusk the mist hangs in long white bands over the water; the twilight fades and the lights of the town shine out on either bank, with the river, dark and smooth and full of mysterious reflections, like a road of triumph through the midst." W.H. I think I know why this is, and it certainly is personal - this year I'll be the age she was when she died. When did she die? Her writings about her experiences in the Middle East — particularly in Iraq — continue to be studied and referenced by policy experts in the 21st century. She was aware of her loss of privilege. Gertrude Bell was also listed as an explorer and archaeologist among her many achieved duties. The Gertrude Bell Papers comprise Gertrude's personal correspondence, diaries and miscellaneous items, such as Review of the Civil Administration of Mesopotamia (1920), notebooks, obituaries, lecture notes and miscellaneous reports, memoranda and cuttings. Gertrude Bell was born on July 14, 1868 and died on July 12, 1926. And she'd seen T E Lawrence - a man 20 years her junior, born outside of her privilege - match her fame following what was only a very limited publication in 1922 of The Seven Pillars Of Wisdom about his role in the Arab Revolt during WW1, subsequent to the sensationalising of his exploits by journalist Lowell Thomas. From her early adult years, Bell had been extremely fit, active and adventurous; plus, she was a risk taker. Some visceral experiences need to be shared and it seems she had precious few people to share anything with. In 2012, directors Ridley Scott and Werner Herzog were both planning feature films based on Bell's life. It’s an intriguing story … and we have her letters, Gertrude Bell, Photographer - from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea. In 1899, Bell returned to the Middle East and visited Palestine and Syria, touching off a period of sustained travel there and in Asia and Europe. Her day to day life was labelling exhibits in her museum - quite the come-down for the trained archaeologist and the brilliant intellect upon which others had previously relied. Gertrude Bell was discovered dead on 12 July 1926, after an overdose of sleeping pills. They would only serve to pass the time, and leave as little profit as before ... it's a bore being a woman when you're in Arabia'. Gertrude Bell's Christmas in Bethlehem, 1899, 'It [Bethlehem] was politics etched into the stones of a built landscape; it was 'tribal'; it was staring Bell in the face. 2. Georgina Howell's biography points out Bell's ambiguous references in 1925 to a 'last summer', which could indeed be read as a stoic farewell to friends and family. ', An Archaeology of Children: finding childhoods in the past, Gertrude Bell: Love Through A Different Lens, Food in the Field: cooking and inclusive fieldwork practice, On the Incompleteness of Archaeological Narratives, Rape - the Use and Misuse of Narratives of Sexual Violence, 'A critical review of the interpretation of infant burials in Roman Britain...', 'Images and contexts of infants and infant burials...', Animal and Infant Burials on Romano-British Villas, Gertrude Bell - More Than A 'Free Booting Scholar', Gertrude Bell, Photographer - Jerusalem to Dead Sea, Gertrude Bell's Christmas in Bethlehem 1899, Gertrude Bell - in Search of the 'Real Woman', Gertrude Bell 1914-15 - Christmas in France, a New Year in Purgatory, The Intriguing Roman Villa at Norton Disney, Three Burials at Norton Disney & the End of Roman Villas, Romano-British Villas & Social Construction of Space, Animal and Infant Burials in Romano-British Villas (A 'Revitalisation' Movement? There she met a young diplomat and wrote to her parents asking for permission to marry him. She argued that the vast majority of her contemporaries lacked the education and knowledge of the world necessary to participate meaningfully in political debate. Her last words in writing to the woman she called 'mother' were: 'There is the lunch bell and I'm dreadfully in need of some iced soda water. Gertrude Bell, courtesy of the Gertrude Bell Archives, Newcastle University. "Gertrude Bell, happily for her family and friends, was one of the people whose lives can be reconstructed from correspondence. Learn More in these related Britannica articles: National Museum of Iraq He later claimed it was for this reason that he didn't look after the dog (he knew how to - he was a dog lover himself), and eventually Marie had it transported back to Bell's parents. Gertrude Bell was born on July 14, 1868 and died on July 12, 1926. Importantly, she would still have had the mental faculties to be acutely aware of her own despondency and the lack of any illustrious future waiting for her. He'd been in England at the same time as Bell in 1925, and had basically poured cold water on her desire for marriage. The behaviour of Ken Cornwallis around the time of Bell's death is very interesting. She was the only woman present at the 1921 Conference in Cairo, convened by Winston Churchill to determine the boundaries of the Iraqi state. Gertrude Bell died on July 12, 1926 at the age of 57. Fluent in Arabic and Persian, Bell assisted British diplomats and local rulers in the construction of a stable government infrastructure. Scott's project eventually foundered, but Herzog's biopic, Queen of the Desert, which stars Nicole Kidman as Bell, Robert Pattinson as Lawrence and James Franco as a colleague of Bell's, premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2015. We strive for accuracy and fairness. To me, she wasn't 'an Englishwoman in Iraq'. In 1892, Gertrude went to Tehran, Persia, (now Iran), to visit her uncle Sir Frank Lascelles, who was the British ambassador in Tehran. Yet that's not my job either. Mark Sykes used language about her that could only have been applied to a woman: 'Confound the silly chattering windbag of conceited, gushing, flat-chested, man-woman, globe-trotting, rump-wagging, blethering ass!' James Buchan describes her as 'the greatest woman mountaineer of her age'. This biography has been revised and updated for a new generation and a new political reality. Despite her own political achievements, Bell actively opposed women's suffrage in Britain. When did she die? One example of their attitude towards the new order will be enough to show their quality. Gertrude Bell led some impressive expeditions across the desert landscapes of the Middle East, but rarely was she without her baggage animals or a cart to carry her dinner service, provisions and equipment, and a servant (or two) to prepare her meals. If you appreciated reading this article, please help to support this website by making a small donation. Gertrude Bell studied history at Oxford and embarked on a career as a writer, traveler and archaeologist. Share with friends Bell remained in Baghdad after Faisal's 1921 ascension, working to fund and construct an archaeological museum. She traveled the world, gained enormous power and even helped build a country from scratch. But biographers like Wallach and Howell have now addressed this subject more overtly, and I don't think we're doing Bell any favours by not exploring this element of her story. King Edward VII took over the British throne after the death of Queen Victoria. Yes, she could be vain; yes, she was privileged; and yes she thrived on drama - but she was genuinely out of the ordinary, and the manner of her death was avoidable. The result of Bell's efforts was the National Museum of Iraq, which holds one of the world's greatest collections of Mesopotamian antiquities. She really was invested in the archaeology and the landscape and what she called the 'adventure'. Bell had recently been home to England, and the winds of change regarding the family's fortunes were palpable Does she deserve to die in the horrific manner that she does? Her 'work' had rarely been paid work, and the archaeological expeditions and the photographic travels were privately funded. The intersections of the lives of Bell and Lawrence have been written about, but as far as I'm aware only in terms of their supposed spying activities, so it's interesting to consider how Bell's last year and her death intersected with Lawrence's resurgence as the character in the Arab Revolt. Jeremy Johns wrote, in an address to the Society, that, '[Bell] returned to England twice before her death, in the summer of 1923 and again the in the summer of 1925. Learn more about Gertrude B. Elion, the female scientist who helped develop drugs to treat diseases such as malaria and AIDS, at Biography.com. I've studied and worked myself in the Middle East in July, and the heat orders your day and overwhelms your senses. In 1899, she studied Arabic, Persian, and Turkish. Gertrude Bell, English traveler, administrator in Arabia, and writer who played a principal part in the establishment in Baghdad of the Hāshimite dynasty. Bell wanted Doughty-Wylie to leave his wife for her, and his wife threatened suicide if he did. Bell certainly did know what Lawrence was up to with Revolt, as she was one of the people he selected to ask to read through the near-final drafts. As a British political officer in the Middle East, largely unexplored by the West at that time, exploration was a necessity in her work. Distance was the metaphor of her life, from her early 20s onward. I almost wish that something would happen - something exciting, a raid, or a battle! Within a year Gertrude Bell was called to the Middle East to serve the British administration – where, in Baghdad, after a series of notable geo-political accomplishments, she died just a decade later by her own hand. Bell was very careful about that, to her immense credit. Prior to 1911 and her third major journey across the Middle East, at the age of 43, she had recorded ten mountaineering first ascents in the Bernese Alps. The death of Gertrude Bell on the 12th July 1926, from an overdose of 'sleeping pills' in her bedroom in Baghdad, is now well documented in her biographies, and in more recent years it has certainly been fairly openly discussed in terms of suicide. Personally, I think Bell got shunted aside by the countries she served, and by the people she trusted - and, for reasons perhaps of a sense of social obligation, she didn't want to bother her family directly with her pain and so she put literal distance between them. He visited her (without his wife) in 1913 and … The death of Gertrude Bell on the 12th July 1926, from an overdose of 'sleeping pills' in her bedroom in Baghdad, is now well documented in her biographies, and in more recent years it has certainly been fairly openly discussed in terms of suicide. Though the famous bell within Alice rang for the genius of Gertrude and others, she had her own genius, revealed in these chatty, fascinating letters written during the twenty years after Gertrude's death in 1946. They ordered her home instead (the young man died nine months later). I think it also points to a place in history where she felt dislocated from the world she had once known, and suspected that this new world had no use for her - and that's very significant in terms of trying to know the layers of history in this narrative. Who is there in my life? On one of her ascents she nearly died, apparently swinging from her ropes for over two days. Bell had recently been home to England, and the winds of change regarding the family's fortunes were palpable. Gertrude Bell was born in Washington, England, in the northeastern county of Durham. By the time of her death on 12th July 1926, she was very frail and very ill. Bouts of malaria had taken their toll, and Bell developed bronchitis and pleurisy in quick succession. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! During the spring of 1900 she went to visit t… Gertrude Bell: 'cultivated' Jews of Baghdad "The Jews form a very important part of the population, rich, intelligent, cultivated and active. Her choices for relationships showed an uncharacteristic lack of judgement, notably her adoration of the married Dick Doughty-Wylie, and, in later years, for the married Ken Cornwallis. Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell CBE (14 July 1868 – 12 July 1926) was a British writer, traveller, political analyst, administrator in Arabia, and an archaeologist who mapped and identified Anatolian and Mesopotamian ruins. Several months later, she did. For the hugely independent traveller and diplomat of the Middle East, she displayed a dependence on family and male figures in her 'English life' that she never unlearned. Her death has been interpreted as a suicide, given her persistent health problems and the recent death of her brother. Being a woman in a man's world was no picnic. She had opposed women's suffrage and seen it granted nevertheless. But the complicated nation-builder from a British steelmaking background was so much more than that: a fearless, turn-of-the-century mountaineer conquering Alpine peaks; a desert explorer and cartographer; a spy, wartime political operative and soldier; a writer and an archaeologist who spoke six languages, including Arabic. It can be the case that once past our middling years, there's nothing quite like a birthday to remind us of our own mortality and what a speck of dust in the universe we are. Kristen Bell is an American actress known for her roles on TV's 'Veronica Mars' and in such films as 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall,' 'Couples Retreat' and 'Get Him to the Greek.'. Her father married again when Bell was still a young child and the union added a half-brother and two half-sisters to the family. Bell was buried in Baghdad’s Bad al Sharji district. The sights and experiences of WW1, the Arab Revolt of 1916, and the Armenian Massacre (about which she wrote vividly), may well have left its mark on Bell. “There is a willow grows aslant a brook. Her funeral was attended by large numbers. With her vast knowledge of the Middle East and her fluency in Arabic and Persian, she became directly involved what was considered the political reinvention of Mesopotamia. She contributed to the construction of the Iraqi state in 1921, as well as the National Museum of Iraq. Subsequently, Bell became involved in the political reinvention of Mesopotamia, where she helped colonial authorities install ruler Faisal I as monarch of Iraq. It was another change to the structures that held her world in place. Indeed, I regret to say, that I have found no reference to her election, news of which much have reached her when she was distracted by the 1921 Cairo Conference.'. Author's edits: minor typos corrected 17th June 2017, 10th October 2017 and 1st May 2018. The colleagues who had shown her loyalty had moved on and been replaced; and I think she was lonely, worried about the future, and forlorn. On both occasions she passed through London and had ample opportunity to visit the Society, but there is no record in her papers that she did so. Her writings on her experiences across the globe informed British audiences about the distant parts of their empire. In the final years of her life, Bell suffered several health issues as well as a dwindling fortune. There was nowhere to go, so I think he did commit suicide. She'll have been aware that it was an extremely well-written, richly observed travel narrative as well as an adventure story. Indeed post-WW1 labour relations were one of the subjects mentioned in her last letter to her father, with the General Strike of May 1926 still very fresh in their minds. Short Biography. Young Gertrude was born in 1868 in County Durham in the North East of England. She was unlucky again, some years later, when she fell deeply in love with the already (and slightly unhappily) married Major Dick Doughty-Wylie. The death was not recorded as suicide. What lies in my future? Gertrude Bell in 1921 - the only woman at the Cairo Conference, Also of interest is that fact that whilst she was only the third woman ever to be elected to the Society of Antiquaries of London, there is no evidence that she ever took any advantage from this membership or visited Burlington House whilst in London in 1925. That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream. Strange relationship choices and loneliness. One of Bell's greatest personal passions was mountaineering, which probably was one of the reasons as to why she ultimately became an explorer. I think one can say that fairly surely.” Bell died alone a decade later in Baghdad at … She wrote a book about her experiences called Persian Pictures, A Book of Travelsthat was published in 1894. Link edits 17th November 2018. After taking a fatal dose of sleeping pills, Bell died on July 12, 1926, in Baghdad. So she knew that being exceptional doesn't change the over-arching culture one is in. She was buried with honours in Baghdad that same day, her coffin draped with the British and Iraqi flags and carried by junior officers from the High Commission. Her family's fortune had started to decline due to the onset of post-World War I strikes. Very nice of Gertrude.'. Gertrude was the wife of William Bell She was the daughter of Frank and Harriet (Cross) Pusey Obit Shinglehouse - Mrs. Gertrude Pusey Bell died at St. Francis Hospital (Aug. 21, 1961). Doughty-Wylie was killed during WW1 at Gallipoli, apparently causing her massive heartache. 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