Gertrude Bell
Archaeologist, advisor, adventurer – meet the Victorian queen of the desert
In a time when British women were expected to stay at home and raise a family, Gertrude Bell was busy climbing mountains and riding camels across the desert. Born into a wealthy family, she could have easily chosen a comfortable domestic life, but instead she swapped the UK’S northeast for the Middle East and a life of adventure and politics.
Her parents were supportive of her ambitions, encouraging her to become one of the few women at the time to study at Oxford University. After receiving her degree in modern history she left to travel the world, visiting places not typically seen by Europeans. As well as scaling mountains in the Alps, she trekked along the Euphrates River and crossed the Syrian Desert, often alone with only hired guides for company.
Although Bell had a great fascination for many different cultures, it was Mesopotamia that really stole her heart. She loved meeting with and photographing the Arab people and visiting their archaeological wonders. They seemed to admire her in return – she was often addressed as ‘khutan’, meaning ‘queen’ in Persian and ‘respected lady’ in Arabic, and it was this special relationship that caught the attention of the British Intelligence Service.
When World War One broke out and the Ottoman Empire took Germany’s side, Bell was enlisted into the Arab Bureau, an operation that sought to secure British interests in the Middle East. Working alongside TE Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, she used her in-depth knowledge of the region to help draw up maps for the army. She went on to have great political influence as the only woman working for the British Government in the Middle East, and even helped to establish the borders for the new country of Iraq.
Despite her involvement in politics, Bell’s first passion had always been archaeology, which she returned to in her later years. She was made Iraq’s honorary director of antiquities and supervised many archaeological missions in the country, collecting exhibits for the Baghdad Archaeological Museum.
Sadly, shortly after the museum opened Bell died suddenly from an overdose of sleeping pills. Whether this was accidental or intentional, no one knows. Large crowds attended her funeral in Baghdad, and King Faisal of Iraq dedicated a wing of the museum to her. To this day the khutan is thought of fondly in the region, and her story lives on in the letters and photographs she sent home from the desert.
“Bell had a great fascination for many different cultures, but it was Mesopotamia that really stole her heart”