Gertrude Bell (1868 - 1926)

Here is my photograph of a photograph of Gertrude Bell at the entrance to an exhibition about her life and work at the Great North Museum in Newcastle. Her story is a remarkable one. She was clearly highly intelligent - gained a First Class Honours degree in History from Oxford University at the age of 19 - and had a priviledged upbringing.

The first love of her life was deemed unsuitable by her father and the engagement was forbidden. The second great love was with Charles Doughty-Wylie, who died during the Battle of Galipoli.( Letters from that time are available in an online archive)

Following this tragedy, she pursued a passion for travel, specialising in the Middle East. Here she lived amongst local people and was accepted into the company of men, sharing coffee and tobacco as well as conversation. Her knowledge of the area and local languages made her invaluable as an advisor to the British government and she was instrumental in the formation of Iraq and recommended that the first king should be Faisal.

Did I mention she was an expert mountaineer?

Mum and I went to the exhibition after her appointment in the Hand Clinic. We expected to see her consultant to discuss the problems with her ring finger after the op, but he did not have a clinic today..........! We were well looked after and saw another consultant. Mum now has a new splint for the misbehaving finger.

We spent a lot of time at the museum and speculated about the personality of Gertrude Bell. She must have been very determined. There was an underlying fragility and she may have taken her own life. She died of an overdose, but was in the middle of her project to found a State Museum in Baghdad.

Back at home I had a short nap (!) and Mum turned her hand to a bit of stitching. How about that?!

In other news, Sarah Evans knows the man with the green hair from my 21st Feb blip!