Bell, Gertrude Margaret Lowthian
1868 - Born on the 14th of July in Washington Hall, County Durham, England. 1884 - She went to Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford and gained a first class honours degree in history. 1892 - Traveled to Persia. 1899 - She again embarked to the Middle East. 1900 - Visited Palestine and Syria then traveled to Jerusalem. 1905 - She was again in the Middle East. - Published her observations in the book The Desert and the Sown. 1907 - Traveled to Turkey and began to work with the archaeologist and New Testament scholar Sir William M. Ramsey. 1909 - She left for Mesopotamia and visited the Hittite city of Carchemish. 1913 - Her Arabian journey was generally difficult. - She was the second foreign woman after Lady Anne Blunt to visit Ha'il. 1915 - She was summoned to Cairo to the Arab Bureau, headed by General Gilbert Clayton. 1916 - On 3rd of March she was arrived in Basra. - Became the only female political officer in the British forces and received the title of "Liaison Officer, Correspondent to Cairo." 1917 - She was called by Cox to Baghdad and presented with the title of "Oriental Secretary." 1919 - Assigned to conduct an analysis of the situation in Mesopotamia. 1920 - Percy Cox returned to Baghdad and asked her to continue as Oriental Secretary. 1925 - Returned to Britain and facing family problems and ill health. 1926 - She committed suicide in Baghdad on 12th of July with an overdose of sleeping pills.
Page last updated: 6:18pm, 31st Jul '07