British woman Gertrude Bell was the unofficial queen of the desert who helped to reshape the Middle East after WWI

A NEW film casts the spotlight on Gertrude Bell, otherwie known as the female Lawrence of Arabia, for her key role in the history of the Middle East.

Gertrude Bell (centre in front of the Sphinx) with Winston Churchill (on her left) and Lawrence (on her right) and others from the 1921 Cairo Conference.

IN Baghdad a neglected cemetery holds the grave of a British woman whose effect on history continues to be felt today. Gertrude Bell played a key role in the foundation of the modern nation of Iraq. After World War I when the Ottoman Empire was being broken up, her expertise was sought by then Secretary of State for the Colonies Winston Churchill for deciding the future of the land then known as Mesopotamia.

Bell was a writer, administrator, traveller and archaeologist, whose amazing life is now the basis of the major motion picture Queen Of The Desert starring Nicole Kidman as Bell, opening next week.

Bell was born in Durham, England in 1868 into a life of wealth and privilege, the daughter of Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell, politician, metallurgist and director of the iron and akali company Losh, Wilson and Bell.

Although she could have lived on the family fortune Gertrude was an exceptional school student who went on to Oxford to become the first woman to earn first-class honours in history at the institution in 1887. Bored with the life of a socialite, she took to travelling, mostly through Europe.

An undated illustration of Gertrude Margaret Bell.

Her first visit to the Middle East was in 1892 when she accompanied her uncle Sir Frank Lascelles, a diplomat, to Tehran. She was so entranced by Persia (Iran) she learnt the language and wrote the book Persian Pictures about her experiences. Persia whetted her appetite for the Middle East so she added Arabic and Turkish to the languages she already knew.

In 1907 she published The Desert And The Sown a book about her travels in Syria and Palestine. Her interest for the region continued and she took part in archaeological digs, sharing her fascination through her writings, introducing many people to the Middle East and its history.

In 1911, while in Syria, she met Thomas Edward Lawrence, who would become known as Lawrence of Arabia.

When World War I broke out she gathered intelligence for the military, along with her friend Lawrence, using archaeology as a cover. Both reported to the Arab Bureau in Cairo, established by the British at the outbreak of the hostilities. The British knew that the Ottoman Empire, known as the “sick man of Europe” would not survive the war and looked for ways to push it toward collapse by inspiring revolt.

While Lawrence went native to work with Arab guerrillas, encouraging rebellion, Bell strengthened Britain’s diplomatic ties with Arab leaders. But while the British promised independence to the Arabs for their resistance to the Ottomans, they also discussed dividing up the Middle East between Britain and France.

Bell initially believed that Britain and France should govern the Arabs, but by the time discussions began at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 she had come around to believing in Arab independence and self government.

Attendees at the 1921 Cairo Conference with Gertrude Bell (second row, second from left) and Winston Churchill (centre front).

The British knew that it would be difficult and costly to administer territories in the Middle East so the British Secretary for colonial affairs, Churchill, sought another solution. He summoned 39 experts, the only woman being Bell, to the 1921 Cairo conference for advice on how to draw the national boundaries of the new countries.

Europeans effectively decided the boundaries of most modern Middle Eastern nations, except Egypt. The Arabs had no say. Churchill wanted to install a pro-British ruler to maintain order without the need for costly British garrison troops. Bell recommended King Faisal, who lacked
a depth of knowledge of the land but had royal blood and was a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed.

Bell’s impressive report on the Ottoman administration of the region was a guidebook for setting up the new nation of Iraq. It advised the British to learn the lessons of the Ottoman era.

When Iraq was created in 1922, Bell became King Faisal’s closest adviser. She was nicknamed “Khatun” or woman of the court. Meanwhile, she also worked on creating an Iraqi national library and founded an archaeological museum in Baghdad.

She returned to England in 1925 but was plagued by health problems. Returning to Baghdad in 1926 she developed pleurisy, but recovered only to be deeply grieved to hear of the death of her brother from typhoid. In July 1926 she was found dead from an overdose of sleeping pills, although it is thought it may have been accidental as she had asked her maid to wake her.

Originally published as British woman Gertrude Bell was the unofficial queen of the desert who helped to reshape the Middle East after WWI