Bell, Gertrude Margaret Lowthian definition of Bell, Gertrude Margaret Lowthian in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

Bell, Gertrude Margaret Lowthian (lō`thēən), 1868–1926, British traveler, author, and government official, one of the builders of the modern state of Iraq Iraq or Irak (both: ēräk`, ĭrăk`), officially Republic of Iraq, republic (2005 est. pop.
..... Click the link for more information. , grad. Oxford, 1887. From 1899 she journeyed extensively in Persia, Anatolia, and Syria and early in 1914 reached Haïl in the Arabian Desert. In World War I she placed her unmatched knowledge of Middle Eastern conditions at the disposal of the British government and in 1915 was appointed to the intelligence service. As liaison officer of the Arab Bureau in Iraq and assistant political officer, her aid was invaluable. She knew and worked with T. E. Lawrence Lawrence, T. E. (Thomas Edward Lawrence), 1888–1935, British adventurer, soldier, and scholar, known as Lawrence of Arabia. While a student at Oxford he went on a walking tour of Syria and in 1911 joined a British Museum archaeological expedition in Mesopotamia.
..... Click the link for more information. and was largely responsible for the selection of Faisal I Faisal I or Faysal I (both: fī`səl), 1885–1933, king of Iraq (1921–33).
..... Click the link for more information. as king of Iraq. She founded and directed the National Museum in Baghdad. Her writings include Poems from the Divan of Hafiz (1897), The Desert and the Sown (1907), Amurath to Amurath (1911), Palace and Mosque at Ukhaidar (1914), The Arab of Mesopotamia (1917), and Persian Pictures (1928; pub. anonymously as Safar Nameh, 1894).

Bibliography

See her Earlier Letters (ed. by E. Richmond, 1937) and Letters (new ed. 1947); biographies by J. Kamm (1956) and A. Northgrave (1958).