Gertrude Bell

During her lifetime the name of Gertrude Bell evoked rich images of the exotic and mysterious Arab world. But her fame faded and now she is remembered only as a friend and colleague of T.E. Lawrence. She was an intrepid traveller, journeying alone through the deserts of the Middle East or scaling testing peaks in the Swiss Alps. Later, as a British political officer in Baghdad, where she died and is buried, she was able to play a considerable role in determining the future of Mesopotamia, later to be called Iraq.