SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This book seeks to re-evaluate the life and legacy of Gertrude Lowthian Bell (1868–1926), the renowned scholar, explorer, writer, archaeologist and British civil servant. In 12 chapters, written by a number of international scholars, Iraqi and British, it examines her role in shaping British policy in the Middle East in the first part of the 20th century, her views of the cultures and peoples of the region and her unusual status as a woman occupying a senior position in the British imperial administration. It focuses particularly on her involvement in Iraq and the part she played in the establishment of the Iraqi monarchy and the Iraqi state. In addition, it examines her interests in Iraq’s ancient past (she was instrumental in drawing up Iraq’s first Antiquities Law in 1922 and in the foundation of the Iraq Museum in 1923), and reflects on the various aspects of her legacy for modern Iraq.