From left to right, beneath the face of the Sphinx: Winston Churchhill, Gertrude Bell, and T.E. Lawrence, Cairo, Egypt, 1921.
T.E. Lawrence — best known as Lawrence of Arabia — gets all the press. But Gertrude Bell — who worked with Lawrence in Cairo – was, like Lawrence, an archaeologist, intelligence agent and author. Like Lawrence, her sex life – or lack thereof – has been the subject of much debate. And like Lawrence, Bell – who has been called the “Uncrowned Queen of Iraq — for better or worse helped define and shape the modern Middle East.
Bell was born in England on July 14, 1868 to a wealthy family. After earning a degree in history from Oxford University, she began to travel. She established a reputation as a skilled mountain climber, and is credited with 10 first ascents in the Bernese Alps. These include the Gertrudspitze, which was named for her.
Bell’s greatest fame as a climber, however, came from a failed attempt. It was to have been a first ascent of the northeast face of 14,000-ft. Finsteraarhorn. But an unexpected blizzard trapped Bell and two companions on the mountain. Through freezing temperatures and lightning storms, they survived roped together for 53 hours.
Nothing Too Trivial 