British Indian Army expeditionary force occupies Shatt al Arab and creates a base at Basra
GLB takes charge of the Wounded and Missing Office of the Red Cross, Boulogne
1915
Apr.—Maurice Bell on Western Front in France, leads attack at Fortuin
Lady Florence sets up auxiliary convalescent hospital for the Red Cross at Rounton Village Institute
Apr.–Nov.—GLB opens London Wounded and Missing Office of the Red Cross
26 Apr.—Dick Doughty-Wylie dies at Gallipoli
May—British Liberal Prime Minister Asquith invites Bonar Law’s Conservatives to join a coalition government; Churchill forced to resign from the Admiralty
Sept.—British win decisive battle against Turkish/Arab army at Kut and advance to Ctesiphon near Baghdad
17 Nov.—GLB leaves Sloane Street
20 Nov.—Embarks at Marseilles
26 Nov.—Dines with Lawrence and Hogarth at Port Said. Probably visits Dardanelles
30 Nov.—GLB travels to Cairo
Nov.–Dec.—Works there for Gilbert Clayton, head of civil and military intelligence
Nov.—British defeated by Turkish force at Ctesiphon, retreat to Kut
Dec.—British encircled at Kut; siege begins
1916
Jan.–Feb.—GLB in India, advises Viceroy; Arab Intelligence Bureau in Cairo authorized
Feb.–Dec.—GLB in Basra as assistant political officer with rank of major under Chief Political Officer Sir Percy Cox, reporting to GOC Indian Expeditionary Force in Iraq
Feb.—Hogarth initiates Arab Bulletin as a regular intelligence report; GLB its principal contributor
Mar.—British evacuate Gallipoli; Maurice wounded in France
Apr.—T. E. Lawrence attempts to bribe Turks to free Kut; has long discussions with GLB
—Turks enter Kut, population massacred; many British troops die in forced march north
May—Secret Sykes–Picot Agreement anticipates postwar division of influence in Middle East between France, Britain, and Russia
June—GLB appointed head of Iraq branch of the Arab Bureau as an officer of the Indian Expeditionary Force D (based in Basra)
—Hashemite family lead revolt of Arabs against Turkish rule in western Arabia
Sept.—GLB in hospital with jaundice; then holidays on Euphrates
Oct.—Cox signs treaty with Ibn Saud
Nov.—GLB arranges visit of Ibn Saud to Basra
—Hashemite Amir Hussain, Sharif of Mecca, proclaimed King of the Hejaz
Dec.—Lloyd George becomes Prime Minister
1917
Jan.–Mar.—GLB continues in Basra, Oriental Secretary to the civil administration for Sir Percy Cox, as well as head of the Arab Bureau (Iraq)
Jan.—In western Arabia Amir Faisal with T. E. Lawrence starts march of Arab army northwards
Mar.—Turkish army vacates Baghdad; British occupy
Apr.—President Wilson asks U.S. Congress to declare war on Germany; American troops engaged in France
—GLB moves to Baghdad after nine-day journey up Tigris; Cossack troops commit atrocities in northern Mesopotamia
May—Occupies her permanent home in Baghdad
June—Maurice invalided out of active service
July—Lawrence takes Aqaba with Arab irregulars
—Cox appointed Civil Commissioner of Mesopotamia reporting to Secretary of State for India in London
Aug.—British defeat Turkish army in Gaza
Oct.—Bolsheviks take control of the Russian Revolution
—British Cabinet approves Balfour Declaration favouring Palestine as a national home for the Jews (announced 2 Nov.)
—GLB awarded CBE; suffering exhaustion, admitted to convalescent hospital
Nov.—Appointed editor of Al Arab; writing The Arab of Mesopotamia
Dec.—British take Jerusalem
1918
Jan.—President Wilson lists his fourteen points of principle, including “a general association of nations”
Mar. —Russia makes peace with Germany; Allied troops fight Red Army in Russia
—GLB awarded Founder’s Medal of the Royal Geographical Society
May—GLB starts Tuesday soirées for wives of prominent Arabs
July—GLB holidays on horseback in Persian mountains; women over thirty gain the vote in Britain
Sept.—GLB arranges durbar of sheikhs in Iraq
—Cox posted to Teheran; provisionally replaced by Sir Arnold Wilson as Acting Civil Commissioner; GLB’s role restricted
—Lady Florence made Dame (DCIE) for her work for the Red Cross; Sir Hugh awarded CB
Oct.—Amir Faisal’s army takes Damascus with Lawrence; Turks fight last battle at Sharqat, then withdraw; Turks sign Mudros Armistice, end of Ottoman Empire
Nov.—Allies sign Armistice with Germany
Dec.—Influenza pandemic reaches Baghdad
1919
Feb.–Mar.—GLB prepares a paper for the Paris Peace Conference on the future of Mesopotamia and attends the conference
Apr.–May—GLB tours France and visits Algiers with Sir Hugh; returns to Peace Conference until A. T. Wilson arrives
May–Sept.—GLB in England
June—Germany signs Treaty of Versailles accepting peace conditions, First World War ends; League of Nations initiated
Sept.—GLB visits Cairo, Jerusalem, Damascus, Beirut, Aleppo
—President Wilson suffers stroke while campaigning for United States to join the League of Nations; permanently incapacitated
Sept.—U.S. Senate fails to ratify its membership in the League of Nations
Nov.–Dec.—GLB returns to Baghdad, starts writing Review of the Civil Administration of Mesopotamia; Marie Delaire joins her permanently in Baghdad
1920
Jan.—Arab Bureau in Cairo wound up; GLB takes archaeological trip to Babylon site
Feb.—Organizes funding for a women’s hospital in Baghdad
Mar.—Amir Faisal elected and crowned King of Syria
Mar.–Apr.—Sir Hugh visits Baghdad
Apr.—San Remo Conference agrees to terms of British mandate over Iraq while instituting self-government
—GLB to compile annual reports on the state of Iraq required by the League of Nations
June—Cox makes official visit to Baghdad; Sir Frank Lascelles dies
July—French occupy Damascus; King Faisal deposed
Aug.—Treaty of Sèvres between Allies and Turkey
Oct.—Cox returns as High Commissioner for Iraq; Naqib of Baghdad forms provisional Arab government; A. T. Wilson leaves public service
—GLB initiates fortnightly reports to Colonial Office on the progress of the administration in Iraq
Nov.—Resumes duties as Oriental Secretary; first meeting of Iraq Council of State
Dec.—Publication of Review of the Civil Administration of Mesopotamia, presented to parliament
1921
Feb.—Churchill appointed Secretary of State for the Colonies (including responsibility for the Middle East)
Mar.—GLB attends Cairo Conference; holidays in Egypt with Sir Hugh; returns to Baghdad
23 June—Amir Faisal arrives in Basra
29 June—Greets GLB on his arrival at Baghdad
GLB elected President of new Baghdad Public Library
Ibn Saud takes Hayyil; Rashid dynasty ends; Shammar tribesmen flee into Iraq; three-month British miners’ strike hits steel industry
July—GLB announces result of Iraq referendum; Naqib declares Faisal King-elect on behalf of Iraqi Council of State
Aug.—Faisal ibn Hussain ibn Ali crowned Faisal I of Iraq
Sept.—King invites Naqib to form Cabinet
Nov.—GLB’s half-brother Hugo marries Frances Morkill
1922
Apr.–May—Iraq’s Constituent Assembly passes electoral law; Sir Hugh joins GLB in Jerusalem
July—GLB drafts antiquities law for Iraq
Aug.�
�Bell finances diminish during international recession
Oct.—Aiming to comply with the terms of the mandate, Cox and Prime Minister Naqib sign a Treaty of Alliance between Iraq and Great Britain giving twenty years of British occupation in advisory capacity
13 Oct.—Faisal proclaims Treaty
Oct.—Allies and Turkey sign peace treaty officially ending war with Turkey
—Macmillan Company donates books to Baghdad Public Library
—Lloyd George’s wartime coalition government collapses; Bonar Law’s Conservatives win election; Duke of Devonshire replaces Churchill with responsibility for Middle East; Charles Trevelyan elected MP for Newcastle upon Tyne
—Faisal, with Iraq Cabinet approval, appoints GLB Honorary Director of Antiquities for Iraq
—Air Marshal Sir John Salmond takes command of British forces; RAF tasked with controlling tribal dissension in Iraq
Dec.—Sir Henry Dobbs arrives as prospective High Commissioner, in charge while Cox visits London; GLB asked to continue as Oriental Secretary; Cox signs treaties with Ibn Saud
1923
Feb.—Organic Law (constitution) approved
Apr.—Cox signs treaty reducing British advisory occupation of Iraq to four years
May—Cox retires, leaves Iraq
—Transjordan declared independent under Amir Abdullah by treaty with Britain
July–Aug.—GLB travels to England via Haifa, stays with Sir Herbert Samuel, High Commissioner for Palestine; John Singer Sargent draws her; corresponds with Lawrence on publication of Seven Pillars of Wisdom
July—League of Nations ratifies Turkish Peace Treaty at Conference of Lausanne
Sept.—GLB amends her will, leaving £6,000 to the British Museum for a British School of Archaeology in Iraq
Oct.—Initiates the Iraq Museum
1924
Jan.—Ramsay MacDonald forms first Labour government in coalition with Liberals; Charles Trevelyan in Cabinet as President of Board of Education
Feb.—First national elections in Iraq
Mar.—Dorman Long wins contract to build Sydney Harbour Bridge
—King Faisal opens Iraq National Assembly
—King Hussain of the Hejaz proclaims himself Caliph of Islam following abolition of the appointment by Ataturk, but without pan-Islamic acclamation
Sept.—British–Iraq Treaty accepted by League of Nations as meeting the League’s covenant
—Ibn Saud’s Wahabis raid the Hashemite summer palace of Taif in the Hejaz; townspeople massacred
Oct.—Mecca falls to Ibn Saud; King Hussain abdicates in favour of his son Ali
Dec.—George V and Faisal ratify the British–Iraq Treaty
1925
Jan.—GLB briefs League of Nations’ Turkish Boundary Commission
July–Oct.—GLB’s last visit to England; returns to Baghdad via Beirut with Sylvia Henley
Autumn—Sir Hugh, Dame Florence, and Maurice move to Mount Grace Priory to economize; Rounton Grange closed
1926
Jan.—Ibn Saud ousts Faisal’s brother Ali as King of the Hejaz; annexes the territory
2 Feb.—Half-brother Hugo dies of pneumonia
Mar.—Vita Sackville-West stays with GLB in Iraq
May—British General Strike; seven-month miners’ strike cripples steel industry
14 June—First room of Iraq Museum opened
July—Treaty between Britain, Iraq, and Turkey defines borders of Mosul district
12 July—GLB dies; military funeral; buried in British Cemetery, Baghdad
July—Memorial service at St. Margaret’s Church, Westminster; ministers pay tribute to GLB in British parliament
1927
Oil struck in Kirkuk
Dame Florence holds pageant at Mount Grace Priory in presence of Queen Mary, partly financed by sales of signed editions of Dickens’s works and letters to the family
Apr.—Tributes paid to GLB at Royal Geographical Society, London
Aug.—Publication of The Letters of Gertrude Bell by Dame Florence, who gives celebratory dinner inviting Faisal, Prime Minister Jafar, the Dobbses, the Coxes, and the Richmonds
1928
Window dedicated to GLB in St. Lawrence’s Church, East Rounton
1930
Commemorative bronze plaque unveiled by King Faisal; bust of GLB identifies the Gertrude Bell Principal Wing of the Iraq Museum
Dame Florence Bell dies
1931
Sir Hugh Bell dies; Maurice succeeds to baronetcy
1932
British School of Archaeology in Iraq founded in London (£4,000 donation from Sir Hugh)
Iraq joins League of Nations as independent state
1933
King Faisal dies; succeeded by son Ghazi
1939
King Ghazi dies in motoring accident, succeeded by son Faisal II
1940
Rounton Grange used as a home for Second World War evacuees and for Italian prisoners of war
1947
British Treasury grant enables formation of the British Archaeological Expedition to Iraq under auspices of the School of Archaeology; permanent base in Baghdad established
1950
Rounton Grange demolished
1958
Faisal II of Iraq assassinated in coup; Iraq declared a republic
1991
Jan.—National Museum of Iraq closed during the First Gulf War
2000
Apr.—Iraq Museum reopened
2003
Apr.—Following invasion of Iraq by Americans and British, the museum was looted of some ten thousand items and closed
NOTE ON MONEY VALUES
The following notes bring some of the amounts mentioned in this book and other, related amounts up to today’s values in sterling, by adjusting for the changes in the U.K. Retail Price Index to 2004 (with the U.S. dollar equivalent of $1.80 to the £). Amounts for wages and salaries are also adjusted for the changes in U.K. average earnings.
Around 1900, when Florence Bell was compiling At the Works, a family with two to three children on the lowest wage spent about £50 a year on rent, a limited diet, heat and clothing, insurance and tobacco, but had nothing to spare. A skilled ironworker was paid in basic wages about the same as a clerk in an office, on average £100 a year. This could be increased by overtime pay for working more than eight hours per day, plus bonuses, to above £150. That gives an RPI-adjusted purchasing power today of £9,600 ($17,300). If adjusted by the rise in average earnings that would be £50,000 ($90,000), reflecting the very different standard of living enjoyed by similar workers in developed countries today.
Gertrude Bell Page 53
