Bell, Gertrude (1868-1926), was a British archaeologist and traveler. She spent much of her life traveling in unexplored areas of southwestern Asia. She wrote many works on travel and archaeology, but her best-known writings are her Letters (1927).)
Bell was born in Washington Hall, Washington, Tyne and Wear, England, on July 14, 1868. She was appointed to the Arab intelligence bureau during World War I (1914-1918), and became Oriental secretary to the high commissioner of Iraq in 1920. She acted as an administrative adviser during the accession of King Faisal I of Iraq, in 1921 (see Faisal . She helped found the National Museum of Baghdad in 1923. Bell died during the night of July 11-12, 1926, in Baghdad.
