Thursday 14 May 2015

Gertrude Bell's footsteps

I'm often asked why I live in Turkey and I can only answer "kısmet' or fate. It wasn't a planned move and I had no reason to gravitate to the Eastern Mediterranean but when I look back over my teenage years, I can see the beginnings of an attraction that may have subconsciously led me to find my way to Western Turkey.  In my mid teens I was obsessed with Victorian lady travellers; Isabella Bird, Mary Kingsley, Freya Stark et al and oh how I wished myself into Rose Macaulay's novel, 'The Towers Of Trebizond'. The opening first line "'Take my camel dear' said my aunt Dot, as she climbed down from this animal on her return from High Mass" were just the words a young girl in the dull Midlands of the 1970s needed.  One of my heroines was almost too fantastic to be true - Gertrude Bell, after gaining a First in history from Oxford, was sent to Persia to stay with her uncle, a diplomat in Tehran. There she fell in love but her parents rejected her choice and her beau died soon after, so Gertrude threw herself into Near Eastern studies. Learning 7 languages and immersed in Near Eastern behaviour, she became the only female political officer in the British army and was instrumental in founding modern Iraq. A self-taught archaeologist she eventually founded the Baghdad Museum. She also found time to be a serious mountaineer.
From my later reading, I realise that, had I met her, I wouldn't have enjoyed her company as she was arrogant, intimidating and felt contempt for most women, not considering them worthy of suffrage, but she was the bee's knees to a 15 year old me.

So I'm really exited that Pat Yale is writing a blog about her journey following Gertrude Bell's travels in Turkey.  I'm hooked and can't wait for the trip to be collated into a book.



https://followingmissbell.wordpress.com/

19 comments:

  1. I'll be reading that with great interest...thank you for the tip!

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    1. I would lıke to read your travels ın book form too!

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  2. B to B, I know exactly what you mean about being a young girl filled with these tales of travel. Women who traveled in those days were sooo brave to me and I wanted to be just like them. I loved Freya Stark's In the Valley of the Assassins. Also looking forward to Pat Yale's book.

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    1. GB travelled to her excavations with a full china tea set. They knew how to do it in by gone days.

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  3. Pat's blog is excellent - even when she gets lost! But, then I expect 'Gert the Stuffed Shirt' female version of Cecil Rhodes probably did as well.

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    1. I used to get annoyed when she was mooted as the "female Lawrence of Arabia" - She was much more talented.

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  4. Old Gertie even gets a mention in Turkey St! A marvellous woman of the Empire but, yes, as you say, a little insufferable (a bit like the empire).

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    1. I'm ploughing through my book club book for Wednesday, then I can start the Kindle edition of Turkey Street.

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  5. How brilliant - thank you for sharing, look forward to Pat's adventures - and so glad you made Turkey your home and we got to know you : )

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    1. I unfortunately was in Greece when Pat passed through Bodrum. I'd have liked to hear more from her.

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  6. You write so well, B2B, that I can't help thinking it's a shame you didn't embark on this book yourself! Love this post. Axxx

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    1. Thanks for the lovely compliment but I'm too lazy.

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  7. B to B I don’t know if you can download BBC podcasts in Turkey. Gertrude Bell was Jim al-Khalili’s choice for a famous life in Mathew Parris’ radio programme of the same name.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00xhh2q

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    1. Thank you Dave, I will investigate this. I used to listen to this program when I was in the UK.

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  8. I like it this blog information, thanks for sharing

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  9. Ahh, as I was reading this, I was thinking, isn't this the woman Pat Yale is writing about at the moment. I was completely unfamiliar with her until then but yeah, as amazing as she was, I guess she had to be a bit arrogant to do all that she did. Not sure why she had contempt for us women though. ;)

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  10. I was very encouraged to find this site. I wanted to thank you for this special read. I definitely savored every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post
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  11. Like you I loved those intrepid lady travellers, especially when I found out that Gertrude Bell was one of the very early students at the fledgling Oxford college I eventually went to - a pioneer even then. :-) Thanks for the link to Pat's blog which I know I'll enjoy.

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