Page 168 - Life of Gertrude Bell

i5o GERTRUDE BELL
has brought a motor car over with him so for the moment that’s
all we want,’ she replied. ‘But I can’t be certain that we may not
want one later, for this whole thing is in the course of organisa­
tion ... and I wish you could hold your hand till I see what
happens ... Will you ask General Bethune to send us out as
complete a list as he can of the Territorial Battalions — something
corresponding to the Army List for regulars ... ’ Gertrude was
seldom far from high-up sources of assistance when the occasion
demanded. She told Doughty-Wylic: ‘I had a hideous interview
with the passport people at the Red Cross ... age 46, height
5 ft 5^ ... no profession ... mouth normal... face, well... I
looked at the orderly: “Round,” she said ... ’
She worked in Boulogne for three months, throwing herself
into the tasks of organisation necessary to keep track of the
missing and wounded in the terrible conditions of war in Europe
in the late days of 1914 and the ensuing year. ‘In time I think we
ought to have one of the best run offices in France. We are already
scheming to get into closer touch with the front which is our weak
point. Lord Robert asked the Adj. General to let us have a
representative and he refuses categorically ... We have the most
pitiful letters and we see the most pitiful people ... ’
By January 1st, 1915 she was writing to her stepmother: ‘A
happy New Year. What else can I wish you? Diana and I caught
ourselves wondering last night whether the next 31st Dec. would
find us still sitting at our desks here ...’ In fact, Gertrude was
back home in March reorganising the London office for the
missing and wounded, which was in a chaotic state. She was
joined there by her cousin Sylvia Stanley. But already more
congenial work was beginning to materialise. In September 1914?
just after the outbreak of war, the Director of Military Operations
had been in touch with her for a report on her views on Syria
which had been requested by Wyndham Deedcs of Intelligence
in Cairo. On September 9th, the D.M.O. sent a copy of her
confidential report to Sir Edward Grey:

Syria, especially Southern Syria, where Egyptian prosperity is
better known, is exceedingly pro-English. I was told last winter
by a very clever German named Loytved and an old friend of
mine now at Haifa, that it would be impossible to exaggerate
the genuine desire of Syria to come under our jurisdiction. And
I believe it. Last Autumn an additional impulse was given to