Page 276 - Life of Gertrude Bell

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250 GERTRUDE BELL
Mrs Dower remarked in later life. And that quality of identifying
herself with the people among whom she moved, ordinary and
extraordinary people, was Gertrude’s great strength as a traveller
and as a lone woman in what was still a man’s world. Nothing is
more indicative of her genuine interest in people than her mar-
vellous collection of photographs, some 6,000 plates which cover
the entire period of her travels in the Middle East and make a
unique record of the architectural and archaeological features of
the region. But most importantly she captured the spirit and
character of the people she moved among, portraying their faces
and demeanours with infinite care and immense professionalism.
In her photography, as in almost everydiing she did, heart and
mind weighed equally in the scales.
The fact remains, however, that Gertrude could be an uncom­
fortable companion for those who did not stand up to her in
argument. She returned to Iraq by way of Cairo and Damascus in
the company of her cousin Sylvia Stanley, or Mrs Anthony Henley
as she had become, though sadly her husband had died just
before. The assured, defiant Gertrude found her match in her
travelling companion. Perhaps, as they passed through Syria, the
vision of Faisal as King of all the Arab lands came to mind again.
At any rate she turned to Mrs Henley and said: ‘The French will
be thrown out of here within a year.’ Surprised by the certainty
of Gertrude’s conviction, her cousin replied, ‘Surely not, Gertrude,
ml the French are much too strong and proud to allow themselves to
be pushed around by Faisal.’ Gertrude was emphatic. ‘Sylvia, you
must allow that I know best.’ Her cousin, a true Stanley, replied,
‘In that case, Gertrude, there can be no further rational conversa­
tion between us.’ Gertrude was always impressed by people who
fought back.

Perhaps Husain of Mecca had perceived early in his negotiations
with Britain that Baghdad was the logical axis of the Hashemite
empire he envisaged for himself and his sons. If so, he was not
alone. Sir Mark Sykes, a sick man as the war drew to a close and
unable to play a very active part in the proceedings which
followed from his impetuous war-time acts (he died at die Paris
Peace Conference in 1919), had realised that the capital of the
Abbassids was more representative than its predecessor Damascus
of ‘the other peoples who had been swept into the folds of the
mantle of the Prophet’; more cosmopolitan and more geographi-