The sudden death of Miss Gertrude Bell in her beloved
Baghdad will come as a shock to many, and not least to those who have read her contributions to the Spectator. We deeply sympathize with Sir Hugh Bell, who lately lost his younger son too. Eastern studies were an interest or hobby which developed a peculiar genius in her, until she became an authority on her subject and an influence in the East. Then came the War, and people talked mysteriously of those three remarkable people, of whom two are now dead, Sir Mark Sykes, Col. Lawrence and Miss Bell," who were exerting with success their romantic influence in the East. After the British entry into Baghdad, and through the days of the Paris Confer- ence, her advice was more and more sought and followed. This was not less so after the British acceptance of the mandate for Mesopotamia. To her as much as to anyone the Kingdom of Iraq is a memorial.
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