1807

Gertrude Bell’s great-grandfather Thomas Bell, the son of a blacksmith, manufactures alkali using a new chemical process at Walker near Newcastle upon Tyne

1809

Thomas Bell, with partners James Losh and George Wilson, opens an iron foundry at Walker

1816 February

Grandfather (Isaac) Lowthian Bell born on the 15th to Thomas and Katherine (née Lowthian), elder brother of John and Tom

1832 June

King William IV signs the First Reform Act to increase the franchise and address electoral corruption

1835

Lowthian joins his father’s ironworks at Walker, later becoming a partner

1837 June

Queen Victoria succeeds William IV on the 20th

1842 July

Lowthian marries Margaret Pattinson on the 20th

1844 February

Gertrude’s father (Thomas) Hugh Bell, born at Walker on the 10th; future elder brother of Charles, Mary (Maisie), Florence, Ada, and Sophie

Gertrude’s mother, Maria (Mary) Shield, born

Lowthian creates a new company, Bell Brothers, with Thomas and John to operate the Wylam Ironworks, Port Clarence, Middlesbrough

1845

Lowthian takes control of Walker ironworks upon the death of his father

1850

Lowthian opens Washington Chemical Company with father-in-law, metallurgical chemist Hugh Lee Pattinson FRS, and brother-in-law

The company pioneers steel rope and undersea cable manufacture with Robert S. Newall (company becomes Brunner Mond, 1872)

1851 September

GLB’s future stepmother, Florence, born on the 9th to Dr. Sir Joseph and Lady Olliffe (née Cubitt) in Paris

May–October

Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace, London, receives 6 million visitors from May 1 to October 3

1852

Bell Brothers begins iron production at the new Clarence Ironworks

1854

Lowthian elected Lord Mayor of Newcastle (and again in 1863); begins building new home, Washington New Hall (the old hall being the birthplace of George Washington)

1858 August

On the 16th, first message sent by cable across the Atlantic; half the cable length made by Lowthian Bell’s Washington works

1859

Lowthian opens Britain’s first factory to manufacture aluminum at Washington; tours Newcastle wearing a top hat of aluminum, which was more expensive than gold

1865

Lowthian incorporates his Cleveland Railway into the North Eastern Railway Company (later London and North Eastern Railway)

1867 April

Hugh Bell marries Maria (Mary) Shield on the 23rd

1868 July

Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell (GLB) born at grandfather’s home, Washington New Hall, on the 14th

1869

Lowthian Bell is founding organizer of the British Iron and Steel Institute

1870

Hugh Bell and family move to newly built Red Barns, Redcar, near Middlesbrough

1870

Franco-Prussian War; Olliffe family evacuate from British embassy in Paris as Prussians approach

1871 March

GLB’s brother, Maurice Hugh Lowthian Bell, born on the 29th

April

Mother dies on the 19th, aged 27; Hugh’s sister Ada manages household

1872

Lowthian Bell starts building Rounton Grange on newly acquired estate near Northallerton

1874

Hugh Bell elected mayor of Middlesbrough

Lowthian Bell elected Fellow of the Royal Society

February–June

Lowthian also elected member of Parliament for North Durham; his object was to press the government to support technical education in Britain

1875

Lowthian wins by-election as member of Parliament for Hartlepool

1876

Sir Edward Poynter paints Gertrude and Hugh

Rounton Grange complete

August

Hugh Bell marries Florence Eveleen Eleanore Olliffe on the 10th

1877

Lowthian Bell is founding organizer of the British Institute of Chemistry (later, Royal Institute)

Queen Victoria declared empress of India

1878

Lowthian Bell awarded Légion d’Honneur

GLB’s half-brother Hugh (Hugo) born

1879

GLB’s half-sister Elsa born

1880

Lowthian Bell resigns from Parliament

1881

GLB’s half-sister Mary (Molly) born

1882

Forth Bridge Railway Company formed to construct and operate the world’s largest bridge; Hugh Bell appointed as a director

1884

Lowthian Bell appointed high sheriff of County Durham; rebuilds East Rounton church; his masterwork is published, Principles of the Manufacture of Iron and Steel: With Some Notes on the Economic Conditions of Their Production

Hugh again elected mayor of Middlesbrough; River Tees ferry Hugh Bell launched

April

GLB attends Queen’s College, London, living with stepgrandmother, Lady Olliffe, at 95 Sloane Street

1885

Lowthian Bell accepts baronetcy

Maurice Bell goes to Eton College, there until 1889

1886 April

GLB attends Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University

July–August

Lodges with a family in Weilheim, Germany

November

Grandmother Dame Margaret Bell dies on the 18th

1887

Great-uncle John Bell, Sir Lowthian’s business partner, dies

1888 June

GLB leaves Oxford with first-class honors

December

Stays in Bucharest with Sir Frank and Mary Lascelles (aunt); meets Valentine Chirol and Charles Hardinge; befriended by Queen Elizabeth of Romania (aka Carmen Sylva)

1889

GLB returns with cousin Billy Lascelles via Constantinople and Paris

GLB acts as housekeeper for her stepmother at Red Barns; does social work in Middlesbrough

GLB “comes out” in the London season, presented to Queen Victoria

GLB aids Florence’s group studying lives of local working families; becomes treasurer of its committee

War in South Africa resumes after Boer attack on Cape Colony

1891

Washington New Hall given away as an orphanage, named Dame Margaret’s Hall

1892 April

GLB travels to Persia with cousin Florence Lascelles to stay with her parents in Tehran; studies Persian; begins reading the poetry of Hafiz; romance with legation secretary Henry Cadogan in Tehran; betrothal intended

July

Hugh Bell stands for Parliament as a Unionist Party candidate, unsuccessful

December

GLB’s parents refuse permission for her to marry Cadogan, she returns to London with cousin Gerald Lascelles

1893

Cadogan dies

January

GLB goes to Switzerland and northern Italy with Mary Talbot

April

Travels to Algiers with father to visit great-uncle John Bell’s widow, Lizzie

May

Returns to London with Mary Talbot via Switzerland and Weimar where Maurice is staying

June–December

GLB in England, learning Persian and Latin; starts Arabic studies

1894 January–February

GLB and Hugh tour Italy

March–July

GLB in England; Safar Nameh: Persian Pictures published

1895

Sir Lowthian awarded Albert Medal of the Royal Society of Arts (granted the right to use the term Royal in 1908)

September

GLB in England working on Poems from the Divan of Hafiz

1896 March–April

GLB visits Italy with Hugh; takes Italian lessons

September

GLB visits the Lascelles, Ambassador Sir Frank and Lady Mary, at embassy country house in Potsdam

October–December

Retums to England, continues Persian and Arabic studies

1897 January–March

With cousin Florence visits the Lascelles in Berlin; takes tea with the German emperor and empress

April

Lady Mary Lascelles dies

June

Poems from the Divan of Hafiz published

July–August

GLB begins climbing during family visit to La Grave, France

December

GLB and Maurice go on world tour, visiting the West Indies, Mexico, San Francisco, Honolulu, Japan, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Burma; then return via Egypt, Greece, and Constantinople

1898

Sir Lowthian acquires the estate of Mount Grace Priory and restores the house

June

GLB and Maurice return to England

October

GLB in England, studying Arabic with Sir Denison Ross

1899 March

GLB travels to Italy, meets Hugh in Athens; studies Greek antiquities, meets archaeologist David Hogarth; returns alone via Constantinople, Prague, and Berlin

August–September

Visits Bayreuth in Germany to attend opera and returns to the French Alps to climb the Meije and Les Écrins

September–November

GLB in England

Bell Brothers becomes a public company, 50 percent owned by Dorman Long

November

GLB goes to Jerusalem to stay with the Rosens at the German Consulate; travels via Damascus, visiting Baalbek and Beirut, Athens and Smyrna; studies Arabic and Hebrew

1900 January

Maurice Bell leaves for the Boer War, commanding Volunteer Service Company of the Yorkshire Regiment

Hugh Bell’s sister, Aunt Ada, dies

February–June

GLB’s first lone desert journey begins in Jerusalem, visiting Petra, Damascus, Palmyra, Baalbek, Beirut, returning along the Mediterranean coast

June–July

GLB in England

August–September

In the Alps, climbs Mont Blanc, the Crepon, and the Dru

September–December

GLB in England

1901 January–

In London, watches funeral procession of Queen

February

Victoria; Edward VII succeeds to the throne

March–August

GLB in Redcar and London

Sir Lowthian sells majority holdings in the Bell companies and merges steel interests with Dorman Long (in 1902), releasing substantial funds; Hugh takes directorships in all Bell associated companies

August

GLB in Bernese Oberland, climbs Schreckhorn and Engelhörner range; Gertrudspitze named in her honor

September–December

In England, takes up photographic developing

1902 January–May

Travels with father and Hugo to Malta, then to Sicily, to be guided by Winston Churchill; travels on alone to Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, and Palestine

Maurice Bell returns from South Africa wounded

Ibn Saud regains Riyadh from Rashid dynasty in night attack

May

Boer War ends

July

GLB in Switzerland; via new route almost reaches summit of Finsteraarhorn, frostbitten

September–November

GLB in England, engages lady’s maid Marie Delaire

November

GLB leaves for second world tour, with Hugo

December

GLB attends Delhi durbar as guest of the Viceroy

1903

GLB and Hugo continue to Afghanistan, the Himalayas, Burma, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Korea, Japan, Vancouver, the Rocky Mountains, Canada, Boston, and Chicago

July

Return to England

1904 January

Half-sister Molly marries Charles Trevelyan

February

Sir Lowthian gives £5,000 ($752,000 RPI adjusted) to each of his grandchildren

April

Entente Cordiale established between Britain and France

August

GLB at Zermatt, climbs the Matterhorn

September

GLB in England

November

Studies antiquities in Paris with Salomon Reinach

December

Sir Lowthian, 88, dies on the 20th at London home, Belgravia; Hugh succeeds to baronetcy and inherits £750,000 ($112,816,000 RPI adjusted)

GLB goes on archaeological trip via Paris, Marseilles, Naples, Beirut, Haifa, and Jerusalem; then takes desert route to Druze mountains, Damascus, Homs, Baalbek, Orontes valley, and Aleppo; continues on horseback to Antioch, Osmaniye, Adana, Tarsus, and Karaman; then by train to Konya, explores Binbirkilise

1905 April

GLB recruits Fattuh, her principal servant on future desert journeys

May

Stays in Constantinople before returning to England to begin writing The Desert and the Sown

Sir Hugh and family move to Rounton Grange

October

Studies ancient manuscripts in Paris with Reinach; writes essay on the geometry of the cruciform structure

November–December

Begins to transform the Rounton Grange gardens

December–February (1906)

Travels to Gibraltar, Tangier, Spain, and Paris with Sir Hugh

1906 February–December

GLB in England

Sir Hugh appointed Lord Lieutenant of the North Riding of Yorkshire (25-year tenure)

December

GLB and Sir Hugh arrive in Cairo, joined by Hugo from Australia

1907 February

Retum to England, delayed by Sir Hugh’s illness

March–July

GLB in Turkey, travels on horseback across Anatolia visiting ancient sites; works with Professor Sir William Ramsay in Binbirkilise; meets Dick Doughty-Wylie

July

Half-sister Elsa marries Herbert, later Admiral Sir Herbert Richmond

August

GLB takes Fattuh to hospital in Constantinople; guest of the grand vizier

August–December

GLB in England; publication of The Desert and the Sown

October

GLB trains in surveying and mapmaking with the Royal Geographical Society

1908

Young Turks’ Committee of Union and Progress rises against Sultan, taking six more years to achieve full power over Ottoman Empire

GLB in England all year; becomes founding secretary of the Women’s National Anti-Suffrage League; drafts The Thousand and One Churches; holidays in North Wales with Valentine Chirol and Frank Balfour

Doughty-Wylie unofficially rallies Turkish troops to stop massacre of Armenians, is wounded but organizes relief for 22,000 refugees

September

Hugo Bell ordained priest; curate of Guiseley, Leeds

1909 January–July

GLB travels to Syria and Mesopotamia on horse-back, follows Euphrates River to Baghdad, measures palace of Ukhaidir, then follows Tigris River to Turkey

July

GLB in England; publication of The Thousand and One Churches; draws palace of Ukhaidir; writes about Armenian monasteries for Josef Strzygowski; meets Sir Percy Cox, discusses with him proposed desert journeys; begins Amurath to Amurath; continues developing Rounton gardens, now becoming a showpiece

Florence becomes first president of the North Riding branch of the British Red Cross (until 1930)

1910 January

Hugh Bell stands as Liberal parliamentary candidate for the City of London

February

GLB visits archaeological sites in Italy; pays flying visit to Munich

May

George V succeeds Edward VII

1911 January–May

GLB goes via Beirut and Damascus across the desert to Baghdad to check measurements of Ukhaidir; travels north along Tigris; meets T. E. Lawrence at Carchemish in Syria working for David Hogarth

June

Returns to England; publication of Amurath to Amurath

1912

GLB in England all year; involved in worldwide fund-raising for relief of Constantinople after the great fire; creates new water garden at Rounton; meets Doughty-Wylie in London

1913

GLB in England; completes The Palace and Mosque at Ukhaidir

Elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Geographical Society; presented with a miniature theodolite as its Gill Memorial Award; she is the first woman to receive an RGS award

Woodrow Wilson becomes 28th president of the United States

November

GLB travels to Damascus to organize journey to Hayyil, with intention of meeting Ibn Saud in Riyadh

December

GLB and caravan leave for Hayyil

1914 February

GLB arrives in Hayyil, put under house arrest by the ruling Rashids, then released

February–May

Continues to Baghdad; journeys through Mesopotamian and Syrian deserts

Returns to England

June

Churchill persuades British parliament to approve Admiralty purchase of 51 percent of Anglo-Persian oil company to secure fuel for navy

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria shot at Sarajevo on the 28th

July

GLB awarded Gold Medal by the Royal Geographical Society

August

First World War begins; GLB gives speeches to raise troops

Publication of The Palace and Mosque at Ukhaidir

Maurice mobilized as Lieutenant Colonel commanding 4th (territorial) Battalion, Green Howards

October

Turkey joins war as ally of Germany

November

GLB works at Lord Onslow’s Hospital, Clandon Park, Surrey

British Indian Army expeditionary force occupies Shatt al Arab and creates a base at Basra

GLB takes charge of the Red Cross Wounded and Missing Bureau in Boulogne

1915 April

Maurice Bell on Western Front leads attack at Fortuin

Lady Florence sets up auxiliary convalescent hospital for the Red Cross at Rounton Village Institute

British begin Gallipoli campaign against the Turks on the 25th; Dick Doughty-Wylie dies there on the 26th

April–November

GLB opens new London office at 20 Arlington Street for the Red Cross Wounded and Missing Bureau

May

British Liberal prime minister Asquith invites Bonar Law’s Conservatives to join a coalition government; Churchill forced to resign from the Admiralty

September

British win decisive battle against Turkish/Arab army at Kut and advance to Ctesiphon near Baghdad

November

17th: GLB leaves Sloane Street, London

20th: She embarks at Marseilles for Egypt

26th: She dines in Port Said with Lawrence and Hogarth

27th–29th: She is missing, probably took ship to Dardanelles, climbing beach to visit the grave of Doughty-Wylie

30th: GLB back in Port Said, takes train to Cairo

British defeated by Turkish force at Ctesiphon, retreat to Kut

November–December

GLB works in Cairo for Gilbert Clayton, director of military intelligence and also responsible for Egyptian civil intelligence

December

British encircled at Kut, siege begins

1916 January–February

GLB in India, advises viceroy

Arab Bureau established in Cairo to collect intelligence of Middle Eastern affairs and disseminate information to British government departments

February–December

GLB in Basra as assistant political officer with rankof major under Chief Political Officer Sir Percy Cox, reporting to General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC) Indian Expeditionary Force in Iraq

February

Hogarth in Cairo office initiates the “Arab Bulletin” as a regular intelligence report; GLB is the principal contributor from Basra

March

British evacuate Gallipoli

Maurice wounded in France

April

T.