Returning to Aberystwyth from Edinburgh today, I had time to peruse the Sunday Times (London that is) at my leisure. There was a fascinating article about Gertrude Bell (who referred to T. E. Lawrence as "Dear Boy") and who warned the British government that the Palestinians would never give up any land to create an Israeli homeland.
Her story is an absolutely fascinating one. May we perhaps add her to our list of women about whom we should know more?
Ah, Miss Bell, also thought that women should not have the right to vote-but I believe this is because she lead a life of great influence and assumed all could do as she did. Forgetting that being in a family of wealth and influence does change one's outlook. Her abilities in the Middle East in late 19th/early 20th centuries were amazing and not to be slighted in no way. Funny, the ladies in our history and today who have lived freely- think everyone can do the same without any rights allotted to them. They forget they creating a bondage by standing on both sides of the fence.
ReplyDeleteI have been reading more on Ms. Bell since I posted yesterday. Nothing has been said about her anti-suffrage views at the site. I'll peruse her letters for clues to her true character. I shall post one of her letters for those, like me, who knew nothing of her exploits.
ReplyDeleteGertrude Bell was the Honorary Secretary of the British Women's Anti-Suffrage Leauge.
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