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
Vis
its 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
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 Amurat
h; 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