Gertrude Bell, sometimes referred to as 'Queen of the Desert' was a force of nature. Born in 1868 in the North East of England, she was really ahead of her time in terms of how free she was as a woman. At the time history was one of the few subjects women were allowed to study and she was the first woman to graduate with a first class honours degree in Modern History from Oxford.
Afterwards she spent time mountaineering in Switzerland, even getting a mountain named after her, and traveling extensively throughout the Middle East pursuing her passion of archaeology and languages. She was fearless and intelligent, speaking fluent Arabic, Persian, French, German and also some Italian and Turkish. She became well acquainted with the geography, culture, customs and people of the Middle East and wrote several books on the subject.
Later she was recruited by British Intelligence to get soldiers through the deserts and became highly influential in shaping British imperial policy in the area, including during the creation of Iraq. She was the only woman holding political power in the region from the outbreak of World War I until her death and was one of the few representatives of British Government remembered by the Arabs with anything resembling affection.
I think her life is best summed up in the obituary written by her peer D.H. Hogarth. "No woman in recent time has combined her qualities – her taste for arduous and dangerous adventure with her scientific interest and knowledge, her competence in archaeology and art, her distinguished literary gift, her sympathy for all sorts and condition of men, her political insight and appreciation of human values, her masculine vigour, hard common sense and practical efficiency – all tempered by feminine charm and a most romantic spirit."