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Letter from Gertrude Bell to her stepmother, Dame Florence Bell

Summary
In which Bell writes from London and gives an overview of her recent activities and social engagements, noting that she has attended a College Concert at Harley Street. She adds that her sister's cold is better, and that Sophia and Aunt are going to see the arrival of the Shah of Persia at Cadogan House. Includes a postscript note.
Reference code
GB/1/1/1/1/2/2
Recipient
Bell, Dame Florence Eveleen Eleanore
Creator
Bell, Gertrude Margaret Lowthian
Person(s) mentioned
Croudace, Camilla
Creation Date
Extent and medium
1 letter plus envelope and note
Language
English
Location
England ยป London
Coordinates

51.495762, -0.158953

July 3. 95 Sloane Street. Dearest Mother. Today, soon after breakfast Caroline appeared, on her way home from riding, to ask me to sit to her this morning. So I went about 11 and stayed with her till past 1, but not to lunch. It was nice and soothing to have a long talk with her again. I told her how depressed I felt by your having gone away and she sympathised with me very nicely. This afternoon I forced myself into a bank and cashed a cheque in the teeth of a protesting clerk who said feebly it must have the signature of someone they knew besides mine! Then I paid a lot of bills - wasn't that a proud moment! Then I went to a College Concert at Harley St. I arrived late and left early, heard Nellie sing, talked to Miss Croudace, and came away having had quite enough of it.
The little Beresfords have been here all the afternoon playing with the little girls; they seem to have had a delightful time. Molly's cold is much better; they are both very brisk in this cool weather. Sophia and Auntie Bessie are going to see the Shah arrive at Cadogan House where he dines tonight. It's a perfect mania! Sophie has stood in two crowds already and seen him twice. She admits he's not at all interesting.

How scathing the reviews of Phyllis were! I wonder how poor Mrs. Bennett feels. Your very affectionate daughter Gertrude.

I must tell you an absurd story. Minnie Hope was sitting with an Oxford man. Presently he grasped her hand and said "do [you] see that young lady in a blue jacket." "Yes said Minnie, lying low. "Well" said he in an awestruck voice "she took a first in History!!"

Evolving Hands is a collaborative digital scholarship project between Newcastle University and Bucknell University which explores the use of Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) and Text Encoded Initiative (TEI XML) to enhance cultural heritage material. In this project, we have applied these methods to a selection of letters from the Gertrude Bell Archive.


IIIF Manifest
https://cdm21051.contentdm.oclc.org/iiif/info/p21051coll46/6730/manifest.json
Licence
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/