This month we’re celebrating the birthday of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes.
His surname is Doyle, but at some point in his life, he began using Conan, one of his middle names, with Doyle as if his surname was actually Conan Doyle.
I’ve been guilty of referring to him as Conan Doyle in several articles.
Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was a British writer and physician.
He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. His father, Charles, was born in England, but was of Irish Catholic descent. His mother, Mary, was Irish Catholic. In 1864, the family spilt up because of Charles’ alcoholism. Doyle was sent to live with Mary Burton, a family friend.
Doyle regularly corresponded with his mother during that time and throughout his life. Many of his letters have been preserved. In 1867, the family reconciled, but the alcohol had destroyed his father’s health and their family’s finances. They lived in poverty in a tenement. Doyle’s wealthy uncles stepped in, and when he was nine, they sent him to a preparatory school in England. Doyle appreciated the opportunity for an excellent education, but disliked the regimented curriculum and harsh discipline. Doyle rejected the strict religious doctrine of the school in favor of spiritualism.
Doyle enjoyed playing football (soccer) and cricket. He was also an excellent marksman, amateur boxer, golfer, billiard’s champion, and skier.
Doyle studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh Medical School and practical botany at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. During this time, he began writing short stories. His earliest known work, “ The Haunted Grange of Goresthorpe,” was rejected by Blackwood’s Magazine. His first successfully published work, “The Mystery of Sasassa Valley,” was set in South Africa. It appeared in Chambers’s Edinburgh Journal in 1879. A short time later, he published a scholarly work about the poison, Gelsemium, in the British Medical Journal. His article was recently useful in a 21st century murder investigation.
In 1880, Doyle served as a doctor on the Hope of Peterhead, A Greenland whaling ship.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine and a Master of Surgery in 1881 and became the ship’s surgeon on the S.S. Mayumba during a voyage to the West African coast. He completed his Doctor of Medicine, an advanced medical degree in 1885.
He joined a former classmate in private practice, but later left to open his own practice. His solo practice was not successful, and Doyle started writing to supplement his income and fill his free time.
Also in 1885, he married Louisa Hawkins. Louisa had tuberculosis. They had two children together before her death in 1906.
Doyle was a staunch supporter of vaccination and wrote several articles denouncing the opinions of anti-vaxxers.
Hoping to expand his practice, Doyle went to Vienna to study ophthalmology. Upon his return, he offered ophthalmology services, but could not attract patients.
In 1893, his father died.
After Louisa’s death, Doyle married Jean Elizabeth Leckie. They had three children.
None of Doyle’s five children had children of their own.
Doyle wrote “A Study in Scarlet,” the first Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson mystery when he was a twenty-seven-year-old student. After struggling to find a publisher, he sold his story in exchange for all his rights to the story to Ward Lock & Company for £29, the equivalent of $2900 dollars today. The piece appeared a year later in publications and received positive reviews.
Doyle partially modeled his character Sherlock Holmes after one of his university professors, Joseph Bell. Edgar Allan Poe’s character C. Auguste Dupin also influenced Doyle’s creation of Holmes even though Holmes disparages the Dupin character in “A Study in Scarlet.” Dr. Watson’s surname was borrowed from one of Doyle’s Portsmouth medical colleagues.
“The Sign of the Four” is the sequel to “A Study in Scarlet.” It was published in Lippencott’s Magazine in 1890. Doyle felt Ward Lock & Company had taken unfair advantage of him because of his inexperience as an author. He felt his talents were being exploited, and he soon figured out a way to part company with the publishers. The next Sherlock Holmes stories appeared in the Strand Magazine.
In an 1891 letter to his mother, Doyle considered killing off his Holmes character because his publishers were constantly asking for new stories involving the sleuth and Dr. Watson. The demand for new stories was so great that Doyle had little time to explore other writing ideas. He raised his rates several times think his publishers would stop buying the stories, but they gladly paid the extra money. He became one of the highest paid authors of his time.
In 1893, Doyle wrote what he believed would be his final Sherlock Holmes story, “The Final Problem.” In it, he had Holmes and his nemesis Professor Moriarty plunge to their deaths down the Reichenbach Falls.
The public refused to accept the death of their favorite sleuth. Finally in 1901, Doyle acquiesced to fans’ demands and in 1901, he resurrected Sherlock Holmes in “The Hound of the Baskervilles.”
The Sherlock Holmes character is featured in fifty-six short stories, and four novels by Doyle. The last short story was written in 1927. Holmes and Watson have also been featured in novels and short stories by other authors, on television shows, and in movies.
Doyle wrote novels and plays that did not feature his intrepid duo. Between 1898 and 1906, he wrote seven critically acclaimed historical novels and nine other novels. His later works featured Professor Challenger, a scientist. He also continued to write short stories and plays.
Doyle was knighted largely in part for his book supporting Great Britain’s involvement in the Boer War. He remained politically active and supported Britain’s entry in World War One.
He was also an advocate for justice. He personally investigated two closed cases that led to two men being exonerated of crimes they were alleged to have committed.
He was also drawn to spiritualism and mysticism. Doyle became more interested in spirituality after the death of his son Kingsley from pneumonia while he was recuperating from injuries he suffered at the Battle of the Somme. His novel, The Land of the Mist, centered on spiritualist themes.
Doyle died of a heart attack at his home. His final words, “You are wonderful,” were said to his wife.