Sherlock Holmes & The Sherlock Holmes Society
Jackson
Dias
For
a century, people faced with a perplexing problem have written to the
great detective Sherlock Holmes at 21 Baker Street, London. They
appear undeterred by the fact that Holmes is an entirely fictional
character.
At
the Baker Street address, there is a Sherlock Holmes Museum, where
the rooms at his fictitious lodgings have been lovingly recreated
with furniture, paintings, newspapers, and odds and ends of the time.
The
Sherlock Holmes Society of London is devoted to studying the
detective and his colleague Dr. Watson, with due acknowledgement to
their creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The society, which has a
reputation for scholarship and dedicated research into aspects of
life in the Victorian and Edwardian times, has a worldwide
membership.
Brilliant
Scholar
Conan
Doyle was a keen sportsman and brilliant scholar. He studies medicine
at the university in his home town of Edinburgh where he met Dr.
Joseph Bell, who had some of the uncanny investigative and
observational ability which Sherlock Holmes was later to display.
After
qualifying and some adventures as a doctor on an Arctic whaling ship,
followed by a voyage to West Africa – Conan Doyle set up practice
in Southsea in southern England. Despite his busy schedule, he still
had time for writing. He had set his mind on creating a detective who
would have the analytical ability of Dr. Joseph Bell, and hit upon
the name Sherlock Holmes. Such a detective would need a less-inspired
sidekick and a rather ponderous doctor, named Dr. John Watson.
Great
Success
As
well as developing Sherlock Holmes, Conan Doyle was working on a
novel Micah
Clarke, set
in the 17th
century. This novel became a great success and the Holmes stories
began making such an impact that Conan Doyle found that he could
almost name his own price for them.
But
ironically, he got tired of the character, and in the story “The
Final Problem” he had Holmes and his arch-rival Moriarty plunging
to their deaths at the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland.
The
reading public went frantic and the people in the streets of London
wore mourning bands on their sleeves. But Conan Doyle was unmoved and
carried on with some more historical novels and a play. Then with the
outbreak of the South African war, he volunteered for service as a
doctor. He went back to Britain after the war and he stood,
unsuccessfully, for Parliament.
An
American publisher offered US$5,000 a story to find some means of
bringing Holmes “back to life”. And a British publisher came up
with another tempting financial offer. It was enough to convince him.
Holmes’ dramatic fight at the Reichenbach Falls had not, it now
transpired, killed him. The public crowded into the bookshops for his
new adventures.
Conan
Doyle was given a knighthood, not for writing the Holmes novels as
everybody assumed, but for his various services in public life.
Volunteer
Battalion
During
World War I, Holmes formed a volunteer battalion in which he became
active. He pestered the War Office with suggestions for improvements
in everything from machine guns to battleships. In 1917, Holmes’
last achievement was recorded in “His Last Bow” and Doyle’s
lively mind switched to a deep and sincere belief in spiritualism. He
died in 1930 but interest in him continued. Watson, who appears as
narrator of many of the tales, recorded his impressions: “His very
person and appearance were such as to strike the attention of the
most casual observer. In height he was over six feet, and so
excessively lean that he seemed to be considerably taller. His eyes
were sharp and piercing, and his thin hawk-like nose gave his whole
expression an air of alertness and decision. Also, his chin had the
prominence and squareness which mark the man of determination.”
For
followers of Sherlock Holmes, life is never dull. Conan Doyle would
surely have been delighted that after so many years his fictional
character can still arouse such interest.
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