“Elementary, my dear Watson.”
At these words, anyone can imagine the famous literary detective, Sherlock Holmes, sitting in a comfortable armchair and puffing away at his pipe as he slowly unravels an insoluble mystery. Yet how much do we really know about the man who first wrote these words? Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s inspiration and brilliance in his mystery tales are revealed in his own life.
The first person who led young Arthur to the light of literature was undoubtedly his mother, Mary Foley Doyle. The oldest of her children, Arthur Doyle was born May 22, 1859, and became the first to hear her tell stories. He loved her histrionics; the way her voice dropped to a dramatic whisper as she read him stories would be a vivid, lasting memory in the years to come.
Despite his love of stories from an early age, as a child, Doyle aspired to become a doctor. After boarding school, he attended the University of Edinburgh. During his schooling, he realized his talent for storytelling. It was also at the university that he would meet the man who would later inspire one of the greatest fictional detectives of all time: Professor Joseph Bell, whom Doyle looked up to as an amazing teacher. One can imagine that he must have had a great impact upon Doyle’s life for the young student to base a character on him.
In 1879, Arthur Doyle found himself sailing to the Arctic on a whaling boat. Eager for adventure, he had immediately accepted the requests of the whalers for him to accompany them as a medic. He enjoyed the journey and later sojourned to Africa on another boat, also as a doctor.
After this, Doyle became more interested in writing, and he inscribed several short stories, followed by a book which was regrettably lost in the post when being sent to a publisher. Despite his growing thirst for writing, Doyle was still passionate about his medical career. At the age of twenty-six, he settled down for a doctor’s life with his new wife Louisa. However, the excitement of writing overcame him one day, so he began writing A Study in Scarlet, the first of his stories featuring Sherlock Holmes.
Interestingly, Doyle made various changes to this story over the course of its making. Originally, his name for it was A Tangled Skein, and the main characters were called Sheridan Hope and Ormond Sacker. After making several edits, Doyle finally finished it, and the book was published in 1887. It was a sensation.
Seeing how successful his novel had been, Doyle was surprised and annoyed, observing that no one had taken any notice of his previous plays and novels. Why would they love this “commercial” story?
Although he didn’t realize it then, Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories would become more widely known than any of his other works because of the brilliant character inspired by Professor Bell. Holmes was loved by millions of people. He was sharp, calm, and intelligent. He was imperishable.
Not for long. In 1893, Doyle crudely flung Holmes to his death, and readers despaired as they read of his plunge down Reichenbach Falls in The Final Problem. Everyone was shocked, including Mary Doyle, who immediately importuned her son against the death of Holmes. So, cunning as always, Sherlock Holmes found his way back into Doyle’s stories, due to Mrs. Doyle’s encouragement. This motherly influence was also seen in 1902 when Doyle was offered a knighthood because of his pamphlet The Great Boer War. Although he initially considered refusing it, his mother convinced him to accept, and to this day he is known as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Although Doyle did not care much for his fictional hero, Holmes, he was in real life something of a detective himself. Investigating several crimes, he exculpated two men who had primarily been confirmed guilty. The gifted mind that led him to these conclusions is manifest in his detective stories.
After Louisa Doyle died in 1906, Arthur Doyle married young Jean Leckie. Meanwhile, he continued writing and created his last play based on his story “The Speckled Band.” Since the mystery featured a snake as the villain, Doyle insisted on using a real python, despite the actors’ complaints. This, however, did not turn out well, as the snake refused to cooperate.
Later on in his life, Doyle became interested in fantastic and supernatural creatures, as is evident in his book The Coming of the Fairies. This book was motivated by an affair that came to be known as the Cottingley Fairies, several photographs taken of young girls shown playing with fairies. Although they were later considered to be mere cardboard cutouts, the fairies fooled Doyle. To his death, he believed in their existence.
By 1929, Doyle’s health was failing, and he was found lying peacefully in his garden July 7, 1930, clutching in his hand a white snowdrop. His last words had been to his wife: “You are wonderful.”
Cottingley Fairies
Works Cited:
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/648500/arthur-conan-doyle-facts
https://www.bookgeeks.in/15-fun-facts-arthur-conan-doyle/
https://www.arthurconandoyle.com/biography.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottingley_Fairies
Picture Credit:
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle:
Cottingley Fairies:
