We owe a formidable debt as well to two librarians whose repeated assistance was invaluable to us: Catherine Cooke of the Westminster Library system in London, and curator of the Marylebone Library’s Sherlock Holmes Collection, and Christy Edina Allen of North Carolina State University, whose ability to track down obscure references was awesome. We also benefited greatly from several reference works, labours of love addressing Arthur Conan Doyle’s family, residences, chronology, and manuscripts, that have been compiled by Philip Bergem of St Paul, Minnesota, Brian Pugh of Crowborough, Sussex, and Randall Stock of Mountain View, California.
We benefited significantly from the work of other notable scholars of Conan Doyle’s life as well, including Georgina Doyle’s history of his first family, Out of the Shadows; Christopher Redmond’s account of his 1894 American speaking tour in Welcome to America, Mr Sherlock Holmes; Harold Orel’s Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Interviews and Recollections; Geoffrey Stavert’s A Study in Southsea: From Bush Villas to Baker Street; Alvin Rodin and Jack Key’s Medical Case-book of Doctor Arthur Conan Doyle; and two indispensable works by John Michael Gibson and Richard Lancelyn Green, Letters to the Press and A Bibliography of A. Conan Doyle.
We also thank, for their encouragement, information, and cooperation, M. C. Black, Peter E. Blau, Chris Bernstein, Peter Calamai, Caleb Carr, Stephanie Clarke, archivist at the British Museum, Professors John Corbett and Anne Crowther of Glasgow University, Susan E. Dahlinger, Michael Dirda, Douglas Elliott, Florence Fletcher, Andrew G. Fusco, Suzanne Gluck and her staff at the William Morris Agency, Clifford Goldfarb, Mrs Jan Graffius, curator of Stonyhurst College, Roger Johnson and Jean Upton, Dr Robert S. Katz, Dr W. D. King of the University of California at Santa Barbara, Andrew Lycett, Dr C. Paul Martin, Dr Donald K. Pollock of the State University of New York at Buffalo, Barbara and Christopher Roden of the Arthur Conan Doyle Society, Lloyd Rose, Caroline Scott of the Traditional Music & Song Association of Scotland, and Nicholas Utechin.
Finally, this book relied on the support of four heirs of Dame Jean Conan Doyle and her sister-in-law Anna Conan Doyle—Georgina Doyle, Catherine Doyle Beggs, Richard Doyle, and our collaborator, Charles Foley.
Index
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Entries in italics indicate pictures.
ACD denotes Arthur Conan Doyle.
Abbott, Lyman 420, 420n
Academy 266, 267
‘Actor’s Duel, The’ (ACD, story) 149-50, 177
Adventure of the Speckled Band (ACD, play) 567, 568, 569-70, 572, 589, 595, 595n
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The (ACD, stories) 300n, 315, 347n
Afghan War (Second, 1878-80) 246
Alexandra, Princess of Wales 500
All the Year Round 171, 174, 175, 176, 180, 182, 190
Allen, Grant 205-6, 300, 352, 353, 369, 387-8
‘Alpine Pass on Ski, An’ (ACD, article in Strand Magazine) 330, 333
Altham, Colonel 488
Angell, Revd Cyril 455, 476, 504, 506, 537, 589; engaged to Dodo 393-4, 394n, 397-8; marries Dodo 10; officiates at Touie’s funeral 534; visits ACD 554, 584; war service 642
Angels of Darkness (ACD, play) 272, 276-7
Anglican Alphabet 51
Answers 288-9
Appleton, D. 356, 418, 423
Arctic 165; Hope whaling expedition 122-8; in fiction 183; Arctic Seas lecture 210, 211, 212; writings on 10, 228; explorers 377, 377n, 577-8, 669, 669n
Arrowsmith, J. W. 247, 303-4, 305, 315
Ashdown Forest Hotel, Sussex 472-5, 482, 483, 510
Astor, William Waldorf 10, 380, 381-2
Athenaeum 266, 271, 301
Athenaeum Club 460n, 477
Austen, Jane 319
Authors Club 299n, 328, 426, 429, 460n, 482; ACD addresses 67n; ACD reads to 328;
American appeal 367; dinners 528, 533
Automobiles 11, 499, 520, 555, 556, 611, 619, 622, 625, 652, 660; ‘Billy’ 522, 522n; chauffeurs 491-2, 493, 613; holiday motoring 593; Holmes 577; petrol rationing 625; Prince Henry of Prussia Cup 574, 576, 576n, 576; speeding ticket 529, 529n; Wolseley purchased 491
Autowheel 551, 564, 564n, 589, 591-2, 591, 592, 593, 594; see also Motorcycles
Baker Street, London 66, 97, 164, 245
Ball, Henry 250-1, 252, 262, 269, 352, 353
Balzac, Honoré de 231, 303
Barnden, George 188, 193, 195, 199, 200, 201, 233; see also Gresham Life Assurance Society
Barr, Robert 304n, 305, 311, 338, 358, 360
Barrie, James 89, 311, 312, 313, 326, 384, 477; friendship with ACD 2, 305; as cricketer 10, 305; Peter Pan, 10, 305, 537; writes Holmes skit 305; ‘Adventure of the Two Collaborators’ 318n; collaborations with ACD 306, 316, 317n; ACD visits 314; visits ACD 583-4; and ACD’s Spiritualism 682
Barry-Doyle, Father Richard 642-3, 645, 647, 657, 657n
Battle, Elizabeth 592, 594, 614, 622, 655, 659
Beeton’s Christmas Annual 248; see also Ward, Lock & Co.
Belfast Evening Telegraph 579
Belgravia Magazine 165, 166, 232, 233
Bell, Dr Joseph 14, 100, 109, 178n, 244, 326, 327n; Holmes based on 100n; obituary 243n; reviews Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 315
Bernhardi, General Friedrich von 590
‘Beryl Coronet, The’ (ACD, story) 300
Besant, Annie and Frank 252n, 257
Besant, Walter 171n, 252, 257, 334, 387
Blackwood, William 364, 365
Blackwood’s Magazine 37, 129, 129n, 165, 251, 252, 253, 254
‘Blighting of Starkey, The’ (ACD, story) 569
‘Blood-Stone Tragedy, The’ (ACD, story) 222n, 226
‘Blue Carbuncle, The’ (ACD, story) 55, 299, 300
Blumenfeld, Ralph 3, 328n
Boer War 2, 7, 102n, 400-1, 407, 431-52, 466-7, 477n, 484, 492-4, 498, 499, 507, 579, 580; ACD’s view of 424-5, 434, 441; desire to volunteer 424, 426-8, 432-3; proposes mobilizing civilians 431-2, 433, 434, 469-70; turned down by Army 433-5; volunteers as surgeon 434, 436, 438; embarks for 439-41, 440; arrives in South Africa 442; as surgeon in 442-52, 445, 447, 449; Jameson Raid 367n, 400, 424, 436, 437; typhoid 444-5, 484-6; foreign vilification of Britain’s conduct 486-7; The Cause and Conduct of the War 487-9, 490-1, 492, 493; see also Great Boer War
‘Bones’ (ACD, story) 150, 151, 152
Bookman, The 315, 386, 417
Boraston, Robert 456, 457, 459, 461
Boulnois, Stratton 259, 266, 266n, 299, 360, 504, 543, 554
Bourchier, Arthur 411
Bourchier (Irish licentiate in Birmingham) 114, 115, 140n
Bow Bells 182, 226
Boy’s Own Paper 177, 207
Bradford Daily Telegraph 266
Brave Men’s Footsteps 51
‘Bravoes of Market Drayton, The’ (ACD, story) 259
‘Brigadier Gerard’ (ACD, stories) 13, 351, 370, 421, 422, 497, 502, 505, 510, 513, 516, 524; play based on 36n, 419n, 483, 513, 531, 532, 536
Briggs, Dr Gray Chandler 66
‘British Commando. An Interview with Conan Doyle’ (Trevor) 471n
British Journal of Photography 40n, 171, 187, 209, 226
British Medical Journal 117, 117n, 129, 203
British Museum 162n, 165, 291, 560
British Weekly 417
Broadbent, Sir William 484, 486
Brook, Clive, 683
Broughton, Rhoda 151, 151n
Brown, George Mackenzie 461, 462, 464-5, 466
‘Bruce-Partington Plans, The’ (ACD, story) 550
Buckle, George 299, 299n, 477, 479
Budd, Dr George 126, 129, 130, 131, 157; friendship with ACD at medical school 134; Bristol practice 134, 141, 155; ACD as junior partner
of 91, 155-8; ACD’s misadventures with 158-9, 163-4, 167, 169-70, 357; as ‘Cullingworth,’ 155, 156, 358; in fiction 141, 357, 578
Burns, Robert 18, 109, 475, 476, 490
Burns, William J. 596
Burton, Mary 40n
Burton, William Kinnimond 40n, 86, 174, 193, 208-9, 225, 238
Bush Villa(s), Southsea 161 et seq., 185, 281
‘Cabman’s Story, The’ (ACD, story) see ‘Mysteries of a London Growler’
Caine, Thomas Hall 271n, 383, 384-5, 387, 390, 494
Cambridge, Duke of 102, 102n, 439
Cambridge University 268-9, 523
Campbell, Major 671
Campbell-Bannerman, Henry 457, 458, 459
Canada 340, 343; in fiction 109, 298; in Boer War 492n; visit to Toronto (1894) 344; 1914 trip to Canada (1914) 594-6, 597, 598-9, 599; Western Wanderings 596; later trips 598n
Canney, Dr Leigh 484-6
‘Captain of the Pole-Star, The’ (ACD, story) 128, 183, 184
‘Captain of the Pole-Star, The’ (ACD, stories) 272, 274, 298
Carlyle, Thomas 141, 206-7, 210
Carte, Richard D’Oyly 316, 317
Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, The (ACD, stories) 683
‘Case of Identity, A’ (ACD, story) 54
Casement, Roger 562, 563, 578, 620-1
Cassell’s 73, 219, 220, 222n, 224, 225n, 226, 228
Cassidy, Father Francis (Stonyhurst) 21, 24, 25, 32, 79
Cause and Conduct of the War, The (ACD, nonfiction) 487-8, 489, 490, 491
‘Celebrities at Home: Mr Arthur Conan Doyle in Tennison Road, South Norwood’ 292n
Chamberlain, Joseph 401, 424, 458, 488, 490, 494
Chambers, Robert 666, 666n
Chambers’ Journal 113, 119, 171, 174, 259, 286, 666n
Channel Tunnel 588
‘Charles Augustus Milverton’ (ACD, story) 517
Christian, Princess 469, 469n, 490
Christy, Gerald 319n
Churchill, Winston 10, 470, 477, 580
Clarke, Dr (MP) 426
Clifton Gardens, Maida Vale 64, 65, 102, 104
Clifton House, Birmingham 112, 113, 114
Cliveden 380, 381-2
Coleridge, John Duke, 1st Baron 277-8, 293
College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow 152, 152n
Colley, Father Reginald (Stonyhurst) 17, 32, 62, 71
Collier’s Weekly 478, 510, 514, 517, 519
Coming of the Fairies, The (ACD, Spiritualism) 668, 668n
Conan, Marianne (grandmother) 8
Conan, Michael (great-uncle) 8, 17-20, 39, 68, 74, 77, 84, 88
Conan, Susan (great-aunt) 39, 88, 180, 182, 195
Conan Doyle, Adrian Malcolm (son) 9, 572, 589, 594, 683
Conan Doyle, Anne Mary Frances (Annette or ‘Tottie’, sister) 9, 17, 21, 60, 140, 273, 541; governess in Portugal 68, 69, 70, 73, 78, 121, 187, 273; relationship with ACD 26, 33, 44, 51, 60, 68, 78, death 70, 273, 428, 429; religion 51-2; letters from 26, 33, 44, 51, 77, 78;
Conan Doyle, Arthur 16, 27, 50, 81, 90, 132, 156, 185, 297, 301, 331, 338, 360, 371, 375, 395, 400, 403, 440, 445, 447, 449, 450, 455, 480, 502, 511, 545, 576, 583, 591, 599, 617, 619, 653, 675
CRITICAL RECEPTION OF WORK 266, 549-50; comic opera 317-18; A Duet 414, 415-18; historical novels 12-13, 275, 300-2, 303, 318-19, 387-8; Sherlock Holmes stories 315
DIARIES 126-7, 130n, 141, 147, 172n, 366
EDUCATION, EARLY LIFE: academic achievements 55-6, 61, 62-3, 68, 71, 72-3, 134-5, 152; bursary competition 83, 85, 92, 93, 95; chemistry 84, 85; childhood 5-6, 16; classics 20-1, 22-3, 24, 25, 36, 71, 93; foreign languages 19-20, 47, 53, 59, 71; geometry and mathematics 83, 85, 93; Jesuits 18-19, 74; schoolboy 1, 4, 17-88, 50, 81; theatre visits 65, 66; university 1, 13-14, 70, 73, 75, 83, 89-97, 90, writing and storytelling 17, 18, 28, 29, 31, 45
FAMILY 2, 8-10; helps with finances 69, 70, 113, 299, 321, 380, 421, 429, 469, 474, 537, 555, 574, 592, 594, 613, 662; care of younger siblings 99, 160, 164, 167, 215-16, 275-6, 310; marriages 241, 545, 545; birth of children 260-2, 315-16, 559, 560, 566, 568, 572, 589, 590; death of son 648, 649-50, 650, 651, 652, 656, 657, 659, 670; see also under individual names
FINANCES: childhood 5-6, 39-40, 60-1; as student 83, 92, 97-8, 111; and choice of career 106; as doctor’s assistant 112-13, 119, 149, 152; as ship’s surgeon 141; as doctor with Budd as partner 155-7, 158, 159, 163; as doctor in Southsea 161-4, 166, 167, 169, 171, 179-82, 184, 186-7, 191-5, 197, 198, 230, 233; Elmore Weldon and 169, 172; medical examiner, Gresham Life Assurance 186, 188, 193, 195, 199, 231-2, 233; as writer 143, 177, 179, 183, 250, 296, 303-4, 310, 323, 326, 365, 376, 379, 408, 412, 418, 429, 468, 474, 505, 510, 528n, 561, 562, 569-70; income tax 12, 202, 202n, 641; investments 266n, 367, 367n, 390, 409, 460-1, 522n, 549, 550-1, 564, 592-3; lecturing 326, 639, 655, 677, 677, 678; war correspondent 373-4; house expenses 378, 388, 389, 391, 392, 394, 411, 558; political campaigns and 410, 456, 464, 465; wills 438, 558; directorships 480, 504, 554
HEALTH 30-1, 474, 542, 565, 657; colds, sore throats, flu 14, 195, 294, 326, 364, 589; neuralgia 14, 68-9, 117, 195; sporting injuries 24, 25, 35, 35n; near-death experience, Arctic Circle 1880 126-7; colic and indigestion 194; low spirits 195; workload 305, 389, 522, 598, 628, 645, 659, 664, 683; diet and 475, 482-3; smoking and 475; teetotalism and 112, 129, 145, 229, 611, 611n; carbuncle 483; dyspepsia 483; grinding teeth 483; weight 483, 512; ptomaine poisoning 541, 542; indigestion 553; surgery for hemorrhoids 557, 558; lumbago 640; angina 683; death 681, 683; Victorian concern for health 14
HONOURS: Honorary L.L.D. (Doctor of Laws) Edinburgh University 523; knighthood 2, 476, 494-8, 500, 501, 502, 503, 505, 506, 507, 588; Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Surrey 498, 499, 502, 502
LECTURES, SPEECHES AND TALKS 319n, 533, 622; ‘Arctic-seas’ lecture 210-2, 214; Meredith lecture 255, 256, 257, 259, 588; Annual Booksellers dinner (1893) 319-20; UK lecture tour (1893) 322-4; American tours 326, 336-46, 596-7, 681; ‘romance of America’ speech (1894) 342-4; Indian famine fund lecture 378; ‘Sidelights on History’ lecture 421; ‘Typhoid, the Destroyer of Armies’ lecture 484-6; literature lecture 525, 526-8; ‘Romance of Medicine’ lecture 91, 95, 113, 570-1; Congo (Morel) lecture 570, 571; Shakespeare lecture 570; athletics lecture 588; Channel Tunnel speech 588; Canadian tour 594-600; World War I lectures 610-1, 611, 617, 622, 628, for recruiting 606, 608, 609; Spiritualism lectures and speeches 624, 632, 634-5, 643-4, 646, 655-6, 658-67, 669-79, 681; ‘New Revelation’ address 634-5, 636, 660; divorce law speech 637; ‘Death and the Hereafter’ lecture 658n, 659; Australian and New Zealand tour 669-70, 673-4, 676-8
LETTERS TO PRESS: on Koch’s cure for tuberculosis, letter to Daily Telegraph 280; ‘England and America’, letter to The Times 367, 367n; on the self-promotion of Hall Caine, letter to Daily Chronicle 384-5; attack on Robertson Nicoll, letter to Daily Chronicle 417-18; on civilian mobilization, letter to The Times 431-2, 434; on plans for war pamphlet, letter to The Times 490; on Edalji case, letters to Daily Telegraph 539, 540, 544-5; ‘England and the Congo’, letters to The Times 562, 563; conversion to Home Rule, letter to Belfast Evening Telegraph 579; ‘Cavalry-Erskine Childers’ letter to Saturday Review 580; on Berlin Olympics, letters to The Times 584; on body-armour, letter to The Times 620; on Casement death sentence, letter to Daily Chronicle 621; on Divorce Law Reform 637
LITERARY INFLUENCES AND READING 36, 37, 53, 148, 174, 231, 255, 550; Arthurian legend 23-4; Balzac 303; childhood stories 3; Dickens 101, 145, 177; Dumas 259; Gaboriau 243; Harte 177, 199; historical novels 32n; Holmes 141, 333; Macauley 68, 103; Meredith 259, 557; Middle Ages 265, 270-1; Poe 93, 94-5, 199, 243; poetry 199, 259; Renan 380-1; Rider Haggard 259, 260; Scott 30, 46, 48-9, 257n, 311, 325; Shakespeare 36, 46, 237; Stevenson 177, 256, 256n; Trollope 103; Verne 54