Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Sources 9780773593718

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Sherlock Holmes, a Study in Sources Donald A. Redmond

McGill-Queen's University Press Kingston and Montreal

© McGill-Queen's University Press 1982 ISBN

0-7735-0391-9

Legal deposit 3rd quarter 1982 Bibliotheque nationale du Quebec Printed in Canada This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Publication has also been assisted by the Canada Council under its block grant program.

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The Canada Council Conseil des Arts du Canada 1957-1982

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Redmond, Donald A., 1922– Sherlock Holmes, a study in sources Includes index. ISBN 0-7735-0391-9 1. Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir, 1859-1930 — Characters. 2. Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir, 1859-1930 — Sources. 3. Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir, 1859-1930 — Criticism and interpretation. I. Title. PR4624.R42 823'.912 c82-o94628-1

To Billy, Kitty Winter, and Mrs Cecil Forrester Who were patient, enthusiastic, and encouraging

What should I call the fellow? ... First it was Sherringford Holmes then it was Sherlock Holmes. He could not tell his own exploits, so he must have a commonplace comrade as a foil ... A drab, quiet name for this unostentatious man. Watson would do. So I had my puppets and wrote my Study in Scarlet. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Memories and Adventures How can one sum up the sources of the Sherlock Holmes Adventures? ... We have to do with several hundred characters, almost all of whom appear in only one of the stories. What they are and what they do only interests us in so far as it concerns the hero ... they are technically speaking mere satellites. Pierre Weil Nordon Conan Doyle All through October I was searching for the names of my characters. I have always spent a great deal of time over choosing my names and even after sixty years of it I can still be surprised by a new name to make a note of. Compton Mackenzie My Life and Times. Octave 5, 1915-1923

Contents Introduction / xiii 1 The Full Strength of the Organization / 3 2 A Canonical Rule of Three / 6 3 The Name is Familiar to Me / 14 4 The Absence of Thomas / 18 5 A Scarlet Study in Southsea / 21 6 A Strong Family Resemblance / 29 7 Scandalous Bohemian Names / 35 8 Red-Headed Conundrum / 39 9 Five Pips for Gloria Scott / 44 10 Boscombe, Boone, and the Band / 51 11 The Doctors' Quarter / 56 No Rule of Thumb for Engineers / 68 12 13 An Ungovern(ess)able Situation / 72 14 Journey to Birmingham / 75 15 Croydon, Norbury, and West Sussex / 79 16 Aldershot, Reigate, and Old Soldiers / 83 17 Patience in Brook Street / 88 18 The Final Memoirs / 92 19 Name that Hound, and His Friends / 99 20 Nameplates on the Empty House / iog Murder on Home Ground / 119 21 Dancing Norfolk Names / 123 22 23 The Bicycle Craze / 128 24 Priory Pride in Names / 131 25 The Initialled Tobacco-Pouch / 136 26 Charles Augustus / 142 27 The Bust-Breaker of Baker Street / 146 28 Too Big for Their Cantabritches / 152 29 The Terrible Death of Willoughby Smith / 1 55 3o Three-Quarters of Trinity College / 16o 31 The Game Afoot at Marsham / 165 32 The Spy and the Spot / 167 33 Wistful Lodgers in the Wisteria / 172 34 Underground or Underwater, Deadly / 178 35 Who the Devil Was the Lady in the Red Circle? / 185

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36 Dying Despite the Doctors / 195 37 A Maze, Amaze, A Mazarin / 199 38 Thor Bridge Still a Problem / 203 39 A Remarkable Collection of V's / 207 40 Alias Three Forgers / 211 41 A Few Illustrious Names, and Others / 214 42 The Three-Gabled Fable / 218 43 Something of the Final Five / 221 44 Into the Valley, with Fear / 228 45 The Noble Bachelors, and Benedicts / 237 46 A Surplus in Surplices / 241 47 Such Nice Neighbours / 251 48 A Few of the Signs / 265 49 Four Adventures, Fourteen Names / 272 5o Who the Blazes — ? / 278 51 The Creeping Man and His Last Bow / 281 52 What About the Others? / 285 53 The End of the Adventures / 290 L'Envoi (by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) / 303 Notes / 305 Some Sources of the Sources: Bibliography / 327 Key to Abbreviations of Titles / 343 Index / 345

Tables i 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Medical Men Named in the Canon / 58 Medical Men in the Canon (Summary) / 59 Full Canonical Names (Forename plus Surname) in Crockford's Clerical Directory 1921/22 / 2 43 Canonical Names Found in Crockford and Edinburgh Lists / 2 45 Canonical Surnames Found in Published Directories / 246 Neighbours / 252 Possible Neighbours, by Publication Period of Case / 264 Canonical Names Not Located in Any One Source / 288 Class Distribution of Canonical Names Occurring in Post Office London Directory 1910 (Commercial Directory and Court Directory Sections) / 301

Introduction Craftsman or copyist? Genius or journeyman? Artist or artisan? Of these, what was Conan Doyle? Does anyone take Conan Doyle seriously? Who can explain the phenomenon which makes Sherlock Holmes the instantly recognizable stock figure, probably the only such stereotype and standby in late Victorian and early twentieth-century fiction? Small fanatic groups rally to the cause of other fictional heroes from Tarzan to James Bond — and scores of forgettable detectives moulder in forgettable detective stories, while durable dated Holmes, whose career is now a century old (and he himself better than a century and a quarter according to his supporters) is as crisply readable and as much read as ever. If this is not literature, it is certainly durable craftsmanship, such that while Conan Doyle's other works fade into that greyness explored only by the occasional match-striking literature student, new editions of Sherlock Holmes, and Holmeses who never knew Conan Doyle, roll steadily from the presses. Such durability demands explanation; that explanation has largely remained wanting. The premier place of Conan Doyle in the history of the modern detective novel has been paid proper service in sundry monographs, yet their authors have not tried to explain why or how Doyle sculpted such long-lasting wares. A dozen lives of Doyle have been published, yet the only substantial scholarly study of Doyle and Holmes, that of Nordon, appeared in French (1964) and received scant attention in a slightly skimped English translation (1966), while English literary critics have contented themselves at taking potshots (like Pearson), or skipping over highlights (like Symons), or simply striving for effect (like Higham). Holmesian enthusiasts (British) or Sherlockian fanatics (American) have for the most part ignored Doyle altogether, or at best looked for personal parallels ("The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes"). Occasionally one of them has found, probably by accident, a real-life antecedent or germinal incident which can be followed to eventual fruition in one of the sixty tales of Sherlock Holmes: for instance, a Ross Lowis Mangles who subsequently becomes Ross & Mangles in The Hound of the Baskervilles, or a family of Cubitts in Norfolk the young hopeful of whom scribbles his name in stick figures which, likely copied from a popular children's magazine, eventually become "The Dancing Men" and make of Hilton Cubitt a central tragic figure. One anti-Holmesian, a SwissFrench Colonel retired from a police career in several countries, reads

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Introduction

Sherlock Holmes in execrable French translation and in disgust writes his own condemnation of Holmes as "the king of cheats" and Doyle as the plagiarist of Poe and Gaboriau. None of them have looked hard and long enough at Conan Doyle and what Doyle himself called his "puppets," to ask how they came to life. For to life Sherlock Holmes and his staunch Dr John H. Watson have come. Independent life, the life of myth, and the immortality of the mythical hero are theirs, though many characters in the tales through which they move are something less than alive and sometimes less than three-dimensional. But all, alive or not, are sufficiently realistic that the transition from tale to myth to reality is an effortless one. As the hundred years increase and increasingly separate new readers from the i 895 which is the eternal age of Sherlock Holmes, the actuality of Victorian London becomes less clear to the audience; but if the depiction had not been sufficiently true, to its original readers in i 887 and i 890 and 1891 to 1927, it could not remain ideally true to readers now. If the houses of London that we see in the stories are no more genuine than those false fronts behind which the Metropolitan Railway dashed smokebillowing under London streets in The Bruce-Partington Plans and in certain streets of South Kensington, they are at least built of genuine brick. A few students have picked up odd bricks and found them solid. Even if it be admitted that Conan Doyle is not a Hardy or a Meredith — why belabour or belittle him for that? He is better than a Haggard or a Hope; far, far better than a Wallace or LeQueux. Part of the study of architectural history must be the study of the bricks of which buildings are composed. Part of the method of the archaeologist is the examination of the odd bricks that remain to his finding, and the drawing out of them such facts as can be discovered or induced about their use in the original building. Such inductive methods may well be used in the study of authorial method as well as of architecture. Indeed, the tedious and prosaic counting of words in an author's prose, englamoured by the use of the computer to the task, is now heralded by some as a test of true authorship and identity in comparative study of works as venerable as Shakespeare's. So the present study proposes to look at a few of the Victorian bricks in the Sherlock Holmes structure: the personal names, chiefly surnames, with which Conan Doyle christened his cast. My preoccupation with this topic began in the i g6os through fascination with the so-called unreported or unpublished cases of Sherlock Holmes: those stories barely, casually, mentioned by Dr Watson with the infuriating aside that these were tales "for which the world was not yet

Introduction

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prepared." Pursued with determination through the jungles of a large library, some few of these allusions proved to have contemporary relevance. They would have meant something to the Victorian reader, much as would a late twentieth-century reference (in the usA) to "the real truth about the Watergate matter" or (in the ux) to "the facts behind the Profumo scandal." In the process of following those enigmatic casedroppings, some one hundred and one of them, occasionally the name of one of the characters in a Sherlock Holmes story turned up quite aside from the "unpublished" matter, or sometimes entangled with it. In The Problem of Thor Bridge, although the reason for the mention of "Isadora Persano," who was found "stark staring mad" and before him a matchbox containing a remarkable worm said to be unknown to science, may continue to elude us, our attention becomes diverted by the question why the policeman in the case was named Sergeant Coventry, and why the rising young barrister retained to defend Grace Dunbar was named Joyce Cummings. Why two apparently feminine first names attached to masculine persons in the case? At the first crest of the so-called Sherlock Holmes boom of the i 97os two works appeared. One was Nicholas Meyer's The Seven Per Cent Solution, which swept to immense success as novel and film: a Holmesian pastiche involving Sigmund Freud as weaner of Sherlock Holmes away from cocaine addiction. The other was Naked is the Best Disguise by Samuel Rosenberg, a happily rambling nonfiction study of the Sherlock Holmes stories in which the reader was hustled along by Rosenberg as he enthusiastically and a trifle clumsily discovered what he called the Conan Doyle syndrome: a set of phenomena, allusions, or themes which repeatedly occur as underlying thoroughbass to the melody of the plot and the counterpoint of Sherlock Holmes's deductive brilliance in the stories. These under-themes were, like Holmes's cure from cocaine addiction, purely Freudian. They included a dark place or room; a written message; an image of death, violent, often of many people; sudden surprise reversals of sexual identity. Naked is the Best Disguise gave several examples, and since its publication other scholars, notably Batory, have identified yet more examples in the Holmesian Canon. Rosenberg also identified numbers of characters in the tales with original sources — some being as it were "theme" sources, such as Professor Moriarty with Nietzsche, and some "name" sources such as Jabez and Ezekiah in The Red-Headed League with interlinked Biblical names. The ingenuously egotistical style in which Rosenberg's revelation was written infuriated or amused far more people than it convinced. His message was pitched at the wrong audiences. American Sherlockians

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made a career of ignoring Conan Doyle. British Holmesians could not appreciate as breezily written an American work as Naked is the Best Disguise. The general readership who lapped up Meyer's Seven Per Cent Solution and held out bowls for more could not have cared less for Rosenberg's Freudian navel-contemplation, not even if Rosenberg was right. He attempted, and succeeded, in showing that many small traces may be found, underlying the detective stories, of a complicated and at times troubled author. Rosenberg had made a serious analytical attempt at studying Conan Doyle — whose bluff, hearty sportsman image and best-known popular character effectually shielded a sensitive, warm, staunch man, whose family life suffered severe strain for many years, who suffered great personal losses, and who like the steel of Damascus swordblades, toughened and strengthened by work-hardening, fully deserved the simple inscription on his tombstone: "Steel True, Blade Straight." None of the tension in his own life appears in his 1924 memoirs, which are hardly biographical and never introspective; and his many biographers are thoroughly decoyed by appearances. Colonel Henri Mutrux in his 1977 Sherlock Holmes: roi des tricheurs "king of the cheats" — had not been the first to use that theme. Pope S. Hill had much earlier written a brief monograph called "The Sherlock Holmes Hoax" using the tongue-in-cheek theme that beneath the tales of Holmes lay a sub-structure of entirely different plots. Rosenberg came close to such a revelation in his analysis. Neither quite succeeded. Still less did Colonel Mutrux. But they all did suggest that Doyle would bear a good deal more analysis. By the time of Mutrux's 1977 tirade, the present study and search was under way. The basic question which it undertook to tackle was this: Whence come the names in the Sherlock Holmes tales? Were they chosen at random, or by what means? By this time a couple score of names had been located in sources not only which would have been available to Doyle, but which he could hardly have overlooked. A hypothesis could then be formed: that Doyle obtained and used names which he found available to him in current sources of several kinds; that in many cases these names are used because of connotations which would have been evident to at least some readers; and that plot incidents, characteristics of individuals, and names, taken from current sources or Doyle's retrospective reading, were carefully reworked, pieced, and joined, into his own constructions. If that "uncomfortable intrusion of fact" into the happy Holmesian hobby repels any Sherlockian, he or she is now warned to read no further. The fiction of the "literary agent" and Watsonian Boswellism has

Introduction

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no place here. Doyle's skill as a writer became more evident as the work progressed, and one can only marvel at the wide range of his activities and interests, his phenomenal memory for all he had read, seen, and encountered, and his facility in combining, reusing, and making vital the incidents and characters under his pen. This study of Conan Doyle is therefore less a study of architecture and design than an archaeological dig for shards and bricks. At the end of a year of systematic search, with frequent serendipitous discoveries and occasional happy assistance by many interested acquaintances, a sufficiently large pile of bricks had been gathered that something of the dimension and substance of the building might be perceived. This does not make a restoration project, or even enable an architect's sketch to be redrawn; but it does give a great appreciation of the care, energy, and effort of the builder, of the skill with which the bricks were fitted together and the mortar spread and scribed between them. Further study of Doyle is needed. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has now been at rest fifty years, and the works about Sherlock Holmes are coming into public domain. Holmes is no longer Doyle's creation and the property of his Estate — he belongs to everyone and to myth. Need we wait for the century, for the completion of the myth and some dusty relegation of Doyle, which would leave him to become the property solely of bonedry academia and therefore proper topic for dissertations? Never; the enthusiasm of followers of Sherlock Holmes should give equal warmth and energy to the cause of proper study of Conan Doyle. Endless notes could have been appended to each item in the text. They have been deliberately omitted, save to identify quotations and some few particular items, but a survey of sources is appended. It may be understood that unless they are unusual, name, address, and date may be verified in the appropriate standard tools: city and county directories; biographical directories, general, professional, and avocational; major published library catalogues, such as the National Union Catalog (usn) and the British Library's Catalogues; and of course The Times. Less general sources are specifically given in the bibliography. A fully documented draft is on deposit at the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection of the Metropolitan Toronto Library. One of the discouraging features of my research was the unavailability of many of the necessary files of sources in North America. The Library of Congress, the Metropolitan Toronto Library, and the Provincial Library of British Columbia kindly made volumes available; but only the vast resources of the Cambridge University Library made the work possible. Other collections consulted included the St Bride Printing Library, the Guildhall Library, and the

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Introduction

British Library, and the files in the offices of Lloyd's Register and Lloyd's of London. Kind assistance with inquiries was given by the Central Library, Portsmouth, and the Cambridgeshire Collection, Central Library, Cambridge. The quotation from Compton Mackenzie, My Life and Times, is with the permission of the Society of Authors as literary representative of the Estate of Compton Mackenzie. It was a delight at one point in the year of research in England to talk to Dame Jean Conan Doyle (Lady Bromet), Sir Arthur's daughter, and to inspect some of Sir Arthur's own books in her possession. Regrettably, his own original notebooks are among materials at present the subject of litigation, and were not available for study as they had been to Carr and Nordon some years previously.

Sherlock Holmes, a Study in Sources

1

The Full Strength of the Organization ` .., that by no means represented the full strength of the organization ... Altogether there were not less than five hundred ... " The Valley of Fear When I began to study systematically the names of characters in the sixty Sherlock Holmes tales, there arose the question of a complete list of those creations: from Old Abrahams in mortal terror of his life, to Inspector Youghal, and Zamba of the firm of Castalotte & Zamba. The irrepressible but irresponsible Col-Dr Henri Mutrux in his Sherlock Holmes: roi des tricheurs, discussing a case which he identifies as "Le Manoir de l'Abbaye ou l'Abbaye de Grange," somehow pauses to observe: Let's consider also the considerable number of proper names to be counted in this tale which doesn't exceed some fifty lightly printed pages. We're offered a display of sixty words beginning with capital letters. That gives for the total production [of the sixty tales] a minimum of about 8500 names to be invented in making the effort not to fall into repetition.' Marder on the other hand says "... according to my compilation there are 402 characters"2 in the Holmes cycle. Six major lists are at hand: Jay Finley Christ's 1947 Irregular Guide to Sherlock Holmes; William Goodrich's "Reference Guide" published serially in Baker Street Miscellanea commencing in 1975; Michael and Mollie Hardwick's Sherlock Holmes Companion of 1962; Orlando Park's Encyclopaedia, also from 1962; Edgar W. Smith's Appointment in Baker Street from 1940; and Jack Tracy's much later and more comprehensive Encyclopaedia Sherlockiana (1977). These list respectively 659, 74 0, 232, 682, 42o, and 839 proper names (using the surname lists only in the case of Christ and Goodrich). All except possibly Tracy have omissions. For convenience, Goodrich's "Guide" has been used as a working list. It omits most "real," ie, historically known, persons, but not all. For instance, Peace, Palmer, and Pritchard the criminals are not there, but Hare, Sanger, and Wombwell of the world of entertainment are included. Both halves of a compound firm name, such as Ross & Mangles, are entered. A scattering of canonical names has somehow been omitted: Bruce-Partington, Johnson in The Missing Three-Quarter, Marcini, Staphouse. Such names were added. As the count developed, problems of definition cropped up. What

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Sherlock Holmes

is the full strength of the organization? "How many canonical characters are there?" is a rather different question from "How many names appear?" Ten problems had to be tackled. Problem is Real persons are eliminated in this accounting. Some are not easy to recognize as such, for surnames are casually mentioned in conversation. Counting Chinese emperors (as in The Illustrious Client), some sixty "real persons" are mentioned, but only twenty-one of them, and seven real firms, appear in Goodrich. Problem z: Obviously one surname accounts for a family, and this study deals chiefly with surnames. A dozen Baskervilles are identified in the tale of the Hound but only two, not counting one by marriage, appear in person. Maiden names account for a separate listing but not additional persons, as do secondary titles of peers. Problem 3: Aliases, although they are obviously not separate characters, likewise must be accounted for in the study of names. In some cases such as the imaginary Garridebs, the alias can be disregarded. Altogether forty-nine aliases, maiden names, and subordinate titles may be gathered. Problem 4: Names in the "unpublished" or "unreported" cases of Sherlock Holmes — those mentioned but not narrated by Dr Watson in full — are usually single cryptic mentions; there are fifty-three of them. Some may or may not be personal names; do the "Addleton tragedy" and the "Hammerford will case" represent persons or places? Problem 5: Errors in transmission of the text, chiefly of American editions, produce duals or scrambled names. Some are readily evident: Bevington/Bovington (Lady Frances Colfax); Darbyshire/Derbyshire (Silver Blaze). Unfortunately the Goodrich "Guide" is keyed to the most recent Doubleday omnibus edition, which despite a long printing history and estimable production contains most of the American errors. For preference, the form either in the Strand Magazine's original appearance or, for the long novels, the first book edition is taken. Original manuscripts could not be perused. So Sir Edward Holly, in The "Gloria Scott," turns out to be Hoby. At the moment such a strange metamorphosis as Isonomy into Somomy in Silver Blaze must be ignored. Problem 6: No less than 269 individuals are mentioned but do not appear in person in the sixty cases. So prominent a person as. Godfrey Norton, who married Irene Adler in A Scandal in Bohemia, does not actually appear though he is frequently mentioned. Indeed some Sherlockians have alleged that he did not exist. Are such "mentioned characters" or "allusions" to be counted as canonical characters? What about persons who are named solely in narration by a canonical character —

The Full Strength of the Organization

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in the long narrations by Henry Wood in The Crooked Man, or Jonathan Small in The Sign of Four, for example? Persons named in narration, other than real persons such as the generals mentioned by Small from the Indian Mutiny, have been taken as equivalent to appearing. Problem 7: Four dozen firm names compounded of personal names have been taken as surnames requiring study. Sometimes at least one member of the firm appears in his own right (John Hector McFarlane of Graham and McFarlane in The Norwood Builder) but sometimes not. The numerous non-personal corporate names, such as the Franco-Midland Hardware Company, are beyond our interests of the moment. There are also ships named after individuals, of which the female names Matilda Briggs, Sophy Anderson, and Gloria Scott are the most important; Esmerelda and other single names of ships are usually forenames which, save in isolated instances, are also outside the study. Problem 8: Characters appearing in several cases are counted only once. Mary Sutherland (A Case of Identity) is mentioned in The Red-Headed League — which was published before A Case of Identity. Fewer than a dozen well-known persons appear frequently, aside from Holmes and Dr Watson: Mrs Hudson, several of the Scotland Yard men, Billy the page, Mycroft Holmes, Moriarty, and Moran. Problem g: Thirty-one characters are identified by forename only, ranging from Agatha the housemaid (Charles Augustus Milverton) and Beppo the jewel thief (The Six Napoleons) to Indian Pete (A Study in Scarlet) and Tonga the unhallowed dwarf (The Sign of Four). Goodrich for some reason lists Beppo, Indian Pete, and Tonga, along with Leonardo (The Veiled Lodger) and Pierrot (an Agony Column pen-name in The BrucePartington Plans), as surnames. Mortimer in The Golden Pince-Nez which, judging from other Mortimers, is a surname, is doubled-listed. Not surprisingly, seventeen of these forename-only individuals are servants. Incidentally, at least 231 names are listed as surnames only, but in most of these cases there is an occupational or class identifier, whether a formal title or not. Problem to: unnamed characters abound. They range in importance from the Swiss boy who lures Dr Watson away from the Reichenbachfall in The Final Problem to the "old woman" or nurse in The Yellow Face, and police constables — sometimes not even described in finite numbers. These "extras" or "supers" must be drawn and acknowledged in our imagination, much as on the Shakespearean stage. They must regretfully be passed over in our count and in the study of name-sources. Returning for a moment to the incredible arithmetic of Col-Dr

Sherlock Holmes

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Mutrux, his sixty "mots en majuscules" in The Abbey Grange prove to include twenty-five geographic words, three real names, three months (which in French are not even capitalized), and five invented place, ship, or firm names (ten words). We are left with but eight characters — only five of them unique to The Abbey Grange. Mutrux, judging by his strange rendering of Petticoat Lane as "Pely-Coat-Bane" twice (and the famous street market does not even appear in the Canon), cannot at best distinguish real from invented English names. In fact the mean number of characters per short case (excluding those frequently repeated) is just over ten. The four long novels contain a mean of forty-seven each: The Hound of the Baskervilles thirty-eight, The Sign of Four thirty-six, A Study in Scarlet thirty-four, The Valley of Fear eighty. To summarize the "full strength of the organization": there are 763 named characters of whom 26g are allusions or "mentioned characters" who are named but do not appear in person or in eyewitness narration. Add to these forty-nine aliases, maiden names and subordinate tides of nobility, at least twenty-one real persons, and forty-eight firm names compounded of personal names; ships, real firms, etcetera, and the total appears to be over 890. This seems to correspond with the total of 839 name entries in Tracy's Encyclopaedia, in which several members of a family are included under one name entry. More important, the surnames in the Canon, excluding those of real persons, amount to only 6o6 including those in firms, aliases, maiden names, and noble titles.

2 A Canonical Rule of Three "... three-fold oath ..." The Sign of Four The Three Gables

' ... three-quarter position ... " The Missing Three-Quarter Young Dr Doyle, writing more fiction than prescriptions in his Southsea villa, determined to compose a detective story. His notebook-scribbled idea survives, and he has described how he chose names and "had my puppets." How Sherlock Holmes and Dr John H. Watson grew from two infants named Sherrinford Holmes and Ormond Sacker has often been noted, but only Gerber has really paid attention to those cradlenames. Less attention has been given, beyond some marvelling at the

A Canonical Rule of Three

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repetition of certain names, to the names of the other persons who sprang to life in that first tale and the fifty-nine which followed. The research reported in this book commenced with the unpublished or unreported cases, nearly a hundred tantalizing, elliptical mentions of Sherlock Holmes's activities never chronicled in full: from Old Abrahams "in such mortal terror of his life" through the papers of President Murillo to the Grosvenor Square furniture van and madness of Col Warburton.' As that study progressed, it spread, commencing with happy chance discoveries, to systematic bush-beating for the sources of other names in the Canon. Obvious biographical tools included the Dictionary of National Biography and its foreign counterparts; the indexes to The Times; Who's Who, Who Was Who and their national counterparts; other biographical dictionaries of the 188o-193o period; the National Union Catalog, those eight hundred volumes displaying holdings of the great American research libraries; other published catalogues of national libraries, and national encyclopedias; the main catalogues of the Cambridge University Library; and registers of graduates of British universities. Most important among the latter was the Alphabetical List of Graduates of the University of Edinburgh, 1859-1888. The startling occurrence of canonical names in it led to a search of city and county directories for the areas and periods of residence of Arthur Conan Doyle in Portsmouth, London, Sussex, and neighbouring counties. It became clear that the originals of many canonical names were persons known to Doyle for many reasons; and biographical sources dealing with his interests were added: histories of the Boer War, of cricket and boxing, of Scotland and the Puritan Commonwealth. Sir Arthur had late in life bought the criminological books of Sir William Schwenck Gilbert, and had for many years taken a keen interest in criminal affairs and the pursuit of justice: the criminological collections of Cambridge University Library were therefore scanned. Much of this was already known in principle: that Doyle, like Sherlock Holmes, was "an omnivorous reader" (The Lion's Mane) and that he carefully recorded his reading and his meticulous historical research in notebooks; moreover, his recall was almost total. But as of 1978 the notebooks were sequestered because of legal proceedings. Doyle's original reading had to be surmised and searched for. Indeed, files were scanned of a number of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literary and general periodicals, particularly those which had published articles by Sir Arthur. As gleaning went on, a pattern seemed to appear. Many, though by no means all, of the parallels found had a tripartite structure of some

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Sherlock Holmes

kind. Many references in the Canon included two or three bits of information, whether names or description: Arthur H. / Staunton / the rising young forger (The Missing Three-Quarter) Ricoletti / of the club foot / and his abominable wife (The Musgrave Ritual) When parallels were located, three parts could often be found; compare the two Holmesian characters above, to these two real persons: Arthur Henry / Stanton / supposed author of an Anglo-Catholic prayerbook Mileti / pie de porco / disfigured prostitutes Not infrequently names were telescoped or truncated. Frequently there were only one or two elements available, especially when canonical characters were given surnames only, or even a single forename as with Beppo in The Six Napoleons. THE CONK-SINGLETON FORGERY CASE "Put the pearl in the safe, Watson," said Sherlock Holmes at the end of The Adventure of the Six Napoleons, "and get out the papers of the ConkSingleton forgery case." Why did Holmes mention this case, which apparently was none of Lestrade's business, before he had even bade goodbye to the visiting Inspector? Forgery is frequently mentioned in the Canon; Lestrade himself had got into a fog over a forgery (A Study in Scarlet), and The Times records scores of forgery convictions. Here is a three-part allusion to be unravelled. Conk is not a British surname. "Conk" however has several slang meanings. As a noun it has meant both head and nose, and by extension both an informer and a policeman. The duke of Wellington was known as "Old Conky" for his inimitable profile. Singleton, while both a placename and surname as a common noun means a single item, as from a set or group. "The duke of Wellington" is immediately identifiable — not only among dukes but among the line of the Wellesley family. "The duke of Wellington" is therefore a singleton, and the suggestion is reinforced by the form of the words: Wellington — Singleton. In "ConkSingleton" we have a code word which trebly indicates the hero of Waterloo, the conqueror of Napoleon. And the reference occurs at the end of The Adventure of the Six Napoleons! No forgery is directly connected with the Iron Duke, but in a discussion of art forgeries by J.C. Robinson in 1891 is to be found the following:

A Canonical Rule of Three

g

The fine gentlemen of the opening decades of this century were the special patrons of `virtu' — at their head was the finest of them all — His most Gracious Majesty King George the Fourth ... How the Prince Regent got his art acquisitions over from France during the war ... It was as Prince-Regent, and mainly in his earlier days that George the Fourth got together the magnificent collection of Sevres, French furniture, &c., which are now a unique appanage of the English Crown.' Robinson then discusses the faking of Sevres ware, particularly by one Beckford or "B." Evidently the Prince Regent, whose first general and then first minister the duke of Wellington was, was at some time taken in by the "semi-spurious" Sevres. Robinson goes on to the "innate superiority of Italian genius and methods" in art faking, relating the escapades of Giovanni Freppa, who "caused a number of spurious Giorgios to be manufactured, and they were forthwith dexterously `planted' — i.e. entrusted for sale to local dealers, farmers, peasants, and other apt, unsuspecting agents ... where they were soon bought up, mostly by the peripatetic dealers — Italian and foreign — who were either travelling in the country or in relation with local agents on the look-out for them."3 Freppa bestowed his patronage on a young sculptor, Bastianini, "to whom he suggested the imitation of the works of the early Florentine masters, for about this time a demand arose in the art world for the rare and beautiful terra-cotta portrait busts of ... Donatello, Mino, and Verrochio."4 Bastianini's bust in the style of Donatello was indeed bought by the Louvre for a substantial price. An eccentric Florentine art dealer, Dr Foresi, discovered the deception and after much agitation, and stout defence of the item by the French authorities, Freppa "adroitly announced that he had caused the bust to be executed and sent to Paris as an artistic trap for the express purpose of humbling French pride." Here now are a number of elements of great canonical suggestivity. Compare Freppa and Beppo, Italians connected with the manufacture of busts of celebrities; and notice the French verb frapper, to strike — that is, to "conk". The distribution or sale of art objects to "peripatetic dealers" who would be even harder to trace than the purchasers of Beppo's six busts. The busts themselves are copies in plaster (compare terra cotta), "taken from a marble copy of Devine's head of Napoleon" — copies of a copy, or forgeries. But "conk" as a verb also means to strike, especially on the nose or head. Holmes conked a singleton — the last one of a set of busts — so we have a double code phrase. And "conk" in this sense is boxer's cant — Doyle and Holmes were certainly knowledgeable about boxing! So the

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Sherlock Holmes

casual allusion to "the Conk-Singleton forgery" contains three elements each referring not only to something in the recorded adventure itself, but to other events and persons. The apparent dual surname allusion has in fact become something quite different. A PATTERN OF DISGUISED NAMES Samuel Rosenberg in Naked is the Best Disguise has identified the "Conan Doyle syndrome": a combination of symptoms, or clues, which invariably occur together. The Rosenberg-Doyle syndrome relates to the occurrence of Freudian sexual symbols of certain kinds in the appearance of characters and events. Sufficient examples are given by Rosenberg to enable the use of the syndrome as a working hypothesis. Patrick Horgan has undertaken an analysis of canonical names, using a "bardic hypothesis" and literary methods successful in his analysis of the prose, far more difficult than that of Doyle, of James Joyce. He finds a series of allegorical relationships based upon name-patterns and transferred meanings. This might be called the Horgan-Doyle syndrome, and "the Conk-Singleton forgery case" is obviously an example of such patterns and transfers. When the separate examples, of which this allusion is one, of disguised names within the Canon are taken together, patterns begin to emerge. The disguised names are a mixture of the probable and possible, the familiar and reminiscent. They are indeed, in the words of PoohBah, "corroborative detail intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative." Sometimes the disguises are as elementary as the traditional cartoon burglar's eye-mask, revealing his identity to anyone who has been following the story. Placenames and even some personal names in The Hound of the Baskervilles, for instance, are hardly disguised from the actual, though their collocation is different. Lafter Hall is Laughter Hole; the Grimpen Mire is Grimspound; Foulmire is Foxtor Mires; Cleft Tor is Cleft Rock. Coombe Tracey has been identified both as Widecombe and as Bovey Tracey. Indeed, the name Baskerville, said by various authorities to have been taken directly from one Harry Baskerville who was coachman to Doyle's host during his visit to Dartmoor — and about which a later chapter will have more to say — obviously has also a Freudian significance. For Baskerville type is the most widely known instance of the name, dating from the great English printer of the mid-eighteenth century. The plot of The Hound of the Baskervilles, or its unravelling, revolved around reversion to type: the

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inheritance of ancestral traits, ancestral legend, and ancestral lineaments; there is a deliberate and hidden pun in the use of the name. In The Adventure of the Priory School the original of the Fighting Cock Inn has been stated to be the Cock and Pynot Inn, upon the wall of which is a plaque relating to the duke of Holderness – a name which is also central to the adventure. In The Priory School also, the placename Mackleton appears to come from Matlock plus Afreton, though Harrison's construction is incorrect; obviously it is Ma—ck plus -1-eton.5 A similar telescoping occurs in the racehorse Silver Blaze. Holroyd has found Derby winners of 1882 (actually 1877) and 1883 were Silvio and St Blaise.6 In The Bruce-Partington Plans the tripartite construction is well shown in the street address given as Caulfield Gardens. Its original has been variously claimed to be Cornwall Gardens, Courtfield Road, and Hogarth Road. The location has features of Hogarth Road; but it has not previously been considered whether Caulfield is here taken from a personal name, or from elements (C—field) of a street name. In the 1903 London directory may be found Sidney Burgoyne Caulfield, an architect resident at 48, Hamilton Gardens, St John's Wood – nowhere near the Underground, and therefore perhaps a useful disguise for the street name. Harrison in his classic paper on the prototype identification of Sherlock Holmes with Wendel Scherer refers to the disappearance of Urban Napoleon Stanger as the original of A Study in Scarlet. He has not noted Klinefelter's remark that Stangerson's name comes from the murdered Strang, "a name of importance in Mormon schismatic history."e Once more a pattern is found: a name reminiscent of a topically important name, but combining two names. Moreover, the disappearance of Napoleon(s) recurs in The Six Napoleons. These few examples enable a pattern hypothesis to be made. A disguised canonical name may be taken from some recognizably similar or reminiscent name, either singly or in combination, while the circumstances or attributes attached to it may come from another case of the same genus. The "reminiscent" names are often linked by a topical, sometimes Freudian or punning, connection to the case. Name A plus name s produces AB or a condensate, A and/or B being suggested by the topic, while the description may come from name c. The test of such a hypothesis must be that it applies to other canonical names. THE DARLINGTON CONNECTION Holmes says in A Scandal in Bohemia, speaking of his alarm-of-fire ruse, "In the case of the Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me,

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Sherlock Holmes

and also in the Arnsworth Castle business." Darlington, firstly, might be the placename, or the name of two peerages. There is no obvious "substitution scandal" directly associated with the place, but there was scandal enough surrounding the first countess of Darlington. She was Sophie Charlotte, baroness von Kielmannsegge (c1673-1 725), one of the mistresses of George 1. The English, who were not at all edified by the German harem that George brought with him, and were scandalized that he drank beer with them every evening and got drunk, because of her colossal corpulence called her simply "The Elephant."9 The corrupt German-speaking court was full of graft and influencepeddling; but why should Holmes mention a "Darlington substitution scandal" as one of his own cases if it concerned Sophie? The only Sophie in the canon is a ship, the bark Sophy Anderson. A punning connection is obvious: Sophie the Elephant, big as a ship. But other links may be sought as well. The peerage of Darlington in the second creation was held by the Vane family from 1754• Lord Harry Vane, earl of Darlington, was better known as the sixth duke of Cleveland."' Dying in 1891, whereupon the title became extinct, he was survived until 1901 by his wife, Catherine Lucy Wilhelmina Stanhope Powlett. (Lord Harry and his brother, who had both held the tide, had taken the surname Powlett under the will of a maternal grandmother, the duchess of Bolton, and renounced it upon attaining the title.) Catherine, duchess of Cleveland, was closely associated with the early life of Queen Victoria ... In her youth she was regarded as one of the most beautiful women in England. Her first husband, Lord Dalmeny, was the son of the fourth Earl of Rosebery ... In 1854 she married Lord Harry Vane who afterward succeeded to the dukedom of Cleveland which became extinct at his death in 1891 ... [She was] in many ways a remarkable personality. She had a deep interest in her fellow-creatures — especially those who were poor and suffering. Her major writing, The Roll of Battle Abbey ... was the result of much patient research. In this work [she] distinguished between those names which properly belong to the famous roll of William the Conqueror's knights and those who had been added to it in subsequent years." Altogether an admirable lady, and a patient researcher, not in the least scandalous. Note however the linking of the peerages of Darlington and Cleveland. The first duchess of Cleveland, by comparison, the beautiful Barbara

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Villiers, mistress of Charles ii, was amply scandalous, and she is mentioned in an unexpected place, the Report upon the Ashburnham collection of manuscripts, by Mr Bond of the British Museum, to the Historical Manuscripts Commission. Far from the dull reading expected in such a document, the Report is full of snippets of description which case interesting sidelights on history. Of the distribution of Irish lands forfeited by the rebellion of 1641, and the subsequent scramble for them, it says, Lord Essex himself was much disquieted by a grant made by the King, of Phoenix Park to the Duchess of Cleveland. Rather than submit to such a humiliation he threatened to resign, and in the result the Duchess was compensated by a grant of other lands. The earl of Essex was Viceroy of Ireland, and here is one possible (remembering the later duchess's other title) "Darlington substitution scandal." But the best-known scandal of Victorian times also included the name Cleveland: the Cleveland Street Scandal, a clumsy judicial and political attempt to cover up the involvement of prominent aristocrats (some even whispered of royal persons) with a homosexual brothel. One aristocratic person involved alleged that he had gone to see what he supposed were poses plastiques (the Victorian equivalent of striptease), and was "horrified" to discover the true nature of the establishment. Using the Rosenberg-Doyle syndrome as a touchstone, we now can equate: Cleveland (Street) / homosexual / Scandal Darlington / substitution (of sex) / scandal So the tripartite pattern is demonstrated once more. Sometimes, indeed, two or all three parts refer to a single person or situation. But in many cases where Sherlockian scholarship has in the past squabbled about the identification of an original — as for instance those of Lord Bellinger and Trelawney Hope in The Second Stain, or Lord Holdhurst in The Naval Treaty, or the sixth duke of Holdernesse in The Priory School, the confusion has come because not all of the given information could apply to each or both of the touted originals. The proponent of each espoused a single original, and thereby saw less than the whole. Unless correspondence to a single original can in fact be made on each point in the canonical text, there was probably a multiple original, a humorous inversion or blending, or some other assemblage of sources. Thus the parallel can be proposed: Victor / Lynch / the forger (The Sussex Vampire) Arthur Lynch / (Boer War) correspondent, traitor / escaped / hanging

Sherlock Holmes

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Some originals are much easier, and only require persistent and patient search. Ross & Mangles, the firm of dog dealers in The Hound of the Baskervilles, for instance, was shown by Frank Newman to be named for Ross Lowis Mangles, vc, of Indian Mutiny fame. Only when the alphabetical lists of characters, from which the search was most conveniently carried on, were rearranged by Holmesian case and by category of original source, did major patterns become striking and sometimes lead to missing items in the set. As Dr Doyle is followed, from medical school to his first practice, to his ambition to be a specialist, through his decision to concentrate on authorship, to his later prominence, and the tales are arranged in order by date of composition, some groupings and categories leap to view. Persons around him — and later, as his interests and fame widened, persons in public life — were noted, enshrined, often obscurely, and sometimes slyly pilloried or speared with a pen-stroke. The general truth of this has long been known; the details have not heretofore been tabulated.

3 The Name Is Familiar to Me "The name is familiar to me." The Speckled Band "There is Arthur H. Staunton, the rising young forger ... and there was Henry Staunton, whom I helped to hang, but Godfrey Staunton is a new name to me." The Missing Three-Quarter "There must be some hundreds of Henry Bakers." The Blue Carbuncle

In the Conan Doyle Commemorative Issue of the Sherlock Holmes Journal (Summer ig8o), J.M. Gibson quotes Vincent Starrett quoting a newspaper quotation of Conan Doyle, about the genesis of the name of Sherlock Holmes. Gibson demonstrates that Doyle's own recollection of the process by which the fledgling detective was christened, after a first stab at Sherrinford or Sherringford Holmes, was itself hazy. Indeed, Gibson points out, it is rather clearer that Sherlock's brother Mycroft was named for the brothers T. and W. Mycroft who were groundsmen for the Marylebone Cricket Club about i 884. Vernon Goslin in the same issue of the Journal (under the apt quotation "We used something of the sort before") comments on the reappearance of names between the Sherlock

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Holmes stories and that volume of Doyle's other writings, collected as The Conan Doyle Stories, his seventy-six non-Holmesian short stories. Fortytwo names, not to mention plot elements, in these stories also occur in the Holmesian Canon. These waters of the current of Doyle's craftsmanship are not only deep but swift, with numerous eddies and hidden rocks. To chart their whole course would be too voluminous and take too much research; to settle the question of the origin of Sherlock Holmes, his brother, and Dr John H. Watson would require a monograph. Some readers will be disappointed therefore that this study is sources is confined to names, chiefly surnames, in the sixty stories, excluding those of Holmes and Watson themselves. There is still ample stream to be charted; what originally took forty years to row, will scarcely be scanned in one excursion. The assumption made by Mutrux, quoted above, was that every name in the Canon was different and invented. Many other Sherlockian scholars, however, have commented upon the recurrence of names in the sixty cases, and Goslin has shown that the recurrence is not confined to these stories. Ten Wilsons; five Mortimers and a Mortimer Street; four Hudsons and a Hudson Street. These have raised eyebrows. Poul Anderson has found it "very curious and suggestive" that there are thirtytwo Johns and twenty-eight Jameses, saying, "Such a disproportion goes far beyond what chance allows."' Krejci-Graf on the other hand observes, "As Watson seems to have picked his names at random, it is ... not surprising that he repeats the same names more frequently than they occur in the population."2 The only attempt to verify these allegations seems to be that of Krejci-Graf, which is incidental to his discussion of Holmesian psychology: If we count all family members as one, we find in the nearly complete list of J.F. Christ 595 names of which 443 occur only once, 38 twice, 18 three or more times. According to the list of E.W. Smith 420 names of which 26o occur only once, 38 twice, 21 three or more times. Once occurring names make in Christ 74.5%, (Smith 62), twice 12.8% (18.1), three or more times 12.8% (2o%). The ratio is 6:1:1 (3:1:1). In the register of the staff of Frankfurt University of 1866 we find 1396 names, the result is 8.5:1.2:1. Language and country may influence the result.y Using Krejci-Graf's method, the Christ Guide, which is not complete, can be compared to the Alphabetical List of Graduates of the University of Edinburgh for 1859-1888 which includes the years when Arthur Conan Doyle was a medical student, and to which we shall frequently refer. In the letters A to D, of 1399 persons there are 597 different surnames. Of

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Sherlock Holmes

these names 439 (73.3%) occur once, 43 (7.2%) twice, 36 (6.o%) three times, 26 (4.4%) four times, and 34 (5.7%) five to nine times. Twenty names occur ten or more times, 3.3% of the surnames accounting for 30.4% of the individuals, or nearly as many as those names occurring once each (31.3%). The ratio of names occurring once, to twice or three times, to four or more times is 5.5:1:1, which is a reasonable approximation to the 6:1:1 of Christ. If anything, there is a trifle less duplication in Doyle. When the actual names which recur are examined, they must be compared to some figures for the recurrence of names in the general population. For convenience, the Edinburgh list of graduates, and the Post Office London Directory for 1910 (which appeared when two-thirds of the Holmes cases had been published, but before the First World War altered the British population) have been used. Heather Owen has demonstrated that there very well may be "some hundreds of Henry Bakers" in London, even though the 1891 Post Office London Commercial Directory contains only fourteen, but this is not the real question. The comparison should be with the relative frequency or scarcity of the name. The Goodrich "Guide" list of surnames (which is not quite complete), the number of commercial entries in the London directory, the number of private residents (long denominated the "Court Directory"), and the number of Edinburgh graduates were noted, one against the other. In an arbitrary list of eighty-nine major figures from fifty-five of the Holmes cases,4 thirty-three of these names do not appear in either the Edinburgh or Post Office lists: Brackenstall, de Merville, Drebber, Durando, Emsworth, Falder, Garrideb, Gruner, Hatherley, Holdernesse, Holdhurst, Kratides, Maberley, Melas, Milverton, Morstan, Murillo, Oldacre, Presbury, Pycroft, Ronder, Roylott, Rucastle, St Simon, Sholto, Shlessinger, Stangerson, Sterndale, Sylvius, Tregennis, Von Bork, (von) Ormstein, Windibank. Eleven appear once only in one of the two lists: Amberley, Barrymore, Baskerville, Boone, Carfax, Coram, Lestrade, Lucca, Moriarty, Neligan, (von) Kramm. Five appear twice in the lists, and one three times: Cushing, Dixie, St Clair, Slaney, Staunton; Openshaw (three). Seventeen occur six to nineteen times in the 1910 Post Office directory: Angel, Brunton, Doran, Ferrier, Gregson, Holder, Huxtable, Moran, Moulton, Musgrave, Overton, Partington, Stapleton, Stoner, Trevelyan, Trevor (two occurring nineteen times are aliases anyway, Stapleton and Trevor.)

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17

The remaining twenty-three names all occur twenty-five times or more in the Post Office directory, or four or more times in the Edinburgh list. The Edinburgh sample is so much smaller that the latter is still a useful cutoff frequency: Armstrong, Baker, Carey, Clay, Croker, Cubitt, Cunningham, Edwards (356), Ferguson, Gibson (log), Hope, Hudson (118), Hunter (118), Klein, Munro, Peters, Small, Straker, Sutherland, Turner (520), Walter, Wilson (550), Wood (45o). Of all these eighty-nine major characters, the only names to appear more than once in the Canon, not counting members of the same family, are the following eleven. Respective frequencies in the Edinburgh and Post Office lists are given in parentheses: 2 Ferrier (4; to), 4 Ferguson (18;61), 2 Hope (7;61), 4 Hudson (0;118), 2 Hunter (21;114), 2 Holder (0;18), 2 Moran (o;g), 2 Munro (14;38), 2 Murillo (none), 2 Turner (11;52o), 10 Wilson (61 ;550). Indeed the Ferrier, Moran and Holder second appearances are very minor, and there may be only one Murillo rather than two. In the other seven of these reappearances, the surnames have fifty or more combined appearances in the directories. Of ten Wilsons, only one, Jabez, is important. On the other hand, the following twenty-one names occur three or more times in the Canon (excluding relatives). Again, the number of occurrences in the Edinburgh and Post Office lists follow the name: 4 Brown (52;817), 4 Evans (10;500), 4 Ferguson (18;61), 4 Hudson (0;118), 4 Johnson (10;470), 5 Mason (3;24), 4 Mortimer (o;48), 4 Morton (5;g3), 4 Saunders (1;180), 5 Smith (78;2200), 4 Williams (18;875), 10 Wilson (61;55o). Nine additional names appear three times each in the sixty tales: Anderson (44;16o), Dawson (2;132), Fraser (34;132), Hardy (2;1o2), Morrison (13;72), Murphy (1;58), Parker (4;37o), Ross (31;125), Simpson (16;27o). The difference in frequencies, between the group of major characters and those names occurring repeatedly in the Canon, is so marked as not to need statistical corroboration. It must be obvious that canonical names appear frequently only when justified by the population. Minor characters are much more likely than major ones to be represented solely by surname. There are 231 surnames-only, representing 253 individuals, plus twenty-nine names which have been used for ninetyone persons some with and some without forenames. The group of 231 surnames-only includes only eight major characters - Beddington, Beddoes, Coram, Hudson, Melas, Murillo, Professor Presbury (whose

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daughter does have a first name), Von Bork — six of them villains — and seventeen aliases used by major characters: Altamont, Basil, Becher, Beddoes, Blessington, Burnet, Cornelius, Escott, Harris, Henderson, Morecroft, Price, Rulli, Shlessinger, Sigerson, Vandeleur, (von) Kramm. Out of 223 of these surnames for which some occurrence had been found, fifty-seven were not in the Post Office London Directory (1910) at all; seventy-one were listed one to ten times; thirty more have between eleven and twenty-five occurrences. The mean frequency of the remaining sixty-five names is 131 occurrences in the 19 1 o directory. Just about half of all these solitary surnames are "uncommon" ones! It cannot be said that "common" names are usually chosen for "minor" characters. Of the twenty-nine names which occur both with and without forenames, only six are used for major characters: Ferguson, Ferrier, Hudson, Klein, Wilson, Wood. Six of them occur ten or fewer times in the 1910 directory: Carruthers, Devine, Ferrier, Latimer, McMurdo, Woodley. One more, Forrester, occurs thirteen times. The mean frequency of occurrence of the remaining twenty-two names is 221.5 Where minor or surname-only characters share a surname with major characters, then, the name is more likely to be a "common" one. The question whether such names share a common source must be left until the names are examined individually and case by case. As for Henry Baker and his wife, the sole canonical Bakers, the very commonness of the name is the essence of Holmes's somewhat irrelevant tour de force — for such it is, as he could very well have advertised without deducing. Another example is John Robinson, the alias blurted out by the collared criminal in the same case. There must be some hundreds of John Robinsons in London as well; Crockford's Clerical Directory (1890) lists fifteen of them.

4 The Absence of Thomas "Porky Shinwell has been telling me." The Illustrious Client

Poul Anderson, quoted in Chapter 3, was more concerned at the disproportion of the forenames James and John in the Holmes stories than at the occurrence of surnames. No record is available of any actual

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previous enquiry into canonical forenames, though there are many comments on the prevalence of Arthurs and Violets. Using the Goodrich "Guide" — noting its few lacks, and striking from its list of forenames only three names of real persons (John Hare, Jonathan Wild, and Philippe de Croy) — the following occurrences of forenames may be found: 33 John, 3o James, 13 Jack, to William; 8 each Arthur, Charles; 5 Victor; 4 each George, Godfrey, Henry, Josiah, Peter, Robert; 3 each Alec, Archie, Harry, Hugo, Joseph, Mortimer, Percy, Ralph, and Sam. Among feminine names there are: 9 Mary, 5 Alice, 4 each Edith, Violet; 3 each Annie, Lucy, Susan. The diminutive Jack is not counted with John because there is no evidence that in fact Jack was a familiar substitute for the legitimate name. One of the Mortimers, unaccompanied by a surname, is at best dubious. And while the four Violets have been much pondered upon, little has been mentioned of Alice, Edith, or Mary. The total list contains 419 persons, eighty-six of them female; twenty-eight names occur twice, 174 once each. The proportion among names occurring once, twice, three, four, five to nine, and ten-and-more times is roughly 22:1.7:1:1:1:2.5. The names occurring once account for 41.5 percent of all forenames; those occurring ten and more times each, for 20.5 percent. These can now be compared to available directories for an indication of the commonness of names in the general population. Locating women's first names in Victorian times is particularly difficult. Not only were the professions and the universities not open to females, so that specialized directories tend not to have many feminine names; but the Post Office and Kelly's city and county directories tended not to include forenames of private female residents, either under husbands' names or as separate entries. One can be quite baffled, in pursuing the Hon Miss Miles (Charles Augustus Milverton) to find that — even should she not be subsumed under the entry for her titled father, which will probably not be Miles — there may be several entries for Miss Miles at various addresses, with no further information whatever. Entries for female persons as proprietors of commercial activities are usually complete with forenames, but they tend to be restricted in number, in scope of activities, and in social class, so they are hardly representative of the female population as a whole. This is an eleventh problem to be added to the ten in Chapter 1. While baptismal records could be studied to gain the information, the effort required does not offer sufficient canonical return. Similar comments regarding first names may indeed be made regarding titled persons, whether noble, military, or other titles.

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One Colonel Warburton (The Engineer's Thumb) is listed much like another, usually without forename. In the Post Office London Commercial Directory for 1891 are, besides firm names beginning with Baker, 239 personal Bakers accounted for by only fifty-one forenames. The rank of occurrence is as follows: William 41 (17%), John 22 (9.2%), George 21 (8.8%), Charles 19 (7.9%), Henry 14 (5.9%), Thomas 12 (5.o%), Joseph g (3.8%); Frederick, James and Robert each 8 (3.3%), Alfred and Richard 7 (2.g%), Edward 6 (2.5%), Arthur 4 (i.7%). Samuel 3 (i.3%). The most frequent feminine names are Mary, with four occurrences, and Elizabeth and Emily each with three, the latter just abreast of Samuel; but there are only twenty-three females listed out of 239 persons. A different, but exclusively male, source, Crockford's Clerical Directory for iglo contains some 33,000 names. Of some 300 clergymen named Williams, thirty-four forenames account for 275 persons: John 39, William, 38, Thomas 28, David 21, Charles 15, Frederick and Henry each 14, Arthur i 1, James io, George g, Robert 8, Edward 7; with Alan, Alfred, Daniel, Edmund, Edward, Ernest, Evan, Frank, Harold, Harry, Herbert, Hugh, Isaac, Joseph, Lewis, Matthew, Owen, Percy, Reginald, Richard, Sidney, Sydney, and Walter trailing. This sample is, to be sure, biased by the high occurrence of Welsh forenames (William, Thomas, David) with the Welsh surname. But the same thing occurs with Bennett, where there are: 4 Charles, 3 Edward, 3 Frederick, 6 George, 4 Henry, 2 Herbert, 3 John, 2 Joseph, 2 Robert, 3 Thomas, and 2 William. Eleven forenames account for thirty-four out of the fifty-five Bennetts listed. And it may be noticed that in Crockford's are five John Douglases, out of thirty-three with that surname. That the Canon houses thirty-three Johns, or 7.9 percent of all forenames listed, is therefore not remarkable. Arthur at 1.9 percent is in about the same proportion as in the Post Office directory, while Sam is a bit low and Elizabeth makes a poor showing. But why are there but two Toms, one of them imaginary at that (in A Study in Scarlet) and no Thomases at all?

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5 A Scarlet Study in Southsea I yearned for the glades of the New Forest or the shingle of Southsea. The Cardboard Box

My landlady down Fratton way had some inquiries. His Last Bow

Number 1, Bush Villas, Elm Grove, Southsea, has in its name a flavour of tree-shaded suburbia — far from the actuality of a shoulder jostling house, its front gate squeezed between its neighbour and a shopfront. A tree-shaded villa set well back from a quiet street would be far the worst place for a young doctor to set up in practice, in a period when patients found their way to the door, day or night, by the brass plate and the red lamp; when doctors made house calls, summoned not by telephone but by breathless messengers. Dr Arthur Conan Doyle, newfledged from Edinburgh, set up his brass plate and, in the intervals of waiting for patients to ring his bell, wrote in his consulting-room — or went to meetings, societies, clubs, anywhere he might make himself known in Southsea. As the big, gregarious young man thus made himself known, his energetic curiosity and gift of observation made him familiar with Southsea and its inhabitants. When by the beginning of 1886 he undertook a detective novel, and had to people it with three dozen characters, he found plot material in several places; but he found names for his characters in Southsea, and in the Edinburgh he had not long left. He sought names which would be plausible, English and American, yet distinct and memorable. Already with a habit of solid grounding in historical research, he must have relished the flavour of solid English names. When he began to write, intending not to pen either a theoretical mystery in the style of Poe, a roman policier in the style of Gaboriau, or a cheap blood-andthunder thriller in the style of the English memoirs of police detectives which cropped up in the mid-Victorian period, he chose a cerebral, logical detective hero. He took pains to place him in the midst of solid Englishmen typical of their period — from Scotland Yard men in the old tradition, to cabdrivers and shopkeepers, to middle-class businessmen and even to haughty aristocrats. Rather than hiding their English solidity under flimsy initials, as had Poe; or obvious pseudonyms like Gaboriau's Tabaret and Lecoq; or worse, behind parodies of English names like Miss Tetbury Tattleton, the extraordinary female who saw the light in

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the same Beeton's Christmas Annual as Doyle's own tale — rather than these things, he took names he knew, from people he knew. He did not transfer the owners of these names into his writings — but he used their names (no by-your-leave has survived that anyone has remarked) and brought his characters, made vivid with a few phrases from his pen, to inky baptism. Let us first look about in Southsea, that residential and seaside resort area of the straggle of Portsmouth, and in the rest of that city dominated by the Navy yard. In the same road as Bush Villas, Elm Grove, was "Sunnyside," the residence of James Cowper. The name of Cowper appears as a Mormon in A Study in Scarlet. Number 1, Bush Villas, by the way, was the third door from the west end of Elm Grove. In the fourth street along Elm Grove, and just around the corner at Number 4, St Peter's Grove, lived Ernest G. Charpentier, whose name appears for Madame (how much more dignified than Mrs) Charpentier, her daughter, and her son Arthur, a sub-lieutenant in the Navy — and probably a picture of a typical Portsmouth family. In Elm Grove as well was the Baptist chapel. One of its more prominent members was the Reverend J. Gelson Gregson, missionary to India, founder of the Soldiers' Total Abstinence Association, some of whose writings had been published by the Soldiers' Institute in Portsmouth. In particular the Rev Mr Gregson had written Through the Khyber Pass to Sherpore Camp and Cabul, an account of his temperance work in the Afghan War. The preface of this had been addressed from Mundesley Villas, Southsea, in 1882; and Gregson, after twenty-four years in India, retired there in 1886. Gregson is not an extremely rare name — there were six firms and seven private residents in 1910 London listings — and other Gregsons made names for themselves. Edward Gelson Gregson, the minister's son born in 1877, became Superintendent of Police in the Northwest Frontier Province of India; and there was Lt-Col Henry Guy Fulljames Savage Gregson, born 1872; but none were so close to Dr Doyle as the Rev J. Gelson Gregson. The next road north of and parallel to Elm Grove was Belmont Street, where at Number 12 lived William Rance. His name, an uncommon one (nine firms and two private residents in the 19 to London directory) becomes that of the police constable John Rance in A Study in Scarlet. At the east end of Elm Grove, St. Andrew's Road ran northward, and at Number 33 dwelt Mrs Sampson, whose name probably reminded Dr Doyle of John Samson, civil engineer, architect, journalist, and author, who had gone to the United States, Canada, and finally Argentina in 1879 and returned to England in 1884, the author of

A Scarlet Study in Southsea

23

numerous articles on financial and South American topics and description. In A Study in Scarlet he is included with "Mason of Bradford, and the notorious Muller, and Lefevre of Montpellier" as "Samson of New Orleans" — presumably as one who "would certainly have been hung" had the Holmes test for bloodstains existed. Farther afield in the city was the Rev Robert Doling, vicar of St Agatha's, Landport, social reformer as well as cleric, who had earlier been a colleague of the Rev Arthur H. Stanton in London — whom we shall meet again in The Missing Three-Quarter — and warden of St Martin's Postmen's League in South London, 1879-82. Here was just the type to amuse young Doyle; and in A Study in Scarlet may be noted "Dolsky, in Odessa." Dr Doyle evidently invented the name Dolsky, which cannot be found in any directory or biographical source. Dolling / social reformer / radical / Russian / -sky is a possible chain of thought. Another Southsea clergyman was the Rev Andrew Halliday, Presbyterian, who resided at Milton House, Waverley Grove; but fixing upon him as a source for "Halliday's Private Hotel" where Stangerson was murdered may not be quite as certain, for farther away in Portsmouth were John Halliday, a Portsea draper, David Halliday, a general dealer in Landport, and Peter Halliday also of Landport. Moreover, Doyle, himself a boxer, was familiar with Pierce Egan's Boxiana in which is mentioned "Captain Halliday," a well-known boxing fancier. In addition Egan mentions "Tom Dennis," the hangman, "slangly denominated Jack Ketch," and that brings us to the strange episode in the Study of the pseudo-old-woman, "Mrs Sawyer" and her non-existent daughter and son-in-law, Sally and Tom Dennis. There were two Mrs Dennis in Southsea and one in Landport, and a Mrs Sawyer at 49, Froddington Road, Southsea, as well as a dressmaker, Mrs Sophia Sawyer, in Landport. Samuel Rosenberg in identifying this episode as an example of the Rosenberg-Doyle syndrome (including allusions to violence, sexual reversal, and written messages) related "Mrs Sawyer" and "Tom" and "Sally Dennis" to Tom Sawyer, his Aunt Sally, and Huckleberry Finn dressing as a girl in Mark Twain's classic; Dennis he refers to the legend of Dionysius and his transvestite upbringing. But the boxing source, Tom Dennis the hangman, and the Southsea ingredients are also central and reinforce the episode. Sources are seldom single. Mrs McGregor is one of those names lightly mentioned in passing — dead on the Great Alkali Plain before Part II of A Study in Scarlet begins. She could be Mrs McGregor who resided at 15, Worthing Road, Southsea; or even another medical man whom Dr Doyle must have known,

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Sherlock Holmes

James McGregor, surgeon of Landport; and of course there were several McGregors in the Edinburgh medical school in Doyle's time. In the case of Murray, the orderly who rescued John H. Watson at the Battle of Maiwand, a possibility among a number of Murrays in Portsmouth is Sir Hamilton Gull Murray. The intriguing thing about Sir Hamilton is that he is not given in the Knights of England or other biographical dictionaries. He is listed over several years at various addresses in Southsea and Landport, so he seems not to have been a landowner — which is not surprising in the floating population at Portsmouth — but the Central Library, Portsmouth, can find no trace of "Sir Hamilton Gull Murray" other than those listings in the i 886 to 1891 city directories. Who was he? Did Dr Doyle, hugely enjoying a "Sir" whom Portsmouth knew or suspected of being a phony, play upon that middle name of "Gull" and make him a mere orderly in his novel? On the other hand there was A.S. Murray, Chief Paymaster (with the honorary rank of lieutenant-colonel) for the Southern District, that is, Portsmouth, who is in the Monthly Army List along with Surg-Gen Sir A.D. Home, vc, whose acquaintance Dr Doyle certainly made. There was also H. Murray, who appears in the Army List for April 1886, the month by which A Study in Scarlet was completed — a retired major (honorary lieutenant-colonel), late Royal (Bengal) Artillery who, oddly, retired on full pay. Then too, the Hamilton Murray who wrote novels in the eighteenth century was pseudonymous; was Dr Doyle thinking of that "Hamilton Murray" along with Sir Hamilton Murray, in naming Watson's orderly? A name with a similar ring was Sir Harry Hamilton Johnston, the African traveller, a possible original for the Mormon Elder Johnston. There are other possibilities which have been mentioned by Tracy in his Conan Doyle and the Latter Day Saints. Here however must be considered that episode of barter in which the struggling, impoverished, young Southsea doctor reached an understanding with a Southsea fruiterer, trading medical services for vegetables. One of the three fruiterers in town was Robert E. Johnston, of 59, Caversham Road, which is thirteen turnings north of Elm Grove. Another was Edward William Bellinger of to 1, Palmerston Road, whose name certainly appears in The Second Stain. The third fruiterer, and closest to Elm Grove, was George Bastin. When that other Mormon elder, Kemball, is remembered, it would be tempting and fitting to identify his origin with General Sir Arnold Burrowes Kemball, Royal (late Bombay) Artillery, political agent in Turkish Arabia, consul-general in Baghdad, who wrote articles in the Fortnightly Review and Contemporary Review on "Persia and Afghanistan" — which Doyle had certainly read. Tracy points out that Heber C. Kimball was

A Scarlet Study in Southsea

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a very real Mormon, counsellor to Brigham Young, and "his name was as well known as Young's even among non-Mormons, who widely vilified him as the chief accomplice in the crimes of Mormonism." Moreover, Doyle in another connection entirely also mentions the real Kimball and again misspells him Kemball. The spelling with an e is known for other Utah families, but not for Heber C. Kimball. Doyle's impish sense of humour would, as much as his not infrequent slips of the pen (in a handwriting precise and tidy but at times so even as to be obscure), account for a deliberate change and a veiled allusion to the expert on Afghanistan. Turning now to another group of names, the first Scotland Yarder whom we meet in the first Holmes case is G. Lestrade — though we have already met the original of his colleague Tobias Gregson, the second Yard man to appear in the Study. The name Lestrade appears in no London directory, for it is French not British. Bleiler, speculating on its pronunciation, traced the name in Paris and through the nineteenth century. He mentions in particular Gerard Lestrade, professor of anthropology at the University of Cape Town. A series of medical Lestrades follow in the first half of the nineteenth century ... Did Doyle run into these names when he was reading medicine at Edinburgh ... Or is it possible Doyle ran into the name Lestrade through his French family connections?2 Bleiler came very close; his instinct was correct, for Joseph Alexandre Lestrade was graduated from the University of Edinburgh with the MB, CM in 1883, two years after Arthur C. Doyle. Joseph Lestrade was a native of St Lucia in the Windward Islands; he had attended St Mary's College in Derbyshire, and then for two years Stonyhurst, Doyle's alma mater, entering Edinburgh in 1878. After his graduation his name does not appear in the Medical Directory for he returned immediately to St Lucia. Doyle must have taken Joseph's name for his "little sallow, ratfaced fellow." We'd like a photograph of Dr Joseph Lestrade. Also among the Edinburgh graduates is Thomas Ferrier (MB, cM 1884) whose name appears in the Study, borne by John and Lucy Ferrier. A strange coincidence occurred later, when Dr Doyle gave up his abortive London practice and settled in South Norwood, for one of the eighteen physicians in that suburb was John Christian Ferrier, of whom more anon. Another Edinburgh graduate (MB, CM 1878; MD commended 1882; B sc, Public Health, 1882; D Sc 1887) was Edward W. Hope. No Jefferson is among Edinburgh alumni; and it must be almost a moot question whether Doyle coupled the name of the American president, for trans-

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Sherlock Holmes

atlantic flavour, to that of a prominent classmate (who had promptly become Lecturer in Public Health at the University of Liverpool), or to the name of the whaling ship in which he had made a voyage a few years previously. In his earlier short story "The American's Tale," written in 1879 but collected in My Friend the Murderer about 18go, that queertalkin' Yank had been Jefferson Adams — two presidential names together.3 A coincidence reminiscent of A Study in Scarlet is that George Henry Hope and Sarah Harvey, alias Hope, were charged in Portsmouth court with stealing a gold ring — but in October 1886, long after Doyle had completed his Study. Doyle did not confine his use of Edinburgh memories to personal names. Lauriston Gardens, the terrace in the Brixton Road, is named for an Edinburgh road. The new Royal Infirmary had been built in 1869 on the Lauriston site; around it were Lauriston Place, Lauriston Gardens, and other byways of the same name.4 Mayfield Place, the nonexistent Peckham address of the nonexistent Dennises, took its name from several Mayfields in the southeast quarter of Edinburgh near the Dalkeith Road. Doyle would go back to Edinburgh for a street name in The Red-Headed League as well. The marchioness de Brinvilliers, airily alluded to by the Telegraph in regard to the "Brixton Mystery," was a real poisoner, about whom Doyle wrote in 1902 in the short story "The Leather Funnel." Another historical name, about whom some Sherlockian scholars have had doubts, is the printer of the "queer old book ... De Jure inter Gentes, published in Latin in Liege in ... 1642," Philippe de Croy. The queer old book seems to have been an edition of Juris et judicii fecialis, sive juris inter gentes, by R.Z. (Richard Zouche), printed first in Oxford in 1650 and then in Leiden, not Liege, by Philippe de Croy.S Rosenblum pointed out in the Old Series of the Baker Street Journal that "Treatises on printing in Liege do not list a de Croy." Peter Blau however reports that Philippe de Croy was a printer in Leiden who worked for the Elzevirs and printed Grotius's Poemata Omnia in 1645. Doyle referred in remarkably similar words to "this old brown volume — 'Ex libris Guilielmi Whyte. 1672' in faded yellow ink. I wonder who William Whyte may have been ... The date of issue is 1642 ... The book is in Latin ... and it treats of the laws of warfare." This was in 1908 in his Through the Magic Door, and the old volume to which he referred was an edition of Hugo Grotius's De jure belli ad pacis (Amsterdam: Joh. & Cornelius Blaeu, 1642). In 1640 however John Selden (1584-1654) published De jure naturali, and Selden comes to the ear in The Hound of the Baskervilles. The owner of Doyle's old brown volume was William White (1604-78), Master of Magdalen College,

A Scarlet Study in Southsea

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Oxford, who was ejected by the parliamentary commissioners in 1648. Considering the eccentricities of seventeenth-century spelling he may well have put a "y" in his Latin ex libris. And William White was a friend of Grotius, whose printer was Philippe de Croy. Of more recent date and less savour was Lefevre of Montpellier. Charles Joachim Lefevre, son of a French lawyer, born 1827 or 1828, had been sentenced to two years' imprisonment for embezzlement. He decamped to Honduras, made his fortune, came to England in 1868 and began to race horses. He paid off his creditor and by 1893 was able to sell a stud and estate. The Study in Scarlet reference seems a sly jibe at his early career. There were as well George Lefevre, MD (Edinburgh, 1882), who would have been within Doyle's ken, and George ShawLefevre, MP for Bradford 1886-95, but neither warrants the appellation "of Montpellier." The mention of Mason of Bradford just a breath before Lefevre lends possibility to the MP as a source; he was a longtime parliamentarian and later Baron Eversley, but no punning characteristic (a Freemason?) is immediately visible. The city, by the way, is in this instance spelled with two l's rather than as "Montpelier" in the better known and incorrect reference in The Empty House. Another ostensibly French name is Leturier, also from Montpellier, but neither Leturier nor Lesurier, in Silver Blaze, is to be found in any French biographical source. In Portsmouth however was the Reverend Canon Le Mesurier, and a portmantization6 of that name may be taken as the source of these two. Along with Leturier occurs Von Bischoff of Frankfurt, who may reasonably be identified as Theodor Ludwig Wilhelm Bischoff, embryologist and professor of anatomy and physiology at Heidelberg, Giessen, and Munich, who died in 1882. Another apparently German name — but many German immigrants were in London — is "the notorious Muller." Kelvin Jones has kindly pointed out that Franz Müller was a twenty-five year-old German tailor who committed Britain's first train murder, killing Thomas Briggs, a seventy-year-old bank clerk, on the Hackney Wick and Bow line in 1864. His subsequent arrest at New York followed excellent police work and information from a jeweller infelicitously named John Death.? There remain eight names including the important Drebber, Stangerson, Stamford, and Wiggins. Harrison's "Study in Surmise" proposed the origin of Stangerson in the disappearance of the baker Urban Napoleon Stanger, the so-called "St Luke's Mystery," adding that Drebber had the first name Enoch, from the biblical prophet who was memorable for having disappeared. Stangerson and Drebber both seem to be inventions by Dr Doyle, not found in any biographical sources, but alternative

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possibilities exist for Stanger, which is also found in The Valley of Fear. Stamford was a well-known name in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; Sir William Stamford (1509-58) also spelled his name Stanford or Staunford; and Harrison also points out that in The Times on 12 December 1882, at the time of the "St Luke's Mystery," both Lord Stamford (the earl of Stamford and Warrington, who was ill) and Stanford Court (the seat of Sir Francis Winnington, which caught fire) were in the news; hence also the Stamford/Stanford confusion in The Hound of the Baslles. Four families of Wiggins were in Landport and Portsea; Dr Doyle may have been thinking of one of them for his Baker Street Irregular — though Joseph Wiggins was an explorer of the sea route to Siberia and his exploits would have attracted Doyle, in the light of his whaling voyage in the Hope. John Underwood & Sons, 129, Camberwell Road, who supplied Drebber's hat, might have been any of five John Underwoods, with and without Sons, in London — including a cycle maker, a greengrocer, a leather merchant, and a firm of monumental masons. These last were actually at 74, Baker Street, while two others were in Kennington but not in the Camberwell Road. Still to be found are Bender, Keswick (a geographical and also personal name), and Harry Murcher, the police constable. This last is also a name invented by Doyle, for both Murch and Murchison occur, but not Murcher. Rosenberg in his Freudian analysis suggests a connection between the racy novel by Henri Murger which Watson was reading, and the scene of the murder, where pc Murcher was attracted by John Rance's whistle. Of the three dozen names in A Study in Scarlet a dozen have definite or possible origin in Portsmouth. A half-dozen more are traceable to the Edinburgh medical school, and another half-dozen to Dr Doyle's reading (sport, literature, history, or recent events). Five names not definitely traced were coinages, but may have been suggested in part by actual names.

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6 A Strong Family Resemblance "There is a strong family resemblance among crimes." A Study in Scarlet

' ... some thousands of Bakers ... " The Blue Carbuncle "There is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." A Case of Identity "A commonplace face is the most difficult to identify." The Red-Headed

League More frustrating than inability to find a source for a name from the Sherlock Holmes cases, are instances where possible sources are too numerous and collateral evidence is insufficient for choice among them. There are not only thousands of Bakers in London, and a score of Henry Bakers listed, but half-dozens of many other canonical names. It is not sufficient to call the occurrence of a canonical name in a biographical source coincidence, but neither is the bare occurrence sufficient for conclusions about identification. The deliberate choice of a name so common, rather than the easier task of naming a character in a uncommon style, must have some underlying motive. When popular forenames are given to infants with relatively common surnames, particularly within a specific ethnic group or tradition, duplication of names is inevitable even in a fairly small population. In a city of 6o,000 for instance there are four persons, quite unrelated, with the name of the author of this study. Half-a-dozen persons named Ross Robertson — or any of a dozen other names — may have caught one's eye. Clearly these Irish and Scottish names, like the William Williams among the Welsh (Chapter 4) are ethnically linked and hence often repeated. "Common" canonical names consisting only of a surname may be well nigh impossible to identify. Dozens of "bit parts" in the Sherlock Holmes tales fall into that group. At the moment let us stay with a group of names, first name plus surname, for which there are too many possibilities and insufficient additional data (particularly, possibilities of an association with Arthur Conan Doyle) to determine a choice among them. These names are scattered through the stories from earliest to latest, and the following are given only as examples. Sandy Bain, jockey (Shoscombe Old Place, 1927). The twenty-four Bains in the 1 g 1 o Post Office London Directory include two Alexanders. Alexander Bain, U. D Edinburgh 1869, of Aberdeen, died in 19o3; Alex-

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Sherlock Holmes

ander Bain, 1810-77, was the inventor of telegraphic apparatus; another Alexander Bain lived in Brockley. There is not enough collateral information to suggest why the name should be used for a jockey. Henry Baker, museum user (The Blue Carbuncle, 1892). He is not Henry Morton Baker, Ma, cm Edinburgh 1877, assistant medical officer, Borough Asylum, Leicester. George Henry Baker, landlord of the Kent Arms, Chatham, boxer, born 1829, was Champion of Kent 1850-6o. He died while Dr Doyle was still in Southsea and, knowing Doyles's interest in boxing, is the most likely possibility. Heather Owen's mathematical demonstration that, because the London directory lists only a fraction of the population, there indeed may be "hundreds" of Henry Bakers has been alluded to in Chapter 2; but it does not nullify a candidate where a known strong interest of Dr Doyle's can be found. The precise circumstance of there being "some hundreds" in London is a reason for choosing a very common name. William Bellamy, fisherman and boatman (The Lion's Mane, 1926). Four William Bellamys in London, out of 16 Bellamys listed, were a fishmonger, a pork butcher, a solicitor, and an estate agent. John Clayton, cabman, 3, Turpey Street, Borough (The Hound of the Baskervilles, 1go1). Neither John Clayton, architect, of Hereford (1820-61) nor Rev John Clayton, Congregational minister (1780-1865), nor the seven John Claytons in the Dictionary of National Biography, the last of whom died in 1888, seems to fit. Neither Rev John Clayton of Wimbledon, nor he of Baldersby, Yorks, nor seven John Claytons in London bear on our cabman. James M. Dodd, ex Middlesex Corps, Throgmorton Street broker (The Blanched Soldier, 1926). Not James Dodd, cycle maker, Bow, nor either of the two James Dodds with an "s" in the 19 1 o directory. Annie Fraser ("Mrs" Holy Peters), Englishwoman "married" to an Australian rascal (Lady Frances Carfax, 1911). Among 132 Frasers in the 1g10 book are Mrs Annie Fraser, apartments, 118, Marylebone Road, Mrs Annie Jemimah Fraser, dressmaker of Bayswater, and Mrs Annie Fraser, confectioner of Putney. More probable, however, is "Mrs" Annie Frost, companion of R.F.B. Frost, a swindler and passer of bad cheques circa 1888, mentioned by Harrison, In The Footsteps of Sherlock Holmes (230). The transposition to a more common name, Fraser, is obvious. William Hales, mine owner (The Valley of Fear, 1814). Of only twenty-five Haleses in the 1g10 directory four are William, three of whom seem to be solicitors and one a fruiterer. Another of the name is William Hales, born at Ashby-de-la-Zouche in 1836 and connected with

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boxing; see George Henry Baker, above, and remember Doyle's boxing interests. Alexander Holder, banker (The Beryl Coronet, 1892). The Alexander Holder who operated a private hotel in the West India Dock Road in 1891 is probably the Alexander who by 1899 was a beer retailer in the Globe Road. Perhaps it was his son Alexander George who in 19 to was a grocer in the Shirland Road. This among only some twenty Holders in London; but there is nothing to suggest why the name was given to the harassed banker. John Holder, sergeant of the Third Buffs (The Sign of Four, 1890). Nor is this Holder, who dates back to the Indian Mutiny, identifiable with either Sir John Charles Holder, JP for Birmingham and Worcestershire, philanthropist (1838-1923) or with the two John Holders who were tradesmen in London. John Homer, plumber (The Blue Carbuncle, 1892). The 1899 London directory has but fifteen Homers, but there are Johns enough elsewhere, beginning with John "Jack" Horner, crafty steward to the Abbot of Glastonbury, in the time of Henry vin, immortalized in nursery rhyme. Sir John Francis Fortescue Homer, barrister, High Sheriff of Somerset 1885, Commissioner of Woods and Forests 1895-1907, seems a worthy successor to his namesake. John Horner an artist in Cheapside, another a carpenter and undertaker in Wimbledon, and John T. Horner (gent?) of Cardoza Road North and Hornsey, not to mention Samuel John Horner, a Ponder's End beer retailer, crowd upon us. Jack James, an American spy in England (His Last Bow, 1917) and Billy James, murdered in the Vermissa Valley (The Valley of Fear, 1914). Two hundred Jameses in trade in 191o, and about eighty private residents, include thirteen John Jameses in trade and six private residents of the name, and Lt-Col William Hill James of Lowndes Street. Peter Jones, police agent (The Red-Headed League, 1891). Though there has been speculation that this is an error for Athelney Jones of The Sign of Four it is quite probable that the Metropolitan Police boasted a number of this Welsh name. The only Peters among the thousand and more Joneses in the directory are a beer retailer in the York Road, and three firms: Peter Jones Ltd, drapers, King's Road; Peter Jones, Sons & Co Ltd, travelling bag frame makers; Peter Jones, Son & Mundy, chemists in Norton Folgate. The 1891 directory lists Peter Jones of Redcliffe Square, but there is no indication whether he was the Peter of one of the firms. Alec MacDonald, police inspector (The Valley of Fear). Five Alexander MacDonalds were graduated from the University of Edinburgh, two in

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Sherlock Holmes

medicine in 1884 and 1888, so Doyle would almost certainly have known an Alec MacDonald in his student days. Of some eighty MacDonalds in trade in igio London, and fifty-odd private residents, Alexander Macdonald & Co Ltd were granite merchants; Alexander McDonald had coffee rooms in Hackney, Alexander Herbert Macdonald was a solicitor and Alexander John McDonald a mechanical engineer. Marx & Co, clothiers (Wisteria Lodge, 1908). While this is not an individual name it illustrates the same problem in regard to firms, for the 1903 directory has five Marx firms of various forenames, none of them clothiers, and three individuals named Marx. John Mason, trainer (Shoscombe Old Place, 1927). Masons appear in A Study in Scarlet, The- Bruce-Partington Plans, and The Valley of Fear as well. Of these others, only White Mason of The Valley of Fear has a forename, and it offers problems of its own. But of John Masons there are too many: eleven in the 1g10 directory out of some 18o Masons in trade and sixty private residents. There is a John Wallis Barron Mason, surgeon of Regent's Park; John Black Mason, Ms, CH B Edinburgh 1902, of Ealing; and John Bulman Mason, LRCP, LRCS Edinburgh, of Wandsworth. Did Dr Doyle (long since Sir Arthur) know any of these? There are also five John Masons in Crockford's and six in the London suburbs. Far to the North in Newcastle, John Robert Mason, a medical student at the University of Edinburgh, had obtained the LRCP and LRCS (Edinburgh) in 1888. William Morris, alias (The Red-Headed League). Like "John Robinson" in The Blue Carbuncle (see below) this may have been chosen for its very commonness and untraceability. Though Rosenberg claims (page 129) that the alias was "undoubtedly based on the William Morris who gave Wilde his `aesthetic antidote' when Oscar became an aesthetic champion of the Pre-Raphaelite group led by Morris" — that is, Morris the poet, artist, socialist, and manufacturer — such a claim is to a great extent based on Rosenberg's argument that Thaddeus Sholto in The Sign of Four is Oscar Wilde. Considering that of 220 Morrises in trade in 1891 London, and ninety private residents, thirty were named William; and that six William Morrises were clergymen, it is not necessary to pick the best-known William for what was, after all, an alias intended only to deceive. John Robinson, alias (The Blue Carbuncle). Here, as well, many had this same name: fifteen clergymen in Crockford's 19 1 o volume out of 109 Robinsons, for instance. It was used as an alias by a jewel thief; is there some possibility of a tongue-in-cheek reference to Sir John Charles Robinson (usually known as Sir Charles), 1824-1913, HHt Surveyor of

A Strong Family Resemblance

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Pictures i 882-1901, prominent art curator (of the Kensington museums) and critic? There were also John K. Robinson, Ms, cm Edinburgh 1887, and Sir John Richard Robinson, 1828-93, editor. But among Doyle's books is a copy of Old Q, a memoir of William Douglas, fourth duke of Queensberry, by John Robert Robinson (London 1895). If there was a definite antecedent, the last seems most likely. Perhaps the simplest possibility is best: that "John Robinson" was the first name to pop up because of its commonness, without the necessity of a specific original. James Smith, orchestra conductor (The Solitary Cyclist, 1904); Jim Smith, boatman (The Sign of Four). Four James Smiths were graduated in medicine from Edinburgh between 1879 and 1888, and ten appear in the Dictionary of National Biography. The 1910 London directory contained some 1200 Smiths. It is pointless to seek an original for these "mentioned" characters of little importance. John Underwood & Sons, hatters (A Study in Scarlet, 1887). As noted in the previous chapter, the London directories list five possibilities. It is probably a coincidence that one John Underwood was in the Kennington Road, which runs parallel to but at a distance from the Camberwell Road, the supposed location of the hatters, and another firm, monumental masons, was in Baker Street; but the choice of such a name for the hatters was surely as deliberate as all the choices of names in the case. Roaring Jack Woodley (The Solitary Cyclist). Woodley is a much more distinctive character, and a far less common name, than James Smith in the same case. There are but eleven Woodleys in trade in the 1903 London directory — three of whom are John. Two more John Woodleys out of four listings are in the 1903 Surrey directory. This raises the possibility that the original was a Surrey resident with whom Doyle was acquainted, but there is insufficient collateral evidence for a choice. Ted Baldwin, Scowrer (The Valley of Fear). On the other hand, while ten or more Edward or Edwin Baldwins are identifiable, choice among them is easier. In the London suburbs, for instance, were nine including a butcher, two bootmakers, a board school master, a tailor, a publican, a barrister, and two gentlemen. But attention centres on Edward Baldwin, a pugilist born in Waterford, who contested the Championship in 1867 and was shot dead in the United States in 1875; and another Edward Baldwin, known as "Whitehead Bob," also a boxer (1803-31). In view of Doyle's interest in boxing, and of the violent character of Ted Baldwin the Scowrer, one of these two is certainly the original. John Douglas (The Valley of Fear). The real name of the retired

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Sherlock Holmes

Pinkerton man who in various episodes was known as Steve Wilson, Jack McMurdo, Birdy Edwards, and John Douglas may be not quite clear. There is the more reason why his alias in retirement should be one not easily distinguished. So we find that of about a hundred Douglases in the 1910 London directory there are nine individual Johns, and two John Douglas firms. Nordon's biography of Doyle notes that Sir Arthur attended a political meeting in 1912 at which James Douglas was a proHome Rule speaker, but it is not necessary to go so far afield among the clan. John Josiah Douglas received the Edinburgh medical degrees in 1889 — and went into practice as physician and surgeon with a surgery at 42, Central Hill, Norwood. Dr Doyle would certainly have known him. John Primrose Douglas was also an Edinburgh graduate, of 1900, and was district medical officer of Oldham Union, rather farther afield. John William Henry Tyler Douglas, cricketer who was captain of MCC during their tours of Australia in 1911-12 and South Africa in 1913-14, is picked by Marder as the original of the Pinkerton man, for Doyle was an Mcc member; and considering that nine other names in The Valley of Fear are those of cricketers, the sportsman and the surgeon appear to be in a dead heat. Of two dozen examples for which multiple "real" instances may be found, only six can be called important: Baker, Dodd, Alexander Holder, Woodley, Baldwin, and Douglas. It is essential to the character that Baker be commonplace; that Dodd and Holder be solid, trustworthy businessmen; that Douglas be nondescript and "difficult to identify." Woodley and Baldwin share the characteristic of violence, but only one can be traced to violent sport. The remainder are bit players and background. Indeed, Bellamy, Hales, Fraser, John Holder, the Jameses, and the Smiths are only mentioned and never appear in person, while the Marx and Underwood firms are also merely mentioned. An identifiable original, or distinction in name, is not important for these. Where characteristics of the original can be matched with known facets of Doyle's reading, interests, or life, identification may be possible despite the name being a common one. Where such collateral information is not at hand — usually, about Doyle rather than about the putative original — a match is nearly impossible to make.

35

7 Scandalous Bohemian Names "I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name." A Scandal in Bohemia Karl Krejci-Graf says in his discussion of "The Psychology of Sherlock Holmes and Company" that "Watson believed himself free in choosing numbers and names, but Freud (1917) has shown that one is unable, in spite of seeming free will, to find names or numbers which are not closely connected with the immediate environmental conditions, character and peculiarities of the author of the choice and his situation of the moment."2 The rapid composition of a series of vignettes, requiring the creation of a large number of distinct but above all believable characters — though some have called the King of Bohemia unbelievable — meant, even more than in the two long novels which commenced the career of Sherlock Holmes, that "immediate environmental conditions" and the special interests of the writer became not only a fruitful but a ready source of names, without reducing the process to the level of Freudian subconsciousness. The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes date from the South Norwood period of Dr Doyle's residence — he moved at the beginning of the summer of 1891 — but the first reflection of this, the appearance of Norwood names in the stories, does not occur definitely until The Boscombe Valley Mystery published in that October. A Scandal in Bohemia and The Red-Headed League. which appeared in July and August, had probably been written before the move from Devonshire Place. One or two names in later cases reflect the Devonshire Place consultingrooms, but not necessarily from the time of Dr Doyle's Bloomsbury residence. They may well be the result of a casual but continuing interest in the neighbourhood, for Dr Doyle long after abandoning medicine was avocationally interested in it and its practitioners. Foreign names — not counting the American names in A Study in Scarlet which were intended to be foreign — appeared in The Sign of Four and the first of the Adventures, A Scandal in Bohemia, but not again for two years until The Reigate Squires (where the one foreign name Maupertuis is gratuitous) and The Greek Interpreter (where two such names are central). In The Sign of Four they were Indic names, and as in Doyle's The Mystery of Cloomber published the year before Sign, they were very badly

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handled. Krejci-Graf grumbles that many of these foreign names and titles are "impossible." This is certainly true of the Indic names — the intricacies of which were incomprehensible to Europeans, even those who had been long in India, and which were codified for bibliographic purposes in English-language Western libraries only in the ig6os. A Scandal in Bohemia however had a group of German names, and one Russian, which show some familiarity with the genealogies of European aristocracy, and which must be called ingeniously scrambled, rather than impossible. Ingenuity is shown by the inability of Sherlockian scholars over forty years to agree upon the identity of the King of Bohemia. This handling of German names should be expected from Doyle's period of schooling at Feldkirch, Austria, though his spoken German was not up to the rigours of study in Vienna as a doctor; and while his spoken French in later years were recorded as being strange in accent, he was certainly as omnivorous in reading French and German as he was in English. The German names immediately pose a problem. Neither Adler, a name common enough even in England, nor Ormstein, the King's family name, are easily traceable to any original. The latter name certainly occurs, and an American example has been found, but that is all. Bailey's suggestion that the dainty singer's name is borrowed from Viktor Adler, a "liberal radical ... at that time turning towards socialism" who in 1888 published a "manifesto proclaiming `pragmatism' rather than strict Marxism as the social-democratic line" sounds plausible, and in line with Doyle's use of names of domestic socialist characters such as Stanton and Dolling, but nothing is directly traceable to Doyle's immediate interests in 18go. In a number of names where the original seems indubitable though improbable, a sense of humour — which Doyle had in full measure — coupled with his innate Victorian conservatism and religious skepticism produce canonical persons. Both the count von Kramm, the King's alias, and Clotilde von Saxe-Meningen, his fiancée, show a genuine background deliberately disguised. In London can be found only Charles Kramm, a cutler, though a Francis Kraemer received the medical degrees from Edinburgh in 1885, and strangely enough Kramm is a village in Peoria County, Illinois. There was however a baronial lineage of Cramm in Germany. Without entangling ourselves in the two lines and their descent from the sixteenth century, we may note the males of the von Cramms circa 18go: Edgar, Freiherr von Cramm, born 1846, married 1873 (died 1909)

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Adalbert Carl Adolf Thedel Burghard von Cramm, born 1874; too young Aschwin Thedel Adelbert, Freiherr von Sierstorff-Cramm, born 1846, married 1872; no male children Christian Friedrich Adolf Burghard, Freiherr von Cramm, born 1837, married 1881 Burghard Adolf Ernst Heinrich von Cramm, born 1883; much too young Karl August Rudolf von Cramm, born 1845, married Karl August Adolf Burghard von Cramm, born 1877, married in 1905 August Theodor Ferdinand Maximilian, Freiherr von Cramm, born 1838, married 1870. Therefore, though Germany was crammed with Cramms, barons (Freiherren) if not counts, Holmes knowing his Gotha would know very well that his evening visitor was not a count von Kramm because there were none of the proper age. As to Clotilde, the royal family of Sachs-Meiningen had had some difficulties regarding the succession. The heir-apparent to Duke Georg 1i, born 1826, was Prince Bernhard (born 1851) who had no sons. He had married Princess Charlotte of Prussia, oldest sister of Kaiser Wilhelm 11, in 1878, but their only child was Princess Feodora, born 1879. Other children of Duke Georg 11 were Princess Marie, born 1853, and four other sons. Under the law a female could not succeed to the throne. At the time of A Scandal in Bohemia the succession to the throne was of real concern. Marie's marriage would probably determine the future succession. Clotilde may be identified as Marie; and a match with the King of Bohemia (or almost anywhere else) would be highly desirable for SachsMeiningen. In fact Marie seems to have died unmarried on 22 February 1923; but by that time the succession had been ensured by the passage in 1896 of an act settling it upon the sons of Friedrich, the only other son of Georg 11— his fifth son and sixth child, born 1861 — who was not dead or childless. Evidently the Bohemian match had fallen through. The importance to England of this mid-European match lies seventy years earlier in the match of Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, eldest daughter of Georg 1, with William, duke of Clarence, who became King William iv. Clotilde of Saxe-Meiningen like nearly all European royalty was a relative of Queen Victoria. And Vice-Admiral His Serene Highness Prince Ernest Leopold Victor Charles Auguste Errich Leiningen, GcB, born 1830, half-brother to Queen Victoria, was commander-in-chief at

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the Nore of the British Navy, as well as being reigning prince of Leiningen, and had been mentioned in the Portsmouth newspaper. The other foreign name, Trepoff, and the matter of the summons to Odessa, have been discussed in several places. Chris Redmond rejects the idea of Feodor Feodorovich Trepoff, police prefect of St Petersburg, who was wounded by a young woman Nihilist in 1878, and who died in 1 889 — but apparently not by murder.3 He suggests Feodor Feodorovich's son, Dmitri Feodorovich, who in his turn became commandant of the Imperial Police. At any rate, Odessa and Trepoff were in the news circa 1890, and a casual reference tossed off by Watson, or Holmes, would sound well. Several explanations of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee have been given. There were indeed Atkinsons connected with the government of Ceylon at one time, and Sir John Nathaniel Atkinson, born 1857, was an official at Madras not far away. In this case however it may not be necessary to look farther than Yorkshire, at George Atkinson, 1830-1906, "one of the last of the brilliant professionals" in Yorkshire cricket in the 186os, in the words of Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack for 1907, and later coach at public (ie, private) schools. One more name from a field of Doyle's enthusiasm. Gross & Hankey, the Regent Street jewellers, do not leap to recognition. Asher Gross, surgeon of Clapham, and Stanley James Hankey, dentist of Stoke Newington, would be a striking combination out of the twenty-two Hankeys and twelve Grosses in the 1890 directory. Charles Gross was, like Godfrey Norton, a barrister of the Temple. On the other hand, a Mrs E. Hankey was the corespondent in an adultery prosecution in 1783, and the chief offender in the case bore a name met much later in the Saga: Straubenzee. The irony of this reference would be that Gross & Hankey supplied the wedding ring for the hasty ceremony at St Monica's. Sir John Hare, by the way, was the very real actor and manager of the Garrick Theatre. Mary Jane, Watson's incorrigible London drudge, was a simple archetype. A. Kenney-Herbert's article on "The art of household management" in the August 1893 Nineteenth Century uses the name in this way: ... having sketched our poor Mary Jane at her worst perhaps ... ... if Mary Jane is to tread the narrow path which leads to enlightenment someone must show her the way. There was also the loss of the schooner Mary Jane, driven ashore on the coast of Nova Scotia in a hurricane in October 1890. The death of all

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nine hands was notable because there had been a delay when government authorities refused to allow a volunteer crew to take out the lifeboat. Godfrey Norton, that lawyer who is reported to have married Irene Adler, might have been named for William Norton and H. Godfrey, both residents of Norwood; but it is a little more probable that his godparents were the three Norton brothers (Dr Selby, William South, and Bradbury) who were cricketers in Kent in the 187os. However, it is also significant that one of the ladies proposed as originals in Irene Adler herself, Lillian Nordica, was born Lillian Norton — but in Farmington, Maine, not New Jersey as J.F. Christ erroneously stated.4 It might be that Doyle himself was under the impression of Nordica/Norton's New Jersey birth, in which case reuse of the name would be a deliberate clue, but lacking firm evidence about the name Adler this would be a risky supposition. For Mrs Turner, that landlady (cook?) who appears so fleetingly at 221B Baker Street in this case only, Marder's suggestion of C.T.B. Turner, the Australian cricketer whose career spanned 1884-96, would fit in with the cricketing Norton brothers. On the other hand it may have been sheer carelessness on someone's part; or perhaps, as many Sherlockians have speculated, Mrs Hudson was ill or on an outing to the seaside. This last would certainly fit in with Dr Doyle's "situation of the moment" as Krejci-Graf called it — just in the process of deciding to change careers and residences. The Adventures of Holmes and Doyle were under way.

8 Red-Headed Conundrum "What is the name of this obliging youth?" The Red-Headed League

The original name and location of Saxe-Coburg Square, in which Jabez Wilson operated as a pawnbroker, have attracted much attention. The first is easy: it was the name of an Edinburgh road familiar to Conan Doyle from childhood. But when the originals of the names in The RedHeaded League are sought, the conundrum of the red-headed client may be approached from a different avenue. There was not, of course, a Jabez Wilson, pawnbroker, in 18go London among some 32o Wilsons in trade and some 30o pawnbrokers. But there was a Jabez Wilson,

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confectioner of 123, Trafalgar Road, Greenwich; and there was a Leonard Wilson, pawnbroker of 253, Goswell Road, Ec. This choice location in a major artery, a little south of the Angel near Rawstorne Street, is just a couple of turnings north of Northampton Square which opens off Goswell Road and is one of the proposed locations of Saxe-Coburg Square. A "short walk" down Goswell Road into Aldersgate Street brings one to the (then) Aldersgate underground station, from which Holmes and Watson emerged to observe the knees of John Clay's trousers. Another proposed location for Saxe-Coburg Square, Bridgewater Square, is just to the east side of Goswell Road and much closer to the underground station. The third proposed location, Charles Square, for which Langfeldt offers strong support (and this footsore author agrees), is north and east of the Aldersgate station by a greater distance — but the square is not of immediate concern here. Leonard Wilson's shop survives today, built over unrecognizably, but by 1978 there were no pawnbrokers in the East and East Central postal districts. On the second of May 1856, an Amendment Bill to the Acts relating to Pawnbrokers was introduced into Parliament, and caused much alarm in the trade. The proposer of the Bill was James Wilson, MP for Westbury. Rosenberg has drawn attention to the name Jabez, occurring in the Bible as "the town where dwelt the scribes" of King Hezekiah (the same name as Ezekiah), who "employed a large corps of rabbinical scribes to make the first accurate, definitive copies of the written and oral Talmudic commentaries." Ezekiah Hopkins of course was the (imaginary, alas) benefactor of the Red-Headed League. The occurrence of these names together leaves no doubt that Rosenberg is correct; but the attachment of Jabez to Wilson appears possible either through the coincidence of the confectioner's name and then his transformation into a pawnbroker, for a confectioner would not hire such an assistant as Clay — or through the suitability of the name Wilson for the pawnbroker and the attachment of Jabez in place of Leonard (of 18g 1) and James (of 1856). Did Hezekiah's scribes write upon clay tablets? Though there were any number of distinguished Wilsons (General Sir Charles William, Director of the Ordnance Survey; Sir Charles Rivers, financial civil servant; the Venerable James, astronomer and headmaster; and so on) no such route leads so immediately to the red-headed pawnbroker as do Leonard and James Wilson. Or perhaps John Clay required a map in his tunnelling? Wilson's assistant, that obliging youth who would work for half pay, was not included in Chapter 6, but nevertheless must be sought among a mass of Clays. London had at least six: one each in Balham, Chingford,

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Stratford, and Hornsey; John Edward Clay, a solicitor in the Marylebone Road; and John a bookseller and librarian in Regent Street. Earlier there had been the Rev John Clay, chaplain of Preston goal and author of Burial Clubs and Infanticide in England (1854), a topic which certainly interested Holmes. ("The most winning woman I ever knew was hanged for poisoning three little children for their insurance-money," he said in The Sign of Four.) Even more interesting was James Clay (1804-73), a London merchant and MP for Hull, who had been " ... chairman of committee to settle laws of whist 1863, by his book on whist and influence made the game popular and intelligible; the finest whist and piquet player of his time; he is described under the name of Castlemaine in G.W. Lawrence's novel Sans merci, or Kestrels and falcons (1866)."2 He was the author of A Treatise on the Game of Whist by J.C. (1864). The hint given by Holmes as the party settle down to wait in the vault of the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and I thought that, as we were a partie carree, you might have your rubber after all," now falls into context. These things enfeeble Rosenberg's claim that the name "John Clay, is almost identical with that of John Gray, another intimate friend of Wilde's." It is hardly necessary to go to a different name to find a source of Clay whether for bricks or burglars. The context of Rosenberg's remark deals also with the names given by the second scoundrel in the case, Duncan Ross and William Morris. As Chapter 6 noted, the argument for Morris being the great Victorian artist-craftsman depends upon the equation of Thaddeus Sholto and Oscar Wilde, whereas considering the plethora of William Morrises in London the simplest argument is that by its very commonness it was a handy alias. An anonymous article in the Sherlockian newsletter Naval Signals makes another argument in favour of the well-known William Morris, finding it another example of Rosenberg's Conan Doyle syndromes Morris was also a social reformer; and Mann discusses Morris's "continuing preoccupation with the problem of reconciling erotic love between individuals with the 'fellowship' that unites them to the larger community," and a "constant undertow of death" in his stories, "not a single one of which provides for a normal, reasonably permanent sexual relationship."9 The argument for Duncan Ross similarly is that this refers to Robert Ross, another close friend of Wilde, and Rosenberg quotes St John Ervine's biography of Wilde in regard to the name. Just as close an argument can be advanced for the gentleman's forename, for there appear J. Duncan Clay, MRCS, physician and surgeon in Brockley, and J.C. Duncan

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in Thornlaw Road, West Norwood — either of whom may have been known to Dr Doyle. The name Hopkins also occurred in West Norwood, one being Harry Edward Hopkins of St Julian's Farm Road. Another, named Percy R. Hopkins, was in Chestnut Road. A reminiscent American connection is Edward Hopkins, 1600-57, governor of Connecticut and later Navy commissioner in England; as well as Matthew Hopkins, who in 1647 was hanged as a sorcerer in East Anglia, and is referred to in Butler's Hudibras. Both gentlemen date from a period of English history with which Doyle was thoroughly familiar. The alias of John Clay, Vincent Spaulding, is identified by Rosenberg with St Vincent de Paul who "built two orphanages in Paris" (Clay could "crack a crib in Scotland one week, and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next," said Peter Jones the police agent.) The allusion must be taken to be correct, but the derivation incomplete. There is a startling and suggestive conjunction of names in another place: Mr Vincent Brooks, a well-known chromolithographer carrying on business in Lincoln's Inn Fields, died of apoplexy in the counting-house of Spalding and Hodge, Drury Lane, on 29 September 1885 in his seventieth year. Though his death was not in The Times, lengthy obituaries were prominent in the Publishers' Circular and the Booksellers' Circular. The triple conjunction, Vincent / Spalding / chromolithographer, can be placed parallel to Vincent / Spaulding / "photographer" — as Clay's hobby of the cellarage supposedly was. One suggestion, that the name Spalding is an old and prominent sporting family, is also a possibility — Augustus Spalding, 1839-1911, was "one of the best known of the Old Stagers" according to Widen. Also, John Spalding (1765-95) wrote on Scottish history, in which Doyle was deeply interested; but in neither of these instances is there further conjunction of elements. Spaldings are few, and Spauldings nil, in the Post Office London Directory for 18go; but there were two Vincents in West Norwood. There is a "fine collection of M's" in The Red-Headed League as well as in Holmes's index mentioned in The Empty House — not to mention those in The Valley of Fear and elsewhere. We have not only Morris but Mortimer, McFarlane, and Merryweather. Holroyd has suggested that this occurrence of Mortimer was occasioned by Dr Doyle's morning walk from Montague Place to his consulting-rooms in Devonshire Place, by way of Mortimer Street. Notice that all the Mortimer references occur after he had taken rooms in Devonshire Place. There are none in the two early books ... 5

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Perhaps so, but it can also be noted that R. Mortimer was a baker in Selhurst Road, South Norwood; this may be one of the first names taken from the immediate vicinity of Dr Doyle's new residence. It does not appear that Dr James Mortimer in The Hound of the Baskervilles, and Mortimer Street in The Final Problem (a genuine name but at a spurious location) are from the same original. Merryweather, the sad-faced whist-playing banker, it is tempting to identify with Frederick Somner Merryweather (1827-1900), who had been a bookseller in Holborn in mid-century, and from 1878 to his death was the editor of the Surrey Comet, a weekly newspaper published at Kingston-upon-Thames, as well as being author of Bibliomania in the Middle Ages (1849), Lives and Anecdotes of Misers (1850), Glimmerings in the Dark: or Lights and Shadows of the Olden Time (1850), and Gilbert Wright the Gospeller: a Tale (1877) — books which are in keeping with Doyle's historical interests. Glimmerings, a book on medieval customs in England, is a probable source for Doyle's historical detail; and several other works of this period, such as the Letters of Mary Stuart, were in his possession. The 1891 London directory lists only the fire-engine manufacturers, and a Mrs Merryweather of Grosvenor Square. There were several Mereweathers (barristers, a clergyman, and a colonel) of the mid- and later nineteenth century, and John Davies Mereweather who wrote upon emigration to Australia (1852-69), but these are much longer shots than Frederick. Peter Jones, the official police agent in the case, seems not to be definitely traceable, as has been noted in Chapter 6, though some identify him with Athelney Jones. McFarlane's carriage-works is also shadowy. There were in the London directory of 1891 thirty-seven listings of various spellings of this name. Three medical men may be noted: Sewell Samuel McFarlane, who was registered LRCP, LRCS, LM Edinburgh in 1884, after study at the University, and who became Superintendent of the Bristol Medical Mission; Alex. Rastrick McFarlane, physician and surgeon of Chelsea, and Charles John McFarlane, another LRCP, LRCS Edinburgh (1879) practising in Stoke Newington; but there is nothing to link them to a carriage-works. Was Doyle thinking of the expression "saw-bones"? One undisguised statement in the case, which does not concern a personal name, is that of the frustrated Jabez Wilson: "when I got to that address it was a manufactory of artificial kneecaps ..." That address, 17, King Edward Street, as of 1885 was part of the premises of a carpet and lace manufacturer. By the turn of the century those numbers had disappeared; but they had been at the corner of Little Britain, which

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itself has no number 17, and might be mistaken for an address in that street. A few doors away at No 44, Little Britain, were the premises of Arnold & Sons, surgical instrument makers by appointment to HM Government, "manufacturers of trusses, elastic stockings, belts, artificial legs, arms, eyes &c." Jabez Wilson in his confusion and anger was nonetheless quite correct: there was a manufactory of artificial kneecaps. There are incidentally three other King Edward streets in the metropolis, and none of them has a number 17; but Wilson knew his Post Office street perfectly well. The richness of association and allusion in Doyle's writings shows itself in the names in The Red-Headed League. Nothing occurs by chance or at a hazard. Names are chosen for a purpose, and from a wide range of reading, interests and current observation. While this is true as well of street names and other non-personal names as of the names of individuals, the latter, especially surnames, are the concern of this study. Harrison is probably right that Pope's Court is derived from that Pope's Court off Crown Court, now Andrews Crosse, in Chancery Lane,6 but the matter of its location and that of Saxe-Coburg Square is beyond present scope. The red-headed client's conundrums must be approached one by one.

9 Five Pips for Gloria Scott ` ... there are points in connection with it which never have been, and probably never will be, entirely cleared up." The Five Orange Pips "Trevor was the only man I knew." The "Gloria Scott" Two cases, The Five Orange Pips from the Adventures, and The "Gloria

Scott" from the Memoirs, have such similarities and contain names such as to provoke thought about the creative process of their development — certainly about the development of the later case. Both are from the Norwood period of Doyle's residence, the former from late 1891, the latter from early 1893. Both plot elements and names recur; and names are drawn from a group which is strongly seen throughout the Adventures and Memoirs, in a proportion more noticeable than in later series. Reuse of plot has been discussed by W.E. Dudley' in connection with The Red-Headed League and The Stockbroker's Clerk, each of which

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slightly precedes one of the pair now under discussion, and with a third, The Three Garridebs from the late or Casebook period, 1925 — but in that trio a single plot element only is repeated: the decoying of an innocent person in order that a crime may be committed in his absence, or (in the third story) prevented. In The Five Orange Pips and The "Gloria Scott" the similarities of incident are much closer; commission at long time past of serious crime; a message precipitating the climax, specifically, a letter bearing a postmark which affrights an elder member of the family; a ship bearing criminals, which comes to an end in the ocean, a foreign background (American, Australian); in fact, a narrative in which Holmes does not solve the riddle at least in time to prevent disaster. The surprising parallel is the repetition of three names, out of the eleven in each case. Four names in each appear to be those of medical men known to Doyle, and the principal character is named from either medicine or cricket. The most important duplication is Hudson: in each case a villainous seaman — at least so it must be presumed in The Five Orange Pips where the crew of the Lone Star never actually appear, but "Hudson came" according to Joseph Openshaw's notes, and was evidently a leader in the Klan. Of two other Hudsons in the Canon, one is the immortal Baker Street landlady, the other a neutral figure, Morse Hudson the art dealer in The Six Napoleons. Holroyd suggested, "Could the explanation be that Hudson's soap powders were being widely advertised on the buses and hoardings at that time?"2 This may well have some relevance to Mrs Hudson, who would have at least putative connotations of soap, and another possibility would be Bulldog Hudson the boxer, mentioned in Through The Magic Door, where the name Randall (the supposed villain in The Abbey Grange) also occurs .3 The real origin of Hudson in The "Gloria Scott," as well as the plot itself, is, in the phrase already used, commission at long time past of a serious crime: the hijacking, or piracy, of the brig Cyprus in August 1829. The Cyprus, a government brig, sailed in mid-August 1829 from Hobart Town in Tasmania, bound for Macquarie Bay, the penal settlement, with a passenger list of some forty convicts, guarded by soldiers under a lieutenant. In an incautious moment, while the ship was becalmed, the officer, the ship's mate and some sailors took to a boat to fish. Master, crew, and soldiers, except for two sentries, went below for tea, leaving on deck nine or ten convicts in chains but able to walk. The sentries were speedily knocked down, the convicts rushed on deck, and the hatches made fast. Upon threats to burn the ship, the crew and military guard surrendered, and were set ashore in Research Bay — about forty in all. Nineteen convicts seized the brig, while twelve of the prisoners "re-

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mained passive, and positively refused to join the pirates; they were therefore landed with the crew, military, etc."4 Though the marooned group suffered, the happy ending is that two of the convicts, Morgan and Pobjoy, managed to row a makeshift boat of wattles and canvas twenty miles to Partridge Island, where they fell in with the Orelia, bound for Swan River, which lay at anchor, and rescue followed. The master of the Orelia was named Hudson. The second duplicated name, Prendergast, is only an allusion in The Five Orange Pips: "I heard from Major Prendergast," says John Openshaw, "how you saved him in the Tankerville Club Scandal." Holmes replied that Prendergast "was wrongfully accused." Harrison's explanation is neat and complete: the family name of the earls of Tankerville is Bennet; in Bennet Street, which joins Arlington Street with St James's Street, was the Walsingham Club which closed down "because of the scandal attached to the unjust accusation made against" Col Augustus Takeley, who was "framed" in the summer of 1887.5 Prendergast is a bilingual pun on Takeley. A supplementary, or perhaps even alternative, explanation for Prendergast is that this was the name of a well-known madam in Victorian London .6 In The "Gloria Scott" Jack Prendergast is an out-and-out villain, while the Freudian possibilities of his association with a convict ship, parallel with the madam and her charges, leave ample scope for proponents of the Rosenberg-Doyle syndrome. Both the Fordhams, the third recurrent name, are only allusions: in The Five Orange Pips, the Horsham lawyer (is there a pun even in Horsham?) who prepared Elias Openshaw's will; in The "Gloria Scott" the Norfolk doctor who attended Trevor/Armitage. They have identical functions: to attend upon a central tragic figure. Fordham is not an uncommon name; there were twenty-nine listed in the 1891 London directory. Possibly Dr Doyle was acquainted with William Henry Fordham, who received the LRCP, LRCS (Edinburgh) in 1886 (but had studied at Leeds, not Edinburgh), or with John William Fordham senior who practiced in the Mile End Road and Woodford; his son John William junior had not yet (not until 1897) received his medical qualification. Metcalfe points out the village of Fordham near Downham Market in the Norfolk fens — not close to "Donnithorpe" which was north of Langmere in the Norfolk Broads. Seven of the dozen names in The Five Orange Pips are rare names, defined for this purpose as names for which the 1910 London directory has ten or fewer examples. One of these is Paramore, a bare allusion (Paramore was "visited" by the Klan; "All well."), for which there are but three listings. The 18go Medical Directory lists Richard Paramore, of

Five Pips for Gloria Scott

47

Gordon Square and Hunter Street, who was medical officer of the Infant's Home and Homes of Hope, and author of Hints on Health. In the 1905 Medical Directory is a Richard Paramore, of Gordon Square and Judd Street, who having received the London University MD in 1905 could even be the son of the preceding. These Paramores are much more likely origins of the Klan victim than Joseph Rawle Paramore, curate of Finden, Derbyshire, and of Bengeo. For Major Freebody "who is in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill" Dr Doyle probably looked back to Southsea, but his original has not turned up. This too is a rare name, there being in the London directory only Freebody & Co, timber merchants of Pageant's Wharf. Regrettably the name does not occur in the Army List for 1890 — the forts which guarded the harbour were Army responsibility. The closest name of Doyle's Edinburgh acquaintance seems to be Henry S.R. Freeborn, who received his Ms, cm in the same year Doyle received the MD. Nonetheless Freebody is an ancient name; had it turned up in Doyle's historical reading? Grice too is an interesting name, rare for only nine occur in the 1910 directory, but particularly because it is also a Scots expression — originally meaning a pig, and hence "a fat ungraceful woman of somewhat loose character." From the former come the punning arms of the Grice family of Norfolk, "a boar passant sable." Grice-Paterson of The Five Orange Pips has not turned up, but Capt W.B. Grice-Hutchinson, MP, had his portrait in the Review of Reviews in April 1881, six months before The Five Orange Pips was in press. Captain in the goth Foot, later major in the Lancashire Fusiliers, he was Conservative MP for Aston Manor. His name was originally Hutchinson and he added "Grice" upon his marriage to Louisa, the only child of the Rev W. Grice of Sherborne. As the 101st and 1o4th Foot appear in The Crooked Man under the sobriquet of the Royal Mallows (or Royal Munsters), was Doyle acquainted with other officers of the line? Alexander Paterson was in medicine at Edinburgh in Doyle's time, but no direct connection to the Scottish expression is evident. Several names in The "Gloria Scott" do have possible Edinburgh referents. James Armitage, who became Trevor, JP (not "Justice of the Peace Trevor"), harks back to James Auriol Armitage, Ms, cm 1886, the only Armitage to graduate from Edinburgh. Walter Stanley Armitage had obtained the LRCP, LRCS (Edinburgh), and had been clinical assistant in the Royal London Ophthalmological Hospital and the Ophthalmological Department of the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh. Was this the colleague who told Dr Doyle, when he tried briefly to become an eye

48

Sherlock Holmes

specialist, "There's money in ears, but there's gold in the eye!"? Several other Armitages must have been known to Doyle through cricket: Thomas, Charles Ingram, and Vernon Kirk Armitage. A two-stage derivation, from both Walter and James, seems likely for this name. Evanses, who number four (plus a lady) in the Canon, strangely have no forenames, unless the nickname "Killer" be counted in The Three Garridebs. Edinburgh and London were full of Evanses, but in particular, medical Evanses included David Griffith Evans, Ms, CM, Edinburgh 1883, who set up practice in the Edgware Road, and wrote much on the use of strophanthus. Percy Charles Evans attended the University of Edinburgh but did not receive the degree, instead being admitted LRCP, LRCS (Edinburgh) in 1889 and setting up practice in Tavistock Square. Robert Evans who had attended King's College, London, received the Edinburgh licentiate in 1885 and practised in Homerton. The Evanses, other than a policeman in The Valley of Fear, seem generally a bad lot in the Canon; but whether this reveals anti-Welsh prejudice is unclear, since the Williamses in the tales have rather a hard time; and the Joneses are bumbling policemen. But then the Welshman has been a traditional English comic figure since Shakespearean days. The "Gloria Scott" and The Dancing Men have a Norfolk setting, and it was tempting to look to the Norfolk Grices for the reference in the first case; but no definite Norfolk experience of Dr Doyle is clear in 1891. But names tend to carry over in memory, in notes, and in the Canon, whether from Southsea, Bloomsbury, Norwood, or Norfolk. The original of Lieutenant Martin in The "Gloria Scott," who met a bloody end, was probably Thomas Hutchinson Mangles Martin, a retired naval officer who was promoted to rear-admiral in 1893. Whether this name had been noticed earlier by Doyle, whence his interest in GriceHutchinson, cannot be ascertained; but the other unusual middle name recalls Ross Lowis Mangles who became Ross & Mangles in The Hound. There were of course hundreds of Martins, including medical graduates of Edinburgh, and in particular three in Norwood. Harrison draws attention particularly to the case of the murdered night watchman named Martin.? Of the other names in The Five Orange Pips, Calhoun is unusual in England — there were none in the igio London directory — but better known in the United States, whence Captain Calhoun hailed. There was a Mrs Calhoun at No 7, Palace Square, Norwood, and this name is used soon after Doyle moved to Norwood. Openshaw is not quite as rare, with three in the 1891 directory, as well as Thomas Horrocks Openshaw, CMG, Ms, FRCS, etc ("half the alphabet" said Holmes in The Priory School)

Five Pips for Gloria Scott

49

who was surgeon at the London Hospital, etc. William Edward Openshaw was a Lancashire cricketer of an earlier day (1879-82). There seems no direct reason to identify John Openshaw who appears in this case with John Ormerod Openshaw who was graduated from the Leeds Clergy School in 1891, following an 1889 Cambridge degree. Three names in The "Gloria Scott" can be grouped together for different reasons. One may not be familiar to all readers of the tales, as American editions garble it to Holly. The original however is a mention of Sir Edward Hoby, and this appears to be Sir Edward Hoby, 15601617, a figure at the court of James 1. The second name, also garbled in American editions to Mereer, is Mercer, the mate of the Gloria Scott. While there is less of a name to go on, this is likely William Mercer (1605?-1675?) lieutenant-colonel in the Parliamentarian army, and poet, who swore allegiance at the Restoration. The third name is that of Trevor: probably Sir John Trevor, either father or son of the same name, who were both members of the Long Parliament, and died within a year: the son 1672, the father 1673. This suggests the phenomenon of the Moriartys (Professor and Colonel) having the same name. John Swain, another Klan victim in The Five Orange Pips, is like those names discussed in Chapter 6, so common that on this bare information an original is hard to pick. Three John Swains were in the 1891 London directory: an engraver, a gasfitter, and a gentleman of no stated occupation. The engraver, whose firm by 1910 was John Swain & Son Ltd of Shoe Lane, was probably a relative of Joseph Swain, 18201909, the manager of engraving for Punch. As there were fewer than thirty Swains in the 1891 London directory, and as the Sherlock Holmes stories from their first Strand appearance had been copiously illustrated with wood engravings, the engraver is a logical choice as original. As for Beddoes, the alias of that other scalawag Evans in The "Gloria Scott," there is insufficient information to identify a particular one of the seven recorded in the 1910 directory. But there was John Beddoe, without the final s, anthropologist, medical graduate of Edinburgh in 1863, author in 1886 of The Races of Britain. The anthropological discussions in A Study in Scarlet, even without the Andaman Islander in The Sign of Four and the later mentions in The Hound and The Three Garridebs, are sufficient to show Sherlock Holmes's knowledge of anthropology, and it seems that Evans's name became Beddoes via Beddoe. It is reminiscent too of Beddington in The Stockbroker's Clerk, another criminal, which leads on to Blessington (The Resident Patient): the former having appeared the month previous to The "Gloria Scott" (in March 1893) and having derived plot elements, as has been mentioned, from The Red-

50

Sherlock Holmes

Headed League, while the latter appeared four months after The "Gloria Scott." A name which at first does not even sound like a personal cognomen is among Watson's list of 1887 cases, as "an account of the adventure of the Paradol Chamber," which has led to predictable pastiches dealing with chamber pots and chemicals, Poul Anderson also suggesting it to be a misprint for "parasol" or "paradox." A brilliant suggestion by Lithner undoubtedly identifies this odd name correctly, as that of LucienAnatole Paradol, called Prevost-Paradol, French "litterateur et publiciste," 1829-7o, whose career culminated with an appointment as minister plenipotentiary to Washington in the presidency of U.S. Grant, but who in despair at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War committed suicide in his Washington hotel room. Prevost-Paradol was the illegitimate son of the beautiful actress Anne-Catherine-Lucinde Paradol apparently by Leon Halevy. The only doubt in the canonical reference must be whether the "Paradol Chamber"refers to the hotel room scene of the suicide or to some dark recess of Prevost-Paradol's own mind. Reviewing the characters in The Five Orange Pips in the light of the explanations for Prendergast (a brothel proprietor), others suggest doubleentendres: Paramore (paramour); Swain; what about Freebody?'° The possible pun in Horsham (whore-sham) has already been mentioned. Grice in the Scots sense now becomes prominent; though John, the first name of Swain, acquired its prostitutional sense only recently. The Paradol reference now clearly harks back to Prevost-Paradol's illegitimacy, and a "chamber" would fit into the Rosenberg-Doyle syndrome, not to mention "the lower vault of a furniture warehouse," Colonel Openshaw's locked lumber-room, John Openshaw's death in the darkness. No compelling reason of plot is visible to motivate these names as those in Thor Bridge much later are motivated; but the grouping is too prominent to be happenstance. A few minor names remain: Cook and McCauley in Five Orange Pips, a Wilson in The "Gloria Scott." McCauley, an unusual spelling, is not in the 1 g 1 o London directory though examples have been found. Dr Doyle's handwriting contains evidence of spelling at least idiosyncratic at times and since all we know of McCauley is a name in a list he is difficult to pursue further. Much later in The Priory School (1904) there is a coincidence where two referents seem both to be medical officers of London asylums. One is Henry William McCaully Hayes of Grove Hall Asylum, Bow, who studied medicine at Edinburgh and was granted the licentiates in 1887. Constable Cook, the only canonical Cook, and

Boscombe, Boone, and the Band

51

Wilson the chaplain, one of ten Wilsons, are fleeting figures of names so common that no explanation seems feasible. A geographical name in The Five Orange Pips may be noted by the way. One of the infuriating introductory allusions by Watson is to the "Camberwell poisoning case" and Holmes's experiment with the dead man's watch. There had been in 1887 a Camberley poisoning case — that was the heading given it in a late report in The Times on 18 January 1888 — Camberley being the location of Sandhurst, the officers' training college, north of Aldershot — but it was in fact a prosaic domestic matter, Henry Bowles being convicted of poisoning his wife and son. Two ladies' names remain: as ships. The British bark (barque) Sophy Anderson is not in Lloyd's Register, though there are Sophias and Sophies, both steam and sailing vessels. Unfortunately the Register has no approach to surnames, that is to second parts of the names of vessels. But Sophie Anderson may be found: a landscape, portrait, and genre painter, born in Paris in 1823, wife of Walter Anderson, an American, and resident of Capri 1871-94 for health reasons. Her works hang in the Royal Academy and the Walker Gallery of Liverpool. Mercer remarks in Notes & Queries, "Many of us English, now [ 1914] I fear all gone except myself, would recognize that there could be only one Mrs. Anderson."9 It seems wise to accept this eulogy and trust that the artist christened the barque named for her. As to the other lady, no trace has been found to this day of Gloria Scott.

10 Boscombe, Boone, and the Band "Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under." The Bascombe Valley Mystery "His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is ... familiar." The Man with the Twisted Lip "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "It was the Band — the Speckled Band." The Speckled Band

Three Adventures may be discussed together simply because they have, unlike those so far considered, small casts of characters: only five or six names. The smallest numbers of distinct names among the sixty cases occur in The Yellow Face which introduces but two, and in The Final

52

Sherlock Holmes

Problem which despite its complexity adds only three new names. The Boscombe Valley Mystery has six, The Man with the Twisted Lip and The Speckled Band five each. The first of these three, perhaps because of its slow and detailed start, has never been as popular as the other two which are indeed among the best known of the cases. Each however offers some problems regarding its personae. The first indeed offers a problem with its very title, for Boscombe, rather than being near Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire, is the name of places in Wiltshire and Hampshire, and even there a valley is not the significant feature. But placenames are outside present scope, so we look first at the doctors in the cases. Doctor Grimesby Roylott is probably the best-known doctor, bar Watson, in the canon — certainly one of the heaviest villains. The oddest thing about his name is that neither part of it can be found anywhere; second oddest, that in the dramatized Speckled Band which Doyle himself wrote, the name appears as Rylott. This surely was the original form, for A. Rylott was a Leicestershire cricketer who also played for the Free Foresters, an independent amateur team of long tradition, and he is mentioned in a number of cricketing histories. Dr Doyle certainly followed the fortunes of the Free Foresters. Two obscure doctors occur in The Boscombe Valley Mystery: Anstruther and Willows, the former substituting for Watson as he rushes off with Holmes, the latter attending Mr John Turner, and so obscure that the published lists of canonical characters miss him completely. Unfortunately there are no good leads as to their origins. Henry Torrens Anstruther was a Liberal-Unionist MP for St Andrew's in 1886, and may have attracted Doyle's attention politically; the name is uncommon (eleven in the igio London directory); but this is only speculation. Willows is an even rarer name. Jeffrey E.L. Willows, retired colonel in the Bengal Staff Corps, born 1826, might, before he died in Ramsgate in 1888, have encountered Doyle. Richard Smith Willows, a writer born in 1875, was too young; again, only speculation. But while doctors are the topic, Mr John Turner who was not himself a doctor was named for one, or rather two. John A. Turner received the MB, cm from the University of Edinburgh in 1882, a year later than Dr Doyle; and when the latter moved from Devonshire Place and Montague Place to the southern suburbs, John Sidney Turner was consulting surgeon at Norwood Cottage Hospital and resided at Stanton House, Anerley Road, Upper Norwood, a mile and half from Doyle. Oddly, there was another medical Turner, Theophilus B., closer by: a surgeon practising in the Warminster Road, South Norwood. His first name is reminiscent of Theophilus Johnson whose name was to be found

Boscombe, Boone, and the Band

53

in the register of the Northumberland Hotel (The Hound of the Baskervilles). Jones has identified the Kentish location of The Man With the Twisted Lip, the suburban house of the St Clairs, as an actual The Cedars on Belmont Hill, a house still standing, and simultaneously pinpointed the alias used by the hideous beggar: A Boone family once lived at Lee "in an ancient red brick mansion, surrounded by a moat, in the Old Road, for many years called `Boone Mansion', and which was pulled down in 1824." However, the Boone family left a memorial behind them in the form of some thirty almshouses, built in 1826. These almshouses (no longer standing) faced Brandram Road, which leads into Belmont Hill, and which comes out almost opposite `The Cedars'. Neville St. Clair would obviously have been aware of the existence as they were only a few hundred yards from `The Cedars', and it was thus quite natural that he should gain his alias from this source.' Jones might also have mentioned that the next street east of Brandram Road, opening out of the High Road, is a short thoroughfare called Boone Street. There was indeed a Mrs St Clair, at 259, High Road, in Lee in 1908, the High Road being the other face of the almshouses. While Number 259 had undoubtedly been built, for an 1877 map shows this road completely built up, it cannot be identified in the 1888 directory. There were three St Clairs in the northern suburbs, but only three St Clairs in all the rest of London. Whitney was also a rare name: just five in 1881. One was Neville Scott Whitney, a Wimbledon physician, and the juxtaposition of the first name of Mr St Clair with the last name of the unfortunate opium-smoker is suggestive. The names of the ladies in The Speckled Band also have different spellings in the play and in the short story, as Stonor and Stoner respectively. Both names occur, though rare, with seven Stoners (all in trade) in the 1891 directory, while there are four Honourable Stonors listed: Miss Julia, of Portman Square; Miss Catherine, of Grosvenor Square; his Honour, Judge Stonor of Stafford Terrace, Kensington; and Hon Henry also of Portman Square. While there is no Helen the occurrence of Julia Stonor is remarkable, perhaps too remarkable and an obvious reason why the name as first published was Stoner. Whether in the dramatized version Doyle had forgotten his reason for altering the spellings from his originals, or had deliberately changed them back, is hard to guess. Another lady referred to in The Speckled Band is Mrs Farintosh,

54

Sherlock Holmes

whose business with Holmes had to do with an opal tiara. Harrison is undoubtedly correct in finding the immediate origin of the name in Thackeray's The Newcomes, "where Lord Farintosh is the type of classconscious, tight-fisted nincompoop with more than a touch of vice in his composition."2 Harrison however does not give the full derivation of the name, which was in Notes & Queries in both 1 goo and 1954: This word, generally spelt Ferintosh, is ... a Scottish whisky formerly distilled at Ferintosh near Inverness ... It is said by Arnot that more whisky was distilled in Ferintosh than in all the rest of Scotland s One name which does not seem to have been remarked as creating an allusion is that of the worthless Marquis of Farintosh, and Earl of Rossmount, who appears in The Newcomes and Philip, and is accorded a mention in the Book of Snobs and the Roundabout Papers. The name is a variant of Ferintosh, a `well known distillery of Scotch whisky'.' Doyle was well acquainted with Thackeray and weighs him among other novelists in his Through the Magic Door. Here in The Speckled Band is a triple reference (Farintosh/opal/tiara) which bears more investigation. A pearl dropped into wine was said to remove poison; but what of opals? Was The Beryl Coronet, to be published only three months after The Speckled Band, foreshadowed in this reference? Or was it perhaps carried over to the Black Pearl of the Borgias and the Conk-Singleton forgery case? Several minor characters remain in the Boscombe dell. John Cobb, the groom had a slightly more common name, for over forty Cobbs were in the 1891 listings, notably John Gerard Cobb, a solicitor, and John Henry Cobb. Charles Edward Cobb was captain of the Rugby and Buckinghamshire cricket teams. The evidence is too slim for decision about these Cobbs. For William Crowder, the gamekeeper, despite his having an uncommon name (nine in the 1891 London directory) it is hard to prove that William Henry Crowder of Lincoln's Inn Fields and Surbiton or William Irwin Robert Crowder, of Antrim Street, Hampstead, may be the man. For the McCarthys, James and Charles, the prime probability ("when you have eliminated the impossible") is James Desmond McCarthy, retired medical officer on the Gold Coast — whom young Doyle may well have encountered in Lagos early in 1882, on that wretched voyage in the Mayumba when as ship's surgeon he was sicker than his possible patients. The numerous clan of McCarthys included other Jameses and Charleses, including a James who taught navigation at The Sailors'

Boscombe, Boone, and the Band

55

Home, in Dock Street, and sounds like a character worth meeting for a young author, but speculation is not profitable. There is no speculation as to the origin of the Man with the Twisted Lip. He comes from Victor Hugo, by way of Rannoch Moor. In Blackwood's Magazine from September 1891 (The Man with the Twisted Lip appeared in December) appeared an unsigned short story, "Across Rannoch Moor" from which this is a climactic quotation: If I had met Burgon on the street I should not have known him, so hideously altered was he. From `Beauty Burgon' he had become something like Hugo's L'homme qui rit. His features were contorted by a curious cicatrix on the cheek, which drew up one corner of his mouth into a permanent grin. The lower eyelid, too, was drawn down and everted. So transfigured was he, that for a time I could only hold his hand and stare.5 The tragic protagonist of L'homme qui rit is Gwynplaine who, terribly disfigured as a child "By order of the King" (which is the title of the English translation published in 1870) has a continual leering smile. Finally he is revealed as the lost Baron Clancharlie, but his leering face prevents the Lords from taking him seriously, and only a blind girl loves him. The Blackwood's short story may have been parallel with, rather than precursor to, Doyle's tale; but the original is clear. The name Hugh Boone is suggestive of Hugo, with whose work Doyle was well acquainted. A final minor character in the case is Inspector Barton. The name recurs in The Illustrious Client where "Dr Hill Barton" is the pseudonym wished upon Watson by Holmes. That however was from a different original than this; for Henry Barton was the resident police officer at the Knight's Hill Road station in West Norwood. Another Henry Barton was graduated from Edinburgh in medicine in 1887, but as he came to practise in Stepney he and Doyle may have had contact and Doyle may have been struck by the coincidence of names. There were also George Edward Barton in Holmesdale Road, South Norwood, and Mrs Barton in Saxon Road; even another doctor, James Kingston Barton, in South Kensington, among seventy directory listings of the name. But in "D" Division (St Marylebone) of the Metropolitan Police were two real Inspectors named Barton, Charles and George (and for that matter, Inspector Arthur Doyle in "B" Division in 1910). Still unaccounted for are Patience Moran whom some Sherlockians for no reason accuse of being a relative of Col Sebastian Moran; Miss Honoria Westphail of Harrow, maiden aunt of the Stoner sisters; and Inspector Bradstreet. Beyond the probability that Doyle invented the name Westphail (for Westphal can be found, but not this spelling) noth-

Sherlock Holmes

56

ing is known and further search may be fruitful. Bradstreet reappears in The Blue Carbuncle, published the month after The Man with the Twisted Lip, and in The Engineer's Thumb two months later still. Kimball discusses him, or them, pointing out that in each case Bradstreet has a different Police assignment, but Kimball's ascription of a genealogy (three sons of Nehemiah Bradstreet, a linen-draper) must be doubted. If there were two Bartons there could surely be three Bradstreets, but why make them brothers? Before we leave the Boscombe Valley another placename must be mentioned because it has a subsequent connection. The tragedy occurred at Hatherley Farm. Five months later the name is used for the central character in The Engineer's Thumb. Now although there is no Boscombe in Gloucestershire there are two Hatherleys. Hatherley Court is at Down Hatherley, three miles odd from Gloucester. Hatherley Manor is at Up Hatherley, two miles from Cheltenham. The names of the owners offer no clue, but these seats gave their name to that Farm — again transplanted, for they too are nowhere near Ross-on-Wye.

11 The Doctors' Quarter

PART I

' ... we swung through the doctors' quarter ... Wimpole Street, Harley Street ..." The Blue Carbuncle Two groups of medical men attract attention in the sixty tales of Sherlock Holmes. The first is a group of twenty-nine doctors, of more or less importance in the action. There are also eight extras or supers, doctors who appear but are not named and who therefore do not come into this discussion. The second group is far larger: not doctors in the Canon, but over one hundred and eighty characters who are named after medical men — more than eighty certainly, an additional hundred possibles. Thirty of these are in The Valley of Fear alone. The first group is displayed in Table i, showing whether the character is major or minor in the case, or one of those passing allusions who do not actually appear. The category of original source is given: MD, sporting figure, literary person, neighbour (including any person in the same town), or unidentified character. The rarity of the surname is also noted, in the same terms that have previously been used: rare if

The Doctors' Quarter

57

there are no examples, or but one or two, in the 1g10 Post Office London Directory; uncommon if there are ten to twenty; common if there are over twenty-five. This chapter will not give details of the original sources, which will appear in discussion of the separate cases in subsequent chapters. The designation MD is used to show a medical original, but it should be recalled that the usual first medical qualification in Victorian England might be the Ma, CM, or the LRCP, LRCS. The MD was usually a graduate degree granted several years later, and not achieved or sought by all practitioners. Rearranging Table i into chronological order by date of publication reveals no pattern. The six major characters range from 1892 to 1926, though more minor characters occur from 1914 to 1927 (The Valley of Fear through The Case Book: four) than in earlier cases (two). Table 2 summarizes the data of Table 1 and shows some surprising results. Twothirds of the names used for medical men in the cases are rare or uncommon, including two apparently invented or adapted by Doyle. No major medical character is named for a medical original, but fourteen out of twenty-three minor characters, or persons alluded to who do not appear, or aliases and imaginary names, can be traced to medical originals. In a few cases there are two possible sources but one is usually more likely than the other. Names used for persons alluded to are better than four times as often rare or uncommon surnames, as compared to common surnames. Some remarks on particular names may be added to clarify the summation in Table 2, although the details will come later. Armstrong may come from either medical or sporting originals, probably both, but has been tallied with sport. Starr similarly may come from a political or a medical original (in fact, the political original was medical) and has been tallied as political. "Starr" is in this list because he was called "Doctor" but it must be remembered that there was no such person; and in the American Midwest in the 'eighties anyone who could pull a tooth or roll a pill might be addressed as "Doctor" or "Professor." Jackson was a medical neighbour of Doyle. The original of Anstruther is uncertain, and may be political, but does not appear to be medical — and note that he is not called "Doctor" in The Boscombe Valley Mystery, which may be an intentional sly dig of some kind. Trevor Bennett appears in this list because Watson states that he had a medical degree, though he was apparently not a registered practitioner but was a unversity research assistant. Farquhar and Kent, and James Mortimer, are called "Mr" because they were surgeons, who to this day in England are not tided "Dr." James Mortimer is usually alluded to by that tide in The Hound but

Agar, Moore Ainstree Anstruther Armstrong, Leslie Barnicot Barton, Hill Becher. Bennett, Trevor" Ernest, Ray Farquhar, Mr Ferrier Fisher, Sir Penrose Fordham Horsom Jackson Kent, Mrb Meek, Sir Jasper Mortimer, Mr James" Oakshott, Sir Leslie Richards Roylott, Grimesby Saunders, Sir James Somerton Starr, Lysander' Sterndale, Leon Trevelyan, Percy Verner Willows' Wood

1910 1913 1891 1904 1904 1925 1892 1923 1927 1893 1893 1913 1893 1911 1893 1926 1913 1901 1925 1910 1592 1926 1890 1925 1910 1893 1903 1891 1914

Devi Dyin Bose Miss SixN Wu Engr Cree Rai Sloe Nava Dyin Glor Lady Croo Blau Dyin Noun Illu Devi Spec Blan Sign 3Gar Devi Resi

Bose Vall

Norw

DATE

CASE

Table 1: Medical Men Named in the Canon IMPORTANCE

allusion allusion allusion major minor alias alias minor allusion allusion allusion allusion minor allusion allusion minor allusion major minor allusion major major allusion imaginary major major allusion allusion minor MD, neighbour neighbour MD military MD MD sport neighbour MD Edinburgh? political? MD literary not found not found not found not found

MD MD MP? MD?, sport MD literary MD MD not found MD MD MD MD

SOURCE

common

rare uncommon rare

common rare

invented

rare rare uncommon common rare rare rare common uncommon uncommon uncommon common uncommon invented common common uncommon common rare common

RARITY

The Doctors' Quarter

59

Table 2: Medical Men in the Canon (Summary) SOURCE OF NAME MD

OTHER

NOT FOUND

TOTAL RARE OR UNCOMMON

SUBTOTAL

Major character Rare or uncommon Common name

— —

2 3

1 —

3 —

3 3

Minor character Rare or uncommon Common name

3 1

— 1

— 1

3 —

3 3

Allusion, etc Rare or uncommon Common name

7 3

3 —

4 —

14 —

14 3

TOTALS

14

9

6

20

29

in conversation with Holmes at the very beginning he himself disclaimed it: "merely a humble MRCS" (Member of the Royal College of Surgeons) he said. This in itself was a step up from the basic qualification, the licentiate (LRcs) which is the first professional registration for practitioners who had come through hospital rather than university medical schools. Such a practitioner in surgery was not of course prevented from being engaged in the general practice of medicine. Other medical men appear, in The Copper Beeches, The Crooked Man, The Cardboard Box, The Blanched Soldier, The Dancing Men, The Devil's Foot, and The Illustrious Client, but they are not named. All are minor, only a couple having speaking parts.

Notes to Table i Where no forename is known, "Dr" is omitted. The abbreviations in the "Case" column are the commonly accepted short forms invented by Jay Finley Christ, and are used in this and following tabulation; for the complete list of abbreviations see the beginning of the Index. In the "Source" column, italics show preferred sources. a Medical Training b "Mr" was used of a surgeon c Figure not available d Possibly not medical in any case

6o

11 The Doctors' Quarter

PART II

Holmes raised his eyebrows. "This is Baker Street, not Harley Street," said he. Shoscombe Old Place

Tabulating those names of which the demonstrable or possible antecedents are medical yields rather different results from those names of medical men in the Canon. But of the nearly eight hundred names in sixty cases, eighty are solidly medical, while over a hundred appear to have an MD in the background. Some hundred and twenty-five relate to medical practitioners whose university was Edinburgh or whose licentiates were granted by the Edinburgh professional colleges. To summarize these large numbers briefly, it has been necessary to group them, successively, as: Major characters / minor characters and allusions Full match (forename and surname) / surname match only Edinburgh degree / Edinburgh licentiates / other qualification Additional considerations would make possible other sorting: Rare name / common name (using the criteria as before) Year of Edinburgh degree (1878-85 being years during which Doyle had a nominal connection with Edinburgh as a student) Positive identification / possibility / alternative possibility (these decreasing probabilities being intuitively rated) However, one tabulation at a time may be illuminating; more may well be confusing. 1: Major Characters Full match (forename plus surname) James Armitage (Glor) James Auriol Armitage, MB, CM Edinburgh 1886 (27) Henry Baker (Blue) Henry Morton Baker, MB, cm Edinburgh 1877 (3oo+) John Douglas (Vall) John Josiah Douglas, MB, CM Edinburgh 1889 (g6) Philip Green (Lady) Philip Anthony Mark Green, MD, Onslow Square (450) Joseph Harrison (Nava) Joseph Harrison, LRCP Edinburgh 1879 (284)

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John Turner (Bosc) John Sidney Turner, consulting surgeon, Norwood (520) Henry Wood (Croo) Henry S. Wood, Ms, cm Edinburgh 1888 (455) John Mason (Shos; cf Stud, Bruc, Suss, Vall) John Robert Mason, LRCP, LRCS Edinburgh 1888 (240) William Kirwan (Reig) Dr William Peter Kirwan, d 12 October 1892 (6) James McCarthy (Bosc) James Desmond M'Carthy MD 1871, retired Medical Officer, Gold Coast (53) The number appended to each name is the number of listings for the surname in the 1910 Post Office London Directory. All except Kirwan are common names, and the obvious criticism is that of sheer coincidence. Yet so many coincidences in such detail must be more than coincidence alone. A final, slightly special case is that of "Birdy" Edwards in The Valley of Fear, whose original is proposed to be Bogdan Iastrzebski Edwards, Ms, cm (Hons) Edinburgh 1884. What would the Scots make of that name save "Birdy"? The surname-only matches follow, with the case, and year of Edinburgh degree: Surname match (Edinburgh medical degree) Bannister (3Stu) 1884 Barclay (Croo) 1887 Burnet (Wist) 1881-87 Carruthers (Soli, Wist) 1878 Cunningham (Reig) 1878, 1886 Evans (Glor, Vall, Shos, 3Gar) 1883, 1887 Ferguson (Engr, 3Gab, Suss, Thor) 1881, 1884 Ferrier (Stud) 1884 Gibson (Thor) 1879 Henderson (Wist) 1882, 1884, 1886 Hope (Stud, Seco) 1878 Huxtable (Prio) 1881 Lestrade (13 cases) 1883 McLaren (2Stu) 1883 Grant, Munro (separately; Yell) 1881-88 Musgrave (Musg; near match) 1886, 1888 Shlessinger (Lady) 188o

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Small (Sign) Edinburgh librarian Stapleton (Houn) 1882 Stark (Engr) 1883 Surname match, Edinburgh, medical degree contributory (with another source) Basil (Blac) 1882 Kemp (Gree) 1887 Surname match, Edinburgh licentiate in medicine Bennett (Cree) 1884 Gilchrist (3Stu) 1885 Hayes (Prio) 1887 Moran (Empt) 1885 Neligan (Blac) 1879 Surname match, other medical qualifications Armstrong (Miss) Blackwell (Chas) Clay (RedH) Holdernesse (Prio) Sutton (Resi) Toller (Copp) 2:

Minor Characters and Name Allusions Alec MacDonald (Vall): Alexander Macdonald, MB, CM Edinburgh 1888; Alexander G. M'Donald, NIB, cm Edinburgh 1884 James H. Scott (Vall): James Scott, MB, CM Edinburgh 188o; James F. Scott, MB, cm Edinburgh 1888 Charlie Williams (Vall): Charles L. Williams, ma, cm Edinburgh 1886

Surname match, Edinburgh medical degree (arranged by case) Blac Slater 1878 Blan Simpson (5, 1878-87) Blue Maudsley (Hon. LL D) 1884 Bruc Brooks 1885, 1888 Card Aldridge 1884 Copp Fowler 1887, Spence 1882

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Cree MacPhail 1878, Mercer 1881 Croo, Reig, Suss Morrison (g, 1878-88) Croo, Houn, Vall Murphy 1885 Danc, Empt, Stoc Parker 1879, 1887 Danc, Glor Martin (4, 1878-87) Devi Richards 1878, 1884, 1885 Dyin Fisher 188o, 1885; Morton 1885, 1886; Savage 1883, 1886 Empt Carstairs 1877 (MD 1885); Godfrey 1887, Milner 1888; Morgan 1884, 1888 Engr Matheson 1887; Warburton 1885 Five Freebody (?Freeborn 1885); Paterson 1884 Houn Fraser (numerous) Lady Horsom (?Horsley 1885) Last Hollis 188o Miss Morton 1885, 1886; Stevenson 1882, 1884, 1886 Nava Forbes 1882 Prio Cathcart 1878, 1891 Reig Forrester 188o (and LRCP 1873) Resi Moffat 1883, 1887 Seco Barrett 1883 Sign Somerton (?Someren 1882) SixN Abernetty (Abernethy 1888) Stoc Harris 188o; Mawson 1887 (and 2 LRCS); Pollock 1892; Price 1879, 1883, 1884 3Gab Perkins 1881: Stockdale (?Stockman 1882) 3Gar Waldron 1879 Vall Andrews 1888 (and LRCS 1881); Bird 1883; Carter 1884, 1887 (and LRCP 1886); Crabbe 1874, 1875 (and LRCP); Hunt 1887; Lee 1884; Linder (Linde 1878); Manse! 1888 (and LRCP); Menzies 18go; Morris 1886; Neal 1883, 1885; Nicholson 1884; Rae 1833 (Arctic explorer); Shafter (Schafter 1909); Stanger 1783 (Foundling Hospital); Wilcox 1882; Wilson 1 749 (author) Wist Melville 1885; Warner 1883 Edinburgh degree an alternative possibility to other non-medical referents Abbe Randall (Randle 1888) Blac Allardyce (Allardice, MA 1882) Blue John Robinson 1887 Bruc Valentine 1882, Walter 1883; Woodhouse 1886

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64 Card Montgomery 1888 Fina Patterson 1887 Miss Johnson (18,1878-88); Moorhouse 1883 Resi Hayward 1886 Scan Gross (LL D 1884) Seco McPherson (6,188o-88) Shos Stephens 1884 Sign Forrester 188o Silt' Ross (11,1878-88) SixN Hill (5,1879-87) Stud Cowper 1887; McGregor (several 1878-86) Suss Harvey 1887, 1888 Twis Barton 1887 Vall Mason 1879 Edinburgh licentiates (LRCP or Lxcs) Becher (Engr) 1885 Brewer (Shos) 1882 Caunter (Prio) 1888 Lomax (Illu) 1883 McCauley (Five) 1888 McFarlane (RedH, Norw) 1884 Other medical qualifications (by case)

Blac Sumner Blue Oakshott Croo Jackson Devi Agar Dyin Ainstree (?Ainsworth); Meek; Penrose, Fisher Five Fordham; Paramore Glor Fordham Gree Adams (also Edinburgh 1884) Illu Leslie, Oakshott; Winter Nava Ferrier Nobl Doran Norw Cornelius; Stevens Sign Bromley Silt' Gregory; Hunter SixN Barnicot Stoc Farquhar

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3Gab Haines, Johnson 3Gar Winter Twis Neville; Whitney Vale Cormac; Gower; William Hales; Hargrave; James; Manders; Manson; Pott; Scanlan There are also two special names: Charles Augustus Milverton, among whose antecedents Charles Augustus Edwards (LRCP, LRCS Edinburgh 1886) may be counted; and "Wisteria Lodge," the residence of Arthur C. Stark, Edinburgh 1883. The list may be summarized thus: thirty-three major characters (the definition of "major" being arbitrary, as in Chapter 3) and 132 minor names. These 165 names represent about 18o characters. Full names (forename plus surname) are given for sixty-two characters, sixteen of these being rare surnames, using our standard definition of "rare." Of the total 165 names forty-six are rare while seventy-eight are common (fifty or more listings in the directory), the remaining fortyone occurring thirteen to forty-nine times. Slightly over a quarter of all the names are rare in occurrence, but just over a third of full names are rare. The distribution of Edinburgh University graduates and Edinburgh licentiates (Licentiates of the Royal Colleges of Physicians, and of Surgeons, Edinburgh) is striking. There are 113 Edinburgh graduates, thirteen Edinburgh licentiates and forty-five with other medical qualifications. Of the Edinburgh graduates and licentiates, ninety-two obtained the qualification in the years 1878 to 1885. Twenty-nine additional names come from the years 1875 to 1877 and 1886 to 1888, as well as numerous additional instances for names also occurring 1878-85. Arthur Conan Doyle was an Edinburgh student from 1876 (November) to 1881, receiving his Ms, CM, and finally received the MD in 1885. In the Alphabetical List of Edinburgh Graduates covering 1859 to 1888 are something over six thousand names; 1336 of these were medical graduates in the years 1878 to 1885, and they shared 86o different surnames. This was an average of 167 medical graduates a year. It can be presumed that Doyle knew all the men in the class of 1881, and that his acquaintance with others would vary (among other factors and chance) with the gap between year groups. Final-year men often make a strong impression upon a first-year student and this seems to have been the case with Doyle. This is borne out by a sudden peak of fifteen names from the 1878 graduates, whereas there had been but two names from the years 1875 to 1877. The next strong swell is for 1882 to 1885, from which there are respectively twelve, fourteen, fifteen, and twelve names. (Where

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more than one person of a given surname was found, the earliest year within 1878-85 was tallied.) There was then a dip to six from 1886, and eight in 1888, but another peak at thirteen from 1887. Only five names come from the period after 1888, three from that before 1875, and fame accounts for the latter. (The Doctorate in Medicine did not automatically follow the MB, BS at Edinburgh. Many bachelors did not go on to obtain the doctorate; and while some accomplished it after two years, some did not return for the MD for twenty.) These figures shed some new sidelight on Nordon's description of Doyle's medical years. There was another contrast between university and school which Conan Doyle found hard to accept. There was no community life at Edinburgh whatever. The very free regime was more like that of a French than an English university, and left a student entirely responsible for arranging how he spent his time. The drawback of this was that he had few human contacts with other members of the University. Other students were strangers or very nearly so, and there was often an unbridgeable gulf between students and their teachers.' This observation must, considering the calibre of Nordon's biography of Doyle, be taken at face value, and it certainly provides background to Sherlock Holmes's description of his university years in The "Gloria Scott" and The Musgrave Ritual. He was the only friend I made during the two years I was at college. I was never a very sociable fellow, Watson, always rather fond of moping in my rooms and working out my own little methods of thought, so that I never mixed much with the men of my year ... We had no points of contact at all. Trevor was the only man I knew ... The "Gloria Scott" ... during my last years at the university there was a good deal of talk there about myself and my methods ... Reginald Musgrave had been in the same college as myself, and I had some slight acquaintance with him. The Musgrave Ritual The conclusion that must be drawn is that even though Doyle may not have made strong personal contacts, his habit of observation was already strong and, in Burns's words, "there's a chiel amang ye takin' notes." In the medical lists are full matches (forename plus surname) for ten major characters and three minor ones. Of the major characters, four were Edinburgh graduates (in 1877, 1886, 1888, 1889), two obtained licentiates (in 1879 and 1888); one was a neighbour of Doyle's, one was a doctor in the news (who had the only rare name in this group),

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and there were two others. The three minor characters all had common names and were recipients of Edinburgh degrees in 188o, 1884, and 1886. The remaining 151 are surname matches save for spelling differences (Schlesinger, Musgrove, Holderness, Schafter, Allardice, Oakeshott) and tentative matches (Freebody/Freeborn, Horsom/Horsley, Somerton/ Someren, Stockdale/Stockman, Linder/Linde, Ainstree/Ainsworth). Ainstree/Ainsworth is a very strong case; Linder/Linde can be explained on the basis of pronunciation. Besides this, for two major characters and twenty-two minor ones a medical example is available but there is, in addition, or with stronger evidence, an alternative source. The medical antecedent need not be discarded in these cases, since the latter example may well be a reinforcement of an earlier acquaintance with the name. It cannot be unequivocally claimed that all the examples given have been proved to be the definite sources of canonical names. The fact that only one-quarter of them are rare names makes that a risky proposition. But in many cases the first acquaintance of a given surname is the person who will long after be recalled in connection with that name; and names found in coherent groups of a young person's intensive acquaintance, particularly classmates, tend to be more readily recalled than names encountered at random. Regrettably a study could not be undertaken of Stonyhurst students, for a number of individuals from Stonyhurst have been found through other channels. Surname matches could equally well be made with lists of names other than these. Goodrich's list of names has been searched against Crockford's Clerical Directory, for instance, and a later chapter discusses those results. But the Edinburgh group stands out: of 86o Edinburgh names 11 g are matches with canonical names; this is a very high proportion. Although the conclusion cannot be firmly stated that exactly one hundred and so many canonical characters were given names drawn from Edinburgh graduates, it can be said that the collectivity of Edinburgh medical graduates of Doyle's years of association with the University was a prime source of many names of Doyle's characters, some score of them being obvious and some additional scores quite probable.

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12 No Rule of Thumb for Engineers "`Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor).' That was the name, style and abode of my morning visitor." The Engineer's

Thumb In a case which has been criticized as improbable, not the least interesting feature is the personal names, real or assumed, and the critical explanations which have been advanced for them. Two colonels in particular, Stark and Warburton, have been explained away. Col Lysander Stark — one of two names in the Holmes saga so very similar that they have aroused frequent speculation — was apparently a tall, thin German named Fritz, so addressed by a woman named Elise. In an ingenious if remote explanation, Rosenberg identified these two characters as Friedrich Nietzsche and his sister Elizabeth, or at least intended to recall them. What about the name Stark? For twenty years and more, Sherlockians have seized upon a public figure, and Holroyd's phrasing is felicitous: When Holmes sought to pierce the disguise of `Killer' Evans of Topeka, Kansas, in The Three Garridebs, he trapped him by asking if he remembered `old Dr Lysander Starr who was Mayor in 18go'. The `Killer' admitted acquaintance with this mythical person by saying `Good old Dr Starr. His name is still honoured.' The `Killer' would have proved a foe worthier of Holmes' steel if he had played him at his own game and replied: `Really Mr Holmes, I think you are confusing him with Colonel Lysander Stark, of Eyford, in Berkshire, a gentleman of exceeding thinness who figures conspicuously in an adventure of yours entitled The Engineer's Thumb ... That episode, if I mistake not, appeared in the Strand Magazine of March 1892, soon after the appointment as Administrator of Rhodesia of a Dr — ahem! — Leander Starr — ahem! — Jameson ... ' The Three Garridebs was not published until 1925 and one wonders at the mental processes by which the name of this African pioneer who, like Conan Doyle himself, was born in Edinburgh, and who took his medical degree at London University the year before Watson, was kept a-flicker in the author's memory for over thirty years.' Blau in 1868 and Shaws in 1969 also discuss Dr Leander Starr Jameson

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in connection with both The Three Garridebs and The Engineer's Thumb. However, Colonel Stark is traceable to other antecedents. One was Arthur Cowell Stark, who received the Ms, cm from the University of Edinburgh in 1883, and who then went into practice in Salisbury and took up residence at Wisteria Lodge, Whiteparish, Salisbury. In 1896 he left for Cape Town, and like Conan Doyle performed voluntary medical service in the South African War, until he died in Ladysmith in 1899. The other antecedent of the colonel was Dr Lysander Maybury, police surgeon in Southsea, whom Dr Doyle could hardly avoid having known from the newspapers as well as from professional acquaintance. It may well be true that Jameson was one antecedent of the fictive doctor from Topeka, but the colonel's forebears were in Wisteria Lodge and Southsea. The second shadowy figure in the well-thumbed case is that English doctor of the well-lined waistcoat who lost his house, Dr Becher. The name was that of George Tobin Dashwood Becher, who although he undertook his medical studies at Middlesex Hospital received the LRCP (Edinburgh) in 1885, the year of Doyle's MD, then taking up residence in Portland Place. There was an additional figure, just as shadowy a figure, Captain Becher who played cricket for the Free Foresters in 1892 and 1894. The Free Foresters have already been mentioned, in Chapter 1o, for A. Rylott was one of their number and ancestor of Dr Grimesby Roylott. But which Captain Becher played cricket, is not so certain; for the Army List contains several: A.C., of the Norfolk Regiment; C.L., not so likely as he seems to have been of retirement age; and F.W., of the Bedfordshire Regiment, the most likely. While we are on Army officers, there is Col Warburton whose madness Watson introduced to Holmes. The pastiches dramatizing the unreported case may for our purposes be ignored. As long ago (in terms of Sherlockian scholarship) as the first volume of the Baker Street Journal, in 1946, Rolfe Boswell noted the entry in Who Was Who 1897-1916 of Col Sir Robert Warburton, 1842-99.4 A brilliant development of the matter by Scheideman in 1977 should be required reading for any scholar of Sherlock Holmes .5 He carefully discusses the opportunities Watson would have had to meet Sir Robert, whose eighteen years devotion to the Khyber Pass, officially as "political officer," practically as the "British Raj," could surely be counted by some as "madness." Like Watson, Warburton was invalided to England in 188o — in April — and did not return to the Pass until February 1882; and indeed did not achieve a colonelcy until 1887. Scheideman also notes Col W.P. Warburton, and wonders, "Can a case be made for him as the Colonel Warburton? It might be interesting

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to know how many `Colonel Warburtons' are listed on the Army Lists contemporary with 22 is Baker Street ... And one can wonder afresh about Arthur Conan Doyle's techniques for selecting names." Indeed regrettable (because it confuses what at first appears to be a simple case, but characteristic of Scotland Yard's approach in usually choosing the wrong suspect) is the fact that there certainly were several Colonels Warburton, even as there were Captains Becher. Col William Pleace Warburton (1843-1911) attracts attention for he too was an Edinburgh Mn; medical officer to a Maharajah, Hon Surgeon to the Viceroy, inspectorgeneral of civil hospitals, he was in the Indian Medical Service from 1866 to 1899, then returning to become Superintendent of the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh. P.E. Warburton, a major in the Earl of Chester's Yeomen Cavalry, was gazetted an honorary lieutenant-colonel in 1887. Several other Warburtons, not all colonels (but Watson had a penchant for that rank) included a surgeon in the Welsh Regiment and another officer in the Norfolk Regiment, perhaps a subordinate of Captain Becher. Whether it was William Pleace Warburton who wrote to The Times in 1 go8 upon peat, and upon the manufacture of brown paper, is not clear; whether letters to The Times count as a sign of madness, even less so. But what is clear, is that Col William Pleace Warburton was a fellow graduate of Arthur Conan Doyle, receiving the Mn with him in 1885. Turning to the victim, Chapter io has mentioned Hatherley Farm in The Boscombe Valley Mystery, the name being reused here five months later. The most prominent person to bear the name was Lord Hatherley, Lord Chancellor in Gladstone's 1868 ministry; he was a Gloucestershire man, William Page Wood, who took his title from the Gloucestershire placename. Beyond Samuel Hatherley, a plumber, Charles Edward Hatherley, a surgeon (how medical men do turn up!), the Hatherley Permanent Benefit Building Society (probably from the place or the baron), and a make of folding tables advertised in the Strand called the "Hatherley" Wonder, few Hatherleys appear. James John Hatherley was a shipjoiner in Rotherhithe in 1844 and later — perhaps the father of Samuel. Perhaps the plumber was father to the hydraulic engineer — in Dr Doyle's mind if not in fact. That other hydraulic engineer alluded to in the case, Jeremiah Hayling, is even more difficult to plumb. The name Haylings has been found, but the only instances of the singular are in Hayling House, which is a mile south of Croydon and close to Norwood, and Hayling Island, off the coast of Hampshire between Langston and Chichester harbours, five miles south of Havant (near Portsmouth). Doyle was undoubtedly familiar with both these names.

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Venner and Matheson, the hydraulic engineers to whom Hatherley had been apprenticed, seem likely to have been compounded of two real firms: Venner & Co, electrical engineers in Old Queen Street, Westminister (whom we may meet again), and Matheson & Grant, civil engineers and agents, of Walbrook. Any number of medical Mathesons were Edinburgh graduates of Doyle's time: Kenneth Alexander, assistant medical officer of the Central London Sick Asylum; Alan, Angus, Farquhar, and Augustus (what a mellifluous quartet!) all of whom were practising in the North; John, surgeon in Gibson Square; but of corresponding Venners there is a paucity. Later we shall find that other firms are compounded in the same way: Ferguson & Muirhead (The Sussex Vampire), Holloway & Steele (The Three Gables). The combination of Gross & Hankey (A Scandal in Bohemia) from a surgeon and a dentist has already been remarked upon; so the combining of civil and electrical to produce hydraulic engineers seems most logical. Whether Mr Ferguson the "manager" in the case, "a short thick man with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double chin," was the same person as Dr Becher of the well-lined waistcoat, is most unclear. Unfortunately the original of Mr Ferguson, a name used again in three cases of the igsos, is no clearer. In the 1910 directory were a bare two dozen Fergusons and Fergussons; but without additional information, personal descriptions perhaps, there is no use speculating whether Capt Charles Robert Kennett Ferguson of 75, Victoria Street (not too far from Victor Hatherley's offices, at that) or Robert James Ferguson, Harley Street surgeon, was the original of chinchilla-bearded Mr Ferguson, or "Big Bob" Ferguson (in The Sussex Vampire) or Captain Ferguson (in The Three Gables). But while we are in Victoria Street, recall that Hatherley's offices were at No 16A. At No 17 were the consulting offices of Sir James Weekes Szlumper, the noted engineer of railways in Wales and the Northwest of England, and of London underground railways.6 Hatherley's address was not selected at random. Inspector Bradstreet was considered in Chapter to. With him, all the named characters have been studied. The number of unnamed extras in the case, some of them speaking parts, is notable: the railway guard, Watson's `old ally"; the Eyford stationmaster; the plain-clothes man; Watson's maid; the firemen; even a peasant. A peasant? The good Berkshire countryman would be insulted. The plain-clothes man might have been the inspector's sergeant, or a detective from the Berkshire constabulary; Tracy points out that Bradstreet was off home ground and would have no power of arrest in Berkshire.? The names, styles, and abodes of all these characters who occupy a twenty-four hour period

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in Victor Hatherley's career, even less in Watson's, are not the least improbable facet of the matter. The case ends with Hatherley's rueful face and Holmes's laughter — one of the upbeat endings in the Canon. and from our viewpoint as well as Hatherley's "a pretty business"!

13 An Ungovern(ess)able Situation "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "Data! Data! Data!" he cried impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." The Copper Beeches

That ineffable biblical paraphrase may have indicated rustiness in Holmes's knowledge, but it does also indicate what happens when the search for Holmesian names draws persistent blanks — or else when there are a number of featureless candidates and no criterion for selection among them. Both problems arise in The Copper Beeches, but it seems well to review what can be found to this point, in hopes that someone may have additional straw to mix with the canonical clay. First comes Mr Fowler of whom we get but a glimpse, "a small bearded man in a gray suit," Alice Rucastle's fiancé. London seems crowded with Fowlers, over a hundred in the igto listings, and particularly in the medical profession and its fringes in the 18gos. The well-known phrenologists, for instance — certainly not our man. Then George Fowler, who was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh) in 1882. An older man who had studied at Guy's and passed the licentiate examinations in 1864, he practised in the Kennington Park Road, which plays a prominent part in The Six Napoleons. Simson C. Fowler had been graduated from Edinburgh (MB, CM) in 1887 and must have been a student when Doyle received his MD, but that is an outside chance. Fowlers were also practising in Eccleston Street and Clarges Street, not to mention a veterinarian in Hackney. In view of Carlo the mastiff, perhaps this last gentleman, Edward James Fowler, is best qualified to be our man. But stay! Doyle the enthusiastic sportsman was sure to have known the cricketing Fowlers. Howard played both cricket and rugby at Oxford, and cricket in Essex 1886-8, as well as being on the England rugby team. Edwin was an Australian cricketer at the time. William Herbert Fowler

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is the most probable, for he was of Doyle's own age (born 1857, died 1941), another Essex player, but most important, a member of Marylebone Cricket Club in 1884 — for which Doyle later played. Gerald was another Oxford blue and Essex man (1884—g), later of Somerset; Thomas Frederick (1841-1915) had been a Cambridge and Huntingdon man up to 1879. Among all these it can only be suggested that Alice's Mr Fowler was a medical man, a sportsman, or both, and probably not from Hampshire. Of Col Spence Munro we know only that Violet Hunter's former employer "received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia." Miss Hunter's words do not indicate a military posting in that garrison town which for long had British forces in Citadel and Dockyard. By this date he might have had a civilian or advisory position, but not a regular posting. The prominent possibility would be Col Seymour Charles Hale Monro (1856-1906) who had been in the Afghan War and in Egypt in 1882, and prominent at Hazara in 1881; but what would be the connection with Conan Doyle? Similarly, Col Lewis Munro (1859-1927) was only brigade major at Gibraltar in 1892. A nearer chance is William Munro, MD, CB, the Surgeon-General, who resided in the Cromwell Road. James Monro was commissioner of police, but let us stay with the spelling Munro. There are just as many possible Spences, the nearest being J. Slater Spence in Upper Norwood, and including one surely known to Doyle: William James Spence, who although a medical student at the University of Edinburgh had been registered LRCP, LRCS (Edinburgh) in Doyle's graduation year. W.J. Spence while a student had been clinical assistant in the Eye wards of the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, even as Doyle had assisted Joseph Bell. When The Copper Beeches was written it was still only two years since Doyle had had the idea of being an eye specialist himself. There were other Edinburgh medical Spences at the same time: William, graduated 1882; John Buchan Spence, also 1882, who had gone to Ceylon. There were also several Spences in Norwood among more than twenty in the London suburbs. The colonel like Mr Fowler may have been a medical amalgam. There is little doubt about Lord Southerton. The peers in the Canon will be discussed in a chapter to themselves, but Lord Southerton was surely named for James Southerton, another cricketer, who is documented in a discussion of Thomas Armitage, one of those cricketers who inspired the original name of that JP in The "Gloria Scott": "His bowling in that match [Yorkshire versus Surrey at Sheffield, June 1876] made a great impression on James Southerton who thought he had never seen lobs that were so good."' Southerton is also a hamlet six miles from

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Okehampton on the northwest edge of Dartmoor (The Hound occurred on the east edge), but the cricketer has a stronger arm in this case. Among some obvious Toilers, Ebenezer Toller was yet another doctor who resided in Notting Hill. He was late the medical superintendent of Gloucester County Asylum, former medical superintendent of St Luke's Hospital (a reminder of the college in The Three Students), assistant medical officer of Colney Hatch Asylum, and author of "Advantages of the Cottage Plan for Accommodation & Treatment of the Insane." He sounds like a perfect person to caricature as an elderly alcoholic with a red face and shaking limbs; Dickens might have done it; but that might be cruelty — and injustice to Dr Doyle, who was the kindest of men. There were Toller & Sons, solicitors in Hodliman Street; and Neville Percy Francis Toller who was registered (MRCS, LRCP in 1892 was probably the son of Ebenezer. But the concept is amusing and Ebenezer sounds right. _ That Westaway whose name was lent to the employment agency for governesses was one of a scarce clan. The only Westaway in 1891 London was of Westaway & Knight, drapers in Princes Road, Notting Hill. (Westaway & Westaway were still in 1978 London). The agency itself is not hard to find. Of the sixteen "Governesses' Institutions" listed in 1891, most operate under the name of a lady proprietor, although one is operated by a Dutch gentleman obviously for Continental governesses, and one is a firm (Thornton & Thornton). Three use "Governesses" in their titles. The Governesses' Institution (Miss Eliz. Waghorn, principal) appears to teach governesses. Only the Governesses' & Scholastic Agency (Miss Hassell) in Hanover Square seems to fit Westaway's. There is no such agency, by the way, near Westaway & Knight in Princes Road. There are alas only seven Stopers in the directory, and none of them is the Miss Stoper of Westaway's. Indeed, of Miss Hassell the directory has no other trace either. Of the Rucastles the only thing that can be said is that Doyle seems to have invented the name; no listing of any kind has been found. Of Violet Hunter it is difficult to find a trace among the hundred Hunters in the directory. Only a lady who operated her own business, or maintained her own household, was listed in the London directory, and then like as not without a first name. A friendless little governess would certainly not appear. She must be sought much later, after the time of The Copper Beeches, as "the head of a private school at Walsall."

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14 Journey to Birmingham "Who are these gentlemen whom you have brought with you?" The Stockbroker's Clerk

The Stockbroker's Clerk reuses the device of luring an innocent person, who becomes Holmes's client, away from his legitimate place of work with the promise of more remunerative employment, in order that a crime may be committed in his absence; in this case, by impersonating him. Unlike The "Gloria Scott" which was to appear the following month and to repeat directly many plot elements of The Five Orange Pips including three names, The Stockbroker's Clerk has some clever variations on the red-headed device; and while no names are repeated, the dozen names in the case are remarkable for the number of doctors who appear to be original sources. Half of the dozen characters and aliases come from medical antecedents. Old Mr Farquhar, whose practice has diminished because he suffered from "an affliction of the nature of St. Vitus's dance," is the first. He is another of those passing allusions, in an opening paragraph which adds background to the picture of Dr Watson. Huntington's chorea, St Vitus's dance, is one possible disease, but it may rather be that Mr Farquhar had Parkinson's disease; the characteristic tremors of head and hand are more öften seen than the spasms of chorea. On the other hand, William Farquhar, Deputy Surgeon-General of the Madras Army, and Aberdeen graduate of the 185os, retired sometime between 1890 and 1893; and he was the author of "Notes on Delirium Tremens and its Treatment by Ipecacuanha." Dr Doyle may well have been poking sly fun at the retired Surgeon-General, whose London address was very near Paddington: 40, Westbourne Gardens. Dr Watson "had bought a connection in the Paddington district" and this had led among other cases to that of The Engineer's Thumb. Mr Harris, of Bermondsey, is another gentleman who, like Dr Lysander Starr, did not exist — an alias apparently made up by Hall Pycroft who had devised the "cover story" for Holmes and Watson. But as even passing casual references in the saga had something behind them, it is not surprising that though more than five hundred Harrises were in the London directory a few come to particular attention. Firstly, Alfred Harris was graduated in medicine from the University of Edinburgh a

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year ahead of Arthur Doyle, one of only two Harrises to graduate from Edinburgh — and both of these were named Alfred! Secondly, among some ten Harrises in Norwood appears Joseph Harris, cycle maker; his address was 122B, Gipsy Hill, Norwood. He does not appear in the 1892 directory, nor does 122B, nor in the 1894 directory probably compiled late in 1893. Whether he commenced business early enough in 1893 to attract Dr Doyle's attention before The Stockbroker's Clerk went to the Strand — and it was published in the March issue — is problematical. Doyle was an avid cyclist; and "a" addresses are unusual enough that one hopes so.

The firms of Mawson & Williams and Coxon & Woodhouse, like previous examples, had been compounded of two separate personal antecedents. Medical sources for Mawson & Williams can be suggested. There was no such firm among the three thousand share and stock brokers in London though there were ten Williamses including Williams & Meyers, Williams Owen & Hayman, Prior & Williams, James & Williams, Smithers & Williams. Perhaps Doyle added "& Williams" to give verisimilitude. James Hargrave Mawson, who studied in Leeds, was registered by the Edinburgh colleges in 1882 and became an insurance examiner in Lancashire; he could have been known to Doyle. In London there were only seven Mawsons, including Mawson & Swan, manufacturers of photographic and electrical chemicals and apparatus. Two Edinburgh medical graduates named Williams were practising in London, Isaac and John C., both at 146, Inverness Terrace. Among these antecedents, the reader is free to pick a permutation. Coxon & Woodhouse did not come from medical originals, though Sir Stewart Woodhouse (1846-192 1) was a Dublin medico. Dame Jean Conan Doyle has pointed out' that someone named Woodhouse was known to Dr Doyle, who owned a book written by him. This is almost certainly the Rev Frederick Charles Woodhouse (1827-1905), Folkestone clergyman, dean and writer, author of The Military Religious Orders of the Middle Ages (1879), which is the kind of book Doyle used as background for his historical writing. An earlier work by the same Rev Mr Woodhouse was Some Account of St. John's College Chapel, Cambridge (1848), which will be mentioned again later. Among several other learned Woodhouses, seventeenth-century Sir Michael attracts attention with his The Copie of the Summons Sent to Ludlow, and the Governour's Answer (1646), a work dealing with Charles 1. Several London firms can be passed over: C.M. & C. Woodhouse, colonial brokers of Mincing Lane; Woodhouse & Thurgar, general agents in Poultry (the street, not the commodity); Woodhouse & Co, wine shippers (who may perhaps have known Vam-

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berry, the wine merchant); and two gentlemen named Coxon, one a manufacturer's agent, one a shipping agent. The reason for ignoring these latter is that Henry ("Harry") Coxon, 1847-1929, was for many years scorekeeper for the Nottingham cricket club, and a great authority on angling and writer on sporting subjects. As Marder has shown, Doyle drew so often for names upon the cricketing and sporting world that weight must fall heavily on Henry rather than Charles M. or Michael C. as the original Coxon half of the firm. Another mere allusion is "Parker, who used to be Coxon's manager." The name Parker is reused in The Dancing Men and The Empty House, both of 1903, also for shadowy figures. In the present case the original is not far to seek and is yet another physician. There were to be sure seven other Parkers in Norwood, but Theophilus Robert Bush Parker, MD, was at 18, Werndee Road in South Norwood, an address less than half a mile from Dr Doyle's house in Tennison Road. Doyle must have been well acquainted with the medical community soon after he moved to Norwood; he had only just dropped out of practice himself; and the names of several of the score of Norwood-area practitioners soon appear in the Holmes cases. And Theophilus (Johnson) pops up again in the The Hound of the Baskervilles. About Constable Pollock it will not do to be so sure. Pollock is a somewhat less common name, London listed some seventy, and Edinburgh University had graduated three Pollocks, among whom is John Donald Pollock who had been granted the Ms, cm from Edinburgh in 1892 and was to return three years later, as had Doyle, to receive the MD. He set up practice in the Earl's Court Road, which is a rather long haul from South Norwood, and no specific reason for his attracting Doyle's attention is obvious. Oddly enough eleven of the London Pollocks were barristers or solicitors; was some legal light here transformed into a policeman? And the later mystery of Fred Porlock (The Valley of Fear) may find some forebear here. Little mystery surrounds that other alias, Mr Price, supposedly of Birmingham, which was to be Watson's identity according to Hall Pycroft. Both Alexander and William Price were graduated in medicine from Edinburgh in 1883, Edmund in 1884, and Emyr had graduated in 1879; the names would be known to Doyle. There were Prices in Norwood, but no possible connection with Doyle appears. Hall Pycroft, bewildered but nonetheless alert and annoyed Cockney clerk, is drawn from the sporting world. The surprising original is a sporting cleric, the Rev James Pycroft (1813-95), Greek scholar and writer of some sixteen books. He had in fact left clerical duties in 1856

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for literature and cricket. According to G.C. Boase, "He never obtained much repute as a player, but he was a great authority on the history, rules and management of the game."2 Our stockbroker Pycroft's first name also comes from the cricketing world.9 Dr Doyle knew a man named Hall, Dame Jean Conan Doyle avers; regrettably we do not know which of several possibilities it was. Cricketing biographies list nearly a score of Halls. Louis Hall was voted one of the "nine great batsmen of the year" in 18go by Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack; Walter Hall, born in 1861, had played for'Derbyshire and Werneth. The singular name in the case is Beddington, a name reminiscent of Blessington in The Resident Patient, published five months later, of Beddoes in The "Gloria Scott" published only one month after The Stockbroker's Clerk, and of Berrington, the name of a criminal who was wont to represent himself as a clergyman,4 and Billington, sometime executioner.5 Beddington is however also a parish a mile and half west of Croydon, and still at that time beyond the continuous brick reaches of the metropolis. Since sixteen persons named Beddington are in the directory, it cannot be suggested that the alias was picked up from the Surrey suburbs; the placename-surname match is one of scores in the Canon (Chapter 52). The alias which Beddington used, Pinner, is both a placename far to the northwest, and an uncommon surname, and in addition is found upon a landmark in the area of stockbrokers, adjoining Lombard Street and Throgmorton Street, the banking and financial citadel. Pinners' Hall, the old guildhall of the Pinners' Company, in Old Broad Street was demolished in 1 798 to be succeeded by offices which continue to bear the old name. Or did Pinners' Hall suggest names for both Hall Pycroft and Pinner? Buried obscurely in the fine print of the long and prosy account from "an early edition of the Evening Standard" is the name of Sgt Tuson of the City Police. (To remind American Irregulars, the City of London, the Square Mile which includes the financial district, has a police force separate from the Metropolitan force who have no jurisdiction within the Square Mile.) Tuson is a sly in-joke indeed. Harrison pointed out that Tuson is the name of a well-known firm of pawnbrokers. The 1 g i o London directory includes only two Tusons, and the pawnbrokers are one of them. But Harrison has not noticed that Colonel, later General, Sir Henry Tuson was commander of the Royal Marine Artillery at Eastney Barracks in Southsea in 1886, when young Dr Doyle was writing A Study in Scarlet. He had distinguished himself in the Soudan compaign and in 1888 was promoted to major-general, to become a KCB in 1895.

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Dr Doyle must have delighted in demoting him to sergeant in this obscure paragraph. The second series of Holmes's cases, the Memoirs, were in full production in the spring of 1893. Dr Doyle was drawing incidents, names and characterizations from both the immediate neighbourhood and his past experiences, as well as from an ever-widening acquaintance in literary circles. Names from six different areas come together in The Stockbroker's Clerk: doctors, neighbours, sportsmen and literary, historical, public, and military figures. Only the police/criminal group, from which occasional names were drawn, is absent, and there is even an echo of that. Yet the medical predominance continues. Indeed, only The Beryl Coronet, The Dancing Men, The Golden Pince-Nez, The Mazarin Stone, and The Lion's Mane have no medical sources charted, but some twenty names remain in the "not found" column for those five cases, and some physician may yet well appear. Only in The Hound, The Empty House, and Wisteria Lodge does another group of sources equal or outnumber medicine.

15 Croydon, Norbury, and West Sussex "Will meet the seven o'clock train and will take no steps until you arrive."

The Yellow Face "With your permission we will take the first train down to Sussex ... " The

Musgrave Ritual "We shall look in on our way to the train." The Card-Board Box

Three Memoirs which began in Baker Street led to the southern suburbs and to western Sussex, with tentacles stretching to Liverpool, Atlanta, "and so under." The Card-Board Box mentions only six names; The Yellow Face has only two; and The Musgrave Ritual has only two named characters who can be said to appear though a half-dozen other names are mentioned. The first of these, some readers may wish to be reminded, is a Memoir written late in 1892 and published in January 1893, but suppressed after the first book edition so that in the Doubleday omnibus, for instance, it appears as the second of the cases in the group which appeared as His Last Bow, twenty-four years later. The case is an oddity for although six names other than those of the "regulars" Holmes, Watson, and Lestrade appear in the text, only one named character, Miss Susan

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Cushing of Croydon, actually appears; the others are all alluded to. One unnamed medical gentleman "in black, with a very shiny hat" does have a brief speaking part, but with him these studies are not concerned. Samuel Rosenberg discusses in his Chapter 6 the first names of the sisters Cushing, but not their surname. He notes that Sarah was the grandmother of Rachel, in the Bible; that Vincent Van Gogh in i888 or 1889 sent his severed ear to a prostitute of Arles named Rachel; and that the famous actress sisters Rachel and Sarah Felix appeared in Racine's PhPdre, the plot of which Doyle used in his short story. Aside from the fact that in The Card-Board Box the sisters are Sarah, Susan (the identical initials necessary to the plot), and Mary rather than Sarah, Rachel (and who else perhaps?), Rosenberg's Freudian analysis here is undoubtedly correct and reinforces the reasons for the long suppression of the story. But what about the surname? Rosenberg could have found something here too. In the County Suburban directory for 1908 appear Miss Annie Cushing, confectioner of 167, Clarence Road, Lower Clapton; Mrs Emily Cushing, confectioner of 43, Grove Vale, East Dulwich; and two Mrs Cushings in Stamford Hill and Wandsworth respectively. That the first two are confectioners (in North American terms, proprietors of candy shops) could be coincidence but suggests rather sisters-in-law. With the sparse information in the directory no guess can be hazarded regarding the two Mrs Cushings listed without first names, which implies that they are widowed lady householders. There were no Cushings at all listed in the 1910 London directory. It is at least suggestive that there were such Cushing connections in the suburban enclaves, whether Croydon and Wallington, or Clapton and Dulwich. And it was in fact a sister-in-law, Jim Browner's sister-in-law Sarah, who caused the trouble. Two rather similar names in the case among minor allusions are "Aldridge, who helped us in the bogus laundry affair" and "Algar, of the Liverpool force." The bogus laundry requires investigation, though not in these studies, but the name is not far to seek. Two Southampton medical men were John Henry Aldridge (MD Edinburgh, 1853) and Norman Elliott Aldridge (MD, cm Edinburgh 1884) — probably father and son — and it is highly likely that Arthur Conan Doyle knew the younger man in Edinburgh. There were many other Aldridges but none so close to Doyle. John Bartlett Aldridge, for instance (1871-1909), was a cricketer and (later than The Cardboard Box) a captain in the Boer War, while Dr Charles Aldridge was on the staff of Plympton House Asylum, South Devon. He is at least the third alienist we have encountered. Algar was even closer to Doyle, for Robert Algar lived at 19, The

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8i

Avenue, Norwood; and Algars were rather scarce, only fifteen being listed in all London and its suburbs. But this is not all: Chief Superintendent Harry Allbutt was Assistant to the Head Constable of the Liverpool force, and head of the detective police. So "Algar of the Liverpool force" was "All but" real. The case is remarkable for the number of policemen in it, the next being Inspector Montgomery; and just over the road from Robert Algar at 24, The Avenue, Norwood, resided General Sir Alexander George Montgomery-Moore, KCB. The Scottish and Welsh Montgomerys were not over-common in London; even at Edinburgh only three had been graduated, two of them James and John, both in medicine in 1888. The remaining two names in the case have not turned up. Browner appears to be of Doyle's own coinage; no Browners have been found in any source. The other ill-starred gentleman, Alec Fairbairn, another unusual name in London, has not surfaced though a couple of Andrew Fairbairns are known. Turning to The Yellow Face, the name Hebron may have been chosen for an "American" sound, but whether Doyle considered it to have a specifically American-Negro reminiscence can only be wondered. Possibly the train of thought led through Negro spirituals to biblical names; the Palestinian Hebron is where Abraham buried Sarah, which sounds somewhat reminiscent of The Cardboard Box. On the other hand there are Hebron, a parish in Northumberland, and Hebron, a Carmarthenshire hamlet; have they any bearing on this case? Or was Doyle thinking of William Habron, wrongfully convicted of the murder of PC Cook in the early 187os, to which our old friend Charlie Peace later confessed?' Grant Munro, the only other representative of a surname in the story, bears two common Scottish names. Four Munros were graduated from Edinburgh in Doyle's time. The Medical Directory listed dozens of Grants, though fewer Munros in England than in Scotland; the London directory had 15o Grants but only twenty-five Munros. In no case does "Grant Munro" or "Munro/Monroe Grant" appear. Beyond Scottish, and most probably Edinburgh medical, influence this name has not been traced. The Musgrave Ritual offers some interesting finds. Richard Brunton, the suffocated butler, is at 3, Gipsy Road, West Norwood, as Mr Richard Henry Brunton. There was also the well-known physiologist, Sir Thomas Lauder Brunton, an 1866 Edinburgh graduate and co-author of "Poison of Indian Venomous Snakes" — did this have anything to do with The

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Speckled Band? Sir Thomas also introduced amyl nitrite as a stimulant for angina pectoris; compare this with Trevelyan's use of the chemical for catalepsy in The Resident Patient. The ancestral hall of the Musgraves, Hurlstone, turns up as a personal name, though there is also a Hurlstone Point, a crag and lookout station, on the east side of Porlock Bay, Somerset. Martin de Galway Hurlstone resided at 173, Selhurst Road in South Norwood; and presumably in his honour the name of a byway off Selhurst Road, Alexandra Road as the 1894 Ordnance Survey shows it, was later changed to Hurlstone Road. The name Musgrave itself is indeed among the old and distinguished names, though perhaps not "one of the very oldest families in the kingdom," and the Musgraves of various connections, cadet and otherwise, are numerous though not in London at the time. Musgrave & Co Ltd, ironfounders, and five individuals appear in the 1890 directory. Among the writing Musgraves, Mrs H. Musgrave (whose first name seems not to be recorded anywhere) wrote Illusions, published in 1887. One's eye is caught by the appearance of both `Holmes" and "Musgrave" (John Henry Musgrave and Frank Holmes) in a serial novel in Chamber's Journal, "by the author of The Jullabad Tragedy," in 1890.' As a number of plot items or ideas in the Sherlock Holmes stories, including the Amateur Mendicant Society, and the central idea of The Veiled Lodger, also come from items in Chambers's Journal, the author of The Jullabad Tragedy seems at the least to have planted a seed. An Italian in another of those offhand references, "Ricoletti of the club foot, and his abominable wife," has been discussed in a longer consideration in the Sherlock Holmes Journal of the several unpublished cases mentioned in The Musgrave Rituals There were no Ricolettis mentioned in the London directory; Italians were still for the chief part looked upon by Londoners as organ-grinders and sellers of ices. But the reference appears in the Nineteenth Century in May 1891: "It was not long since that they [prisoners] made an end of Luigi Mileti, called pig, de porco (pig's foot), because his extortion passed all limits, and he would not divide the spoil."4 But pie de porco also means "crowbar" or "jemmy," which lends even more vividly the idea of extortion, as well as the literal suggestion of a club foot, though the Italian expression is a different one. The idea is repeated in Doyle's "The Story of the Club-Footed Grocer" in the Strand Magazine in i 898; and this may hark back to Francis Prosper, the wooden-legged grocer's man in The Beryl Coronet which appeared just a year earlier than The Musgrave Ritual. The whole theme of wooden legs has also been discussed in an earlier article;5 suffice it here that Ricoletti is not an isolated allusion. Two names remain, one Cornish, one Welsh, Janet Tregellis and

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Rachel Howells. While "Buck Tregellis" appears in Doyle's Rodney Stone three years later than The Musgrave Ritual, neither Tregellis nor Tregennis, the name of the murdered and poisoned family in The Devil's Foot (191o), can be found in any sources.6 Tregellas, Tregelles, Tregilgas, yes, but not Tregellis. This may be a spelling idiosyncrasy on Doyle's part — his manuscripts once in a while are a little uncertain on i's, as in Kemball/ Kimball — but it does not help our search. Nor can an original for Rachel Howells be readily located. That the Welsh and Cornish girls should be rivals has both a racial and an amorous basis. Vamberry the wine merchant, another Musgrave mention, was Arminius Våmbery the Hungarian traveller and linguist who specialized in warning (whining?) of the Russian Peril.? Tarleton, the name associated with certain murders, has probably to be linked with the Lancashire village near Southport, as Hall suggests,6 rather than with Col Banastre Tarleton of American Revolution reputation as I had earlier suggested. The distribution of names among categories of sources has been wide in these three Memoirs, especially considering how few names appear in each. The appearance of a couple from the police and criminal classes, fewer than a dozen of whom appear in the whole Canon, should be noticed. But doctors and neighbours seem still to be the most frequent sources. The sporting class (primarily cricketers) do not appear at all, whereas thirty-nine of the sixty cases have at least one name drawn from sport.

16 Aldershot, Reigate, and Old Soldiers "He's our leading man about here, is old Cunningham, and a very decent fellow too." The Reigate Squires "The colonel's name, you remember, was James." The Crooked Man The Crooked Man and The Reigate Squires (or Squire, or Puzzle depending on edition) are another pair of cases in which a name is immediately repeated. Here the repeated name, Morrison, is that of two women. Military figures appear in both, and as original sources as well as characters. And yet again medical names provide many of the characters. To begin with the Squires, the Cunninghams, Alec the son and the father whose first name is never stated, are reminiscent of Sir Alexander

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Cunningham who died in 1893 and was the second son of Allan Cunningham the poet (1784-1842). Sir Alexander had been an engineering officer in India, director-general of the archaeological department, and a numismatist; but no immediate connection with Doyle is visible. Cunninghams were graduated from Edinburgh in 1878 and 1886, within a reasonable chance of acquaintance by Doyle. Another Reigate squire, Old Acton, is more evident. The Right Honourable Sir John Emerich Edward Acton (Baron Acton), born in 1834, would be fiftynine in 1893 which presumably would to the young doctor be old. His dissident Catholic stance, an almost risky thing for a Privy Councillor, would be just the grist to Doyle's mill. While not anti-Catholic, Doyle had been repelled by the Jesuit influences in his school career, and as can be seen in other instances was ready to poke a little fun at highchurchmen of whatever persuasion. Colonel Hayter, Watson's old friend from Afghanistan, has been identified by Roberts as Major Charles Hayter, director of Kabul Transport in the second Afghan War.' We could be quite content with this excellent suggestion were it not that, like the Colonels Warburton, there are other candidates. The Henry Hayters can be dismissed — one was a London barrister; the other (1821-95), who emigrated to Victoria, wrote books upon that state, and edited the Victoria Yearbook. However, his brother Harrison Hayter (1825-98) was a prominent civil engineer who held the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the Engineer and Railway (Volunteer) staff corps 1893-8. Whether Doyle would be more likely to pick Major Charles or Lt-Col Harrison Hayter is debatable. But there is a Hayter close still: G. Hayter of the Portsmouth Football Association, of which Dr Doyle (indefatigable sportsman) was chairman of the committee. For Inspector Forrester a choice of a couple of Edinburgh medical men can be offered: Robert A.P. Forrester who received the Ms, cm in 1880, a year ahead of Doyle, or James Stevenson Forrester, surgeon to the Royal Horse Guards, formerly house surgeon in Chalmers' Hospital, Edinburgh, who had been admitted FRCS (Edinburgh) in 1880. There is no doubt about William Kirwan, the murdered coachman, but once again two candidates may be offered. The trouble is that they are both too good, and in the Grand Inquisitor's words, "Which was which he could never make out, despite his best endeavour." To take them in chronological order, William Bourke Kirwan, an artist and anatomical draughtsman born in 1807, murdered his wife on 6 September 1852. His death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, but he was released in 1891, and lived until about 1900. The extraordinary coincidence is that another man of nearly the same name, Dr William

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Peter Kirwan, was founded dead on Wednesday, 12 October 1892, in a courtyard in Whitecross-street. Four men were accused of his murder and three of them finally tried. Prestige has noted the conviction of the first Kirwan in 1852,2 but failed to note the 1891 and 1892 events which fixed the name in Doyle's memory. Indeed the Kirwans seem to have been a bad lot, for also in 1852 Peter Kirwan was accused but found not guilty in the Blackburn murder cases — the same name as the unfortunate doctor's middle name. The colossal schemes of Baron Maupertuis, casually mentioned in The Reigate Squires, have occasioned much speculation, but I am indebted to William Goodrich for drawing attention to the question of whether his name originally was "Maupertins" as it appeared in the Strand Magazine. But the first book edition published in 1894 by Newnes has the familiar spelling; the conclusion must be that Doyle's fine handwriting confused the compositor of the Strand, and that Doyle himself in revising proofs for the first book edition corrected the name. While both Maupertuis and Maupertius may be found in biographical dictionaries, no instance of "Maupertins" has been seen. Of the former name, the best-known holder was a French mathematician whose most colossal achievement, and no mean one, was to measure a degree of latitude. The other form is the Latin version of the name of Charles Malapert the author; and there was at the turn of the twentieth century a Baroness, and presumably a Baron, von Malapert-Neufville, but no connection with Dr Doyle is evident. The original colossal schemes, by the way, were those of an American, James Addison Reavis, the "Baron of Arizona" and "the most daring forger in history."4 Reavis had in 1882 laid claim to lands originally granted to one Don Miguel de Peralta, the eighteenth-century first baron of Arizona. For three years Reavis put Arizona into an uproar with his claims, stoutly resisted by the Survey-General of Arizona who was oddly named Royal A. Johnson. Reavis spent the summer of 1886 planting documents in the Archives of the Indies in Seville, Spain, in Mexican archives, and in the church records of half a dozen states, and in 1887 returned to Arizona with a titled wife and a new claim. Pursuing his claim he found money in those who were ready to pay him off for the sake of clear title to the land which they held. Two American investigators went to Seville in 1887 to investigate. By 18go, Johnson issued a comprehensive and adverse report on the Peralta land-grant claims, amassing evidence that Reavis's documents were entirely forged. Not until 1895 did the case come to trial; in 1886 Reavis was sentenced to two years in prison, and died penniless in 1914. Watson had written in 1893, "The

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whole question is too recent in the minds of the public, and too intimately concerned with politics and finance, to be a fitting subject for this series of sketches." Indeed it was; in fact it was still sub judice in the United States and could scarcely be discussed publicly on Holmes's part. Watson wisely referred to the case as occurring halfway round the world from its real venue, even though Holmes, if he were called in, went no further than Spain. The point must be reiterated: origins of canonical names and incidents are frequently multiple. Reavis is not "the" origin of Baron Maupertuis, for the name comes from another source, but the idea of the "colossal schemes" and the "Baron" is integral with the disguised French/Spanish name. The remaining name is the one repeated in The Reigate Squires and The Crooked Man: Annie Morrison who is barely mentioned at the end of the first and whose involvement is not clear even to Holmes; and Miss Morrison who is found only three pages later in the book text, "a young lady who lives in the next villa" in Aldershot, in the second case. Regrettably we have little to go on. There were Morrisons and Morisons aplenty in the University of Edinburgh; nine were graduated in medicine between 1878 and 1888; but there is no clear reason to settle upon one. The name recurs much later in The Sussex Vampire when that unlikely firm Morrison, Morrison & Dodd, machinery assessors in the City, refer Big Bob Ferguson's bloodthirsty problem to Holmes; but barring Morrisons, solicitors of Cannon Street, no likely firm is among the seventy Morrisons and thirty-seven Dodds in the directory, and no valuers at all among them. Three Miss Morrisons and five Mrs Morrisons in the igto directory are no help. The Crooked Man is full of Army figures, first of course Col Barclay of less than reputable past actions. One outside possibility here is another Scot: John Barclay, an 1887 Edinburgh medical graduate. No more likely would be A. Charles Barclay (1839-1919), an American cricketer of all things, who "in his young days ... had played in representative matches against English teams."5 So many cricketing referents are among canonical names — Marder has claimed two hundred, but this we cannot now substantiate — that anything may be possible. Perhaps more likely is a Capt Barclay, a "distinguished amateur" of pugilism mentioned by Pierce Egan in Boxiana — especially since there is a boxing possibility for the next name in the case. Dr Jackson, who would obligingly take Watson's practice while the latter trundled off to Aldershot with Holmes, could have been one of many medical Jacksons. Four were graduated from Edinburgh while

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Doyle was about (1879, 1882, 1883, 1884); four or five practised in London and the suburbs but none in Norwood. The most prominent is John Hughlings Jackson, eminent consulting physician, author of many papers on epilepsy, convulsion, apoplexy, congenital syphilis, and nervous diseases. There are surely elements of John Hughlings Jackson in Percy Trevelyan of The Resident Patient, who wrote a monograph on obscure nervous lesions and was fascinated by catalepsy. Jackson was a friend of Sir Jonathan Hutchinson, who was the original of Sir James Saunders in The Blanched Soldier. One might even suspect Jackson the obliging neighbour to be an echo of Alfred Jackson, retired Southsea physician whom Doyle would have known. There could also be sporting referents for Dr Jackson. Marder suggests F.S. Jackson, Yorkshire cricketer (1890-1907). Doyle himself in Through the Magic Door (pages 108— Ito) refers to John Jackson, "Gentleman Jackson" the boxer whose picture appeared on the cover of Pugilistica. On balance among these figures John Hughlings Jackson seems most likely as being a medical in-joke. Major Murphy, to whom Holmes owed most of his facts in the case, was apparently one of Barclay's officers in the Royal Munsters (or Mallows, depending upon edition). Aside from the possibility of William Murphy who received his NIB, cm from Edinburgh at the same time Doyle received his MD, Murphy is certainly John Patrick Murphy, xc, a well-known member of the Surrey County Cricket Club and a great lover of the game, who resided at Lowood, College Road, Norwood. Although London was full of military Murphys, the cricketing John Patrick seems never to have had a military connection and the Major Murphy in the Army List cannot be connected to Doyle. Henry Wood himself, the Crooked Man, has several antecedents. Perhaps to begin with, Henry S. Wood was a medical graduate of Edinburgh (1888) whom Doyle might have encountered. General Sir Henry Evelyn Wood, born 1838, had a distinguished career in India and Africa, and commanded the Aldershot district from 1888 to 1893. His London residence was at 23, Devonshire Place, near Dr Doyle's sometime surgery while he awaited eye patients who never came. There was even Inspector Henry Wood of `w' Division, Metropolitan Police. But the two functioning stimuli were literary. First, an article in Blackwood's in September 1890 about David Ritchie, the Black Dwarf, crippled in the legs, who had been the subject of Scott's novel The Black Dwarf. This article immediately precedes in the same issue Doyle's own story "A Physiologist's Wife." Second, an article in a Boston journal, the Arena, in November 1891 by Mr Henry Wood on "Healing Through the Mind."

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The original was unlikely to have come to Doyle's attention, but it was cited in Review of Reviews in the same month, and extracts bear repeating. We rely upon the drug, because we can feel, taste, see and smell it. We are color-blind to the invisible potency of a higher order, and practically conclude that it is non-existent. One reason for the prevailing adverse prejudice is that this new thought disturbs the foundation-stones of existing and time-honoured systems and creeds ... Christian Science, Mind Cure, and Christian Metaphysics ... also those who combine mind healing with Theosophy ... The power does not lie in the personality of the healer, nor in the exercise of his will-power. Neither hypnotism nor mesmeric control are elements in true mind-healing.6 Doyle himself had at this time been writing articles dealing with the mind, the supernatural or unnatural, the bizarre — precursory science fiction it might be called, certainly gothic — such as "John Huxford's Hiatus," "The Ring of Thoth," "The Great Keinplatz Experiment," and of course the dark mysteries of Cloomber. Henry Wood the exponent of mind-healing was the final bearer of that name to stamp himself upon the Crooked Man. The sincerest evaluation of The Crooked Man is probably the imitation of it in an anonymous short story, "Captain Francis Lawton" in Blackwood's three years later. An old man, bent and feeble, is finally revealed as an old Indian campaigner who had been tortured and had come back to England unrecognized and forgotten. Two names have not turned up from The Crooked Man: Nancy Devoy's past remains dark, as does Jane Stewart, the housemaid; but like so many of Doyle's females, these are so shadowy they are passed by almost unnoticed.

17 Patience in Brook Street "... a gentleman of the name of Blessington, who was a complete stranger to me." The Resident Patient

In the heat of August 1893 appeared The Resident Patient, one of those Memoirs which by its sundry editions and texts has confused Sherlockian

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scholars unwary of textual traps. The strange proceedings at that entirely fictitious address, 403, Brook Street, raise some problems too with names. Three of the ten in it have so far not been traceable: Cartwright, Trevelyan, and Worthingdon. Two of these are bare allusions, surnames only, but it is worthy of note that even here only Cartwright (which recurs in The Hound) is a relatively common name; the others are distinctly uncommon. Doyle had a nice choice in names and made even minor mentions memorable rather than commonplace. The usual quota of doctors and sportsmen is among the sources of Residential names. Hayward — another bare allusion — probably derives from one of the cricketing Haywards: perhaps not Daniel, who played in the 186os, or Arthur, elder brother of the better-known Thomas Walter. Marder plumps for T.W., whose career spanned 1889-1920 and who first appeared in a county match for Surrey in 1893, the year The Resident Patient appeared. T.W. was called by Wisden "one of the greatest batsmen of all time. He afforded a notable instance of hereditary talent. Arthur was for many years groundskeeper at Sidney Sussex and Christ's Colleges, Cambridge, and an institution in himself. There was to be sure Charles W. Hayward, not of the sporting line, who was an 1886 Edinburgh medical graduate, but the 1893 date for T.W. is much more significant. Moffat, another of the Worthingdon bank gang, on a sporting basis can be identified as Douglas Moffat, who had played for Middlesex at Islington in 1864, and played much for leading clubs including the Marylebone with which Doyle had a connection. The Haywards were Cantabrigian; Moffat was an Oxonian, and a boxer as was Doyle. There were Edinburgh Moffats too, but not close to Doyle's student years. When we come to Biddle, the third of this unsavoury gang, the only cricketing example is an unlikely one: Lynford Biddle, who played in Philadelphia in 1893 and did not visit England until 1897. More likely despite the dates is John Biddle, 1615-62, a Unitarian clergyman who was imprisoned under the Commonwealth, released, rearrested, and persistently harassed. Doyle would have encountered this Biddle in his historical research. The gentleman named Blessington, who turned out to be one Sutton of the same bank gang, has been alluded to in earlier chapters, where the resemblance to Beddington (The Stockbroker's Clerk) and Beddoes (The "Gloria Scott") was noted. The name is that of a town in County Wicklow, twenty miles from Dublin on the River Liffey; and Blesington or Blessington was the title of a viscountcy and an earldom, both long extinct. The best-known holder of this title was Margaret Power Farmer Gardiner, countess of Blessington, 1789-1849, whose life was for the

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time extraordinary. The second daughter of a County Waterford man, she was married at fifteen to a captain in the 47th Regiment, who in 1817 died upon falling out of a window in the King's Bench prison while drunk. She married the first and only earl (1816-29). She was well known as an authoress, a wit, a beauty, and a leader of fashion, both at her husband's house, i i St. James's Square, 1818-22, at her own house in Seamore Place (1831-35), and at Gore House, Kensington (1836-49). Among her more successful works are The Idler in Italy, 3 volumes, 1839-4o; The Idler in France, 1841; Confessions of an Elderly Gentleman, 1836, etc. She edited an annual called The Keepsake, and is said to have earned an income of between £2000 and £3000 a year for nearly twenty years, but this and her jointure of £2000 a year were not equal to her expenditure.' The gouty `old gentleman" narrator in an armchair, whose Confessions came forth in 1836, has some vague smack of the "resident patient" to him, but the two novels (for there was an Elderly Lady as well) are pretty soppy stuff. But another possibility for the name is Blessington Road, in Lee, Kent, which is one turning south of Belmont Hill where was located The Cedars, locale of The Man with the Twisted Lip, and the Boone almshouses which provided another name in that case. Indeed, we shall return to that neighbourhood later. With the Resident Patient's real name, Sutton, there is little difficulty. John Bland Sutton, first of all, practised at 48, Queen Anne Street, Cavendish Square — the street to which Dr John H. Watson removed his own practice presumably about 1902 as mentioned in The Illustrious Client. This Sutton was a surgeon and writer on pathology. Perhaps more immediate to Dr Doyle was John Henry Richard Sutton, physician of Portsea and Southsea, whom Doyle must have known. William Sutton of West Norwood can be discounted, and Hugh N. Sutton, who when he died in 1914 was vice-president of the Derbyshire County Cricket Club, does not appear in Kelly's Derbyshire Directory for 1891 and should probably also be discounted. Inspector Lanner is a puzzling case, for this is a rare name. In 1891 the only listed Londoner for that name was Madame Katti Lanner who operated a national training school for dancing in the Tottenham Court Road. There were no Lanners in 1903, and in igto appears only Mrs Rachel Lanner, greengrocer of Christian Street. The best-known Lanner is a German musician and composer, Joseph Franz Karl, 1801-43, known as the father of the Viennese waltz; a gentleman much more to Dr Watson's liking, one feels, than Orlandus Lassus, composer of motets.

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One figure likely to have occurred in Doyle's research for his Napoleonic era Adventures of Gerard was Jean Lannes (176g-18o9), the Napoleonic general. No Canners, Tanners, or similar names were among the inspectors of the Metropolitan Police of 1891. Tobin, murdered caretaker of the robbed bank, can be positively identified despite his minor mention. W.A. Tobin, Australian cricketer who played for Victoria against New South Wales at Melbourne in 188o81 and died in Australia in 1904, nonetheless must be counted among the sporting figures named in the Canon. "He was educated at Stonyhurst, and was a good all-round player. In 1878, whilst still at school, he played an innings of 49 ... against the first Australia team.", Arthur Doyle himself had left Stonyhurst only in 1875, and had been captain of the cricket Eleven; Tobin must have been at Stonyhurst before Doyle left, and Doyle would still be in touch with Stonyhurst activities years later. For all his prominence and the detailed picture drawn of Dr Percy Trevelyan, the name is hard to trace, with only a half-dozen Trevelyans in London, and only two medical Trevelyans in all the British Isles, neither of them with any apparent connection with Dr Doyle. Brook Street (for all that No 403 is fictitious) and Upper Brook Street swarmed with doctors — nearly forty. The names that attract our attention among these are Baynes, at No 44, for Inspector Baynes of the Surrey Constabulary appears in Wisteria Lodge, and at No 46, C.J. Cullingworth. This latter is the name under which Dr Doyle in The Stark Munro Letters and even in his autobiography disguises Dr Budd, that madcap medico who tried to lure Doyle into a premature partnership of a sort. And definitely this Dr Cullingworth at No 46 was not "Cullingworth" of Doyle's acquaintance! One personal name remains, for all it is not a character. The steamer Norah Creina remains to be found in Lloyd's Register, but it is unlikely that she will be found there, for as Strout pointed out in 1939, she may be found as a schooner in Stevenson's The Wrecker, published in Scribner's Magazine (which Doyle may not have seen) in 1891 and in book form in 1892.4 The strange sequel is that a novel entitled Nora Creina also appeared in 1892; the author was Mrs Margaret Wolfe (Hamilton) Hungerford, whose nom de plume was "The Duchess," and who produced a stream of popular novels. This one was reviewed unfavourably in the Spectator the day before Christmas 1892. "Norah Creina" is a Gaelic expression of endearment, someone has pointed out, and consequently no doubt common property; Stevenson is more likely to have been the

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inspiration for the Doylean steamship, and to delve into his reasons for using it is beyond present relevance. Apart from names, one final item is the device of the shamming cataleptic used by the intruders. There was much contemporary interest in catalepsy and related phenomena, in connection with the then popular mesmerism, hypnosis, magnetism, and the like. In Review of Reviews for June 18go was an article on "The sight of the cataleptic," claiming extraordinary acuteness of vision in the cataleptic hypnotic state. J. Luys in Fortnightly the same month talked of "Latest discoveries in hypnotism," while Ernest Hart in Nineteenth Century for February 1893 — when the Memoirs were being written — under the title "The revival of witchcraft" discussed the exposure of fraudulent subjects of "hypnosis" and "magnetic" phenomena. Here as always Conan Doyle's observant craftsmanship may be seen: the combination of incidents, items, details, ideas, to produce new plots and characters, full of detail, current of interest, and supported by minutiae which ring true.

18 The Final Memoirs "I cannot recall the name." The Greek Interpreter "Joseph Harrison is my name ... Percy is to marry my sister Annie ..." The Naval Treaty "Old Steiler was standing at the porch of his hotel." The Final Problem

The last three of the Memoirs closed the year 1893, and apparently the career of Sherlock Holmes. His brother Mycroft was introduced almost gratuitously in The Greek Interpreter, and reappeared in what the films would now call a cameo role in The Final Problem; while The Naval Treaty which came between those two touted Holmes's European reputation and introduced one of those bewildering floor-plans, supposedly of an actual building, which have puzzled architects and Sherlockians alike. Its fellow is found in The Golden Pince-Nez eleven years later. All three cases introduce foreign names, some genuine enough, some invented, and three important names whose precise sources have not so far been located. Those names for which sources can be suggested fall, with only three exceptions, into those two familiar categories, medical and neigh-

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bourly. One each may be found among sporting, literary, and public figures. Six surnames appear in The Greek Interpreter, and the forename Mycroft is an important addition. No one takes seriously Baring-Gould's ingenuous suggestion, that the forename came from the proud exclamation by that Yorkshire Squire Holmes, ancestor of Sherlock and Mycroft, who upon surveying his estate declared "My croft!" Marder has correctly identified the origin of the name, not in Yorkshire but in Derbyshire, but has not distinguished between the brothers T. and W. Mycroft, both of whom were Derbyshire professional cricketers and groundsmen for the Marylebone Cricket Club about 1884. In the previous chapter another Derbyshire cricket connection, Sutton, was mentioned as an outside possibility in The Resident Patient; while in The Stockbroker's Clerk one of the possibilities for a forename was Walter Hall of Derbyshire. None of the sporting referents in cases earlier than these were from Derbyshire. Encountering three such in the 1893 cases suggests that Dr Doyle had recently had some meeting with Derbyshire county cricket – not necessarily in the 1893 season, for The Stockbroker's Clerk appeared in March before the year's play commenced. The next name to appear is in that enigmatic dialogue between the brothers. Upon meeting Watson, Mycroft utters that line so often used and abbreviated by present-day Sherlockians, "I hear of Sherlock everywhere since you became his chronicler," and abruptly turns to his brother: "By the way, Sherlock, I expected to see you round last week to consult me over that Manor House case. I thought you might be a little out of your depth." "No, I solved it," said my friend, smiling. "It was Adams, of course." "Yes, it was Adams." Without becoming diverted onto the problem of the unpublished Manor House case, it may be noted that Helling suggests that the title "Manor House case" was, like The Second Stain, an instance of a title used years before a story was written for it; he quotes Doyle's Memoirs and Adventures in support of this and suggests The Valley of Fear and the "Manor House of Birlstone" as the case.' However, J.G. Littlechild, a veteran Scotland Yarder, in his Reminiscences of 1894 heads Chapter 16 "The Manor House and Other Frauds." That case dealt with a gentleman with the singular Victorian name of Mr Smee Skeffington Smee, who in pursuing his swindles addressed his correspondence from "The Manor House, at W—." The town of W— is not named in full by Littlechild, but the case

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must certainly have been in the press. Unfortunately Mr Smee (whose surname was under the touch of Doyle's friend Sir James Barrie to become piratically famous) does not appear in Palmer's Index to The Times Newspaper at least between 1885 and 1893 in Doyle's "detective" period. Barrie's use of the name however is most suggestive. Among the Adams possibilities we again find medical and sporting men. A Norwood physician, Charles Edmund Adams, resided at Oak Villas, Gipsy Hill Road — a street which we have encountered before — and was medical officer for Norwood District, Lambeth Union. John Barfield Adams had attended both university and medical school at Edinburgh, being admitted LRCP, LRCS (Edinburgh) in 1882. Alex M. Adams junior had received the MB, cm from Edinburgh in 1884. Both of these Adamses were students at the same time as Doyle though neither practised near him: John in Bristol, Alex in Stirlingshire. The sporting possibility is Tom Adams, 1813-94, who had played for Kent for more than twenty years in mid-century, and lived at Gravesend. Which of these sundry figures may be the shadowy Adams of the Manor House is hard to say. The Greek interpreter himself next appears. Melas is a legitimate Greek name but there is no clue as to where Doyle thought of it, or of Kratides which is also genuine Greek. There were no examples of either name in the London directory. In the next Memoir, The Naval Treaty, the three foreign names Dubuque, Waldbaum and Gorot also offer problems. The first of these in American editions is for some reason garbled to Dubugue, but there is certainly no Iowa connection. While the probable original of Fritz von Waldbaum, "the well-known specialist of Dantzig," appears to be the younger Våmbery, Rustem the criminologist, son of Arminius Våmbery the "wine merchant" of The Musgrave Ritual, there is no direct link to the name. Nor does any suitable Gorot appear; and Charles Gorot was an odd name for a Foreign Office clerk. There were no Gorots in London. An amusing sidelight to the foreign names is the difficulty which Greek apparently offered to the producers of the Sheldon Reynolds television films in 1954, starring Ronald Howard and H. Marion Crawford as Holmes and Watson, for here the title becomes "The Case of the French Interpreter." The fashionably dressed Mr Harold Latimer next appears in the case. Regrettably his original has not been found. Beyond the fact that this is a very uncommon name (only two in the 1g10 London directory) and that the name reappears in The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax as a bootmaker's in Oxford street, nothing can be said at the moment.

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The other villain's name does not appear until nearly the end of the story though he smiles and giggles his way into it next. No Wilson Kemp shows himself directly, but several Kemps are possibilities. William Kemp received the Edinburgh medical degrees in 1887, two years later than Doyle's MD; there was also William Kemp who was a Metropolitan Police inspector in "B" Division (Chelsea) in 1891. Perhaps more interesting is John Robert Kemp of toi, Jermyn Street. Admitted to the LRCP (London) in 1880, he had been clinical assistant in the Royal Westminster Ophthalmological Hospital, and was assistant surgeon in the Central London Ophthalmological Hospital. He too may be the colleague who declared enthusiastically to the young Southsea doctor that "There's gold in the eye," and led him to entertain ambitions of being an eye surgeon. That peculiar red herring, J. Davenport whom Mycroft declares to be "a middle-aged man with a weak constitution" from his handwriting, and to whose missive (luckily) no further attention is paid during the case, is another name with a plethora of possibilities. There were seven J. Davenports in the 1903 Post Office London Directory though none in Brixton. Other than these, one John Davenport who comes to notice had died in 1877. He was the son of a silk warehouseman in the City; he learnt oriental and classical languages and taught languages in London, writing books on language teaching, Indian history, aphrodisiacs, and erotica. "He left the manuscript of a work to be entitled A Peep at Popes and Popery, a bitter satire on the Church of Rome."2 Doyle's faintly amused and long-standing revulsion from Jesuit teaching comes to mind, though where or how he might have encountered John Davenport's earlier and more violent stance could only be surmised. Percy "Tadpole" Phelps is the first to appear in The Naval Treaty. Percy, by the way, is not an abbreviation for Percival, but a proud and ancient name in itself. The Phelps, or rather Phelpses, who at once attract attention begin with Col Peyton Phelps who in 1888 resided at "Melbourne," Cintra Park, Norwood, and by 1908 was at "Milton," 6g, Alexandra road, Norwood. There is another Peyton Phelps, not the colonel, at 47, Anerley Road, Norwood. One is immediately struck that these may be father and son and that the younger Peyton Phelps may conceivably be "Tadpole." Phelps is a rather more common name than many in the Canon, with some two dozen London examples, but no others close to Dr Doyle. The Harrisons are next. A Joseph Harrison had studied medicine in Leeds, Edinburgh, and Dublin, and was admitted to the LRCP (Edinburgh) in 1879 and the LRCS (Edinburgh) in 1883, just in young Doyle's time, but went to practise in Bradford. Three Joseph Harrisons were in a delicious idea which unfortunately Crockford's Clerical Directory for 1910,

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cannot be connected with Doyle. No Josephs are to be found among three hundred London Harrisons, though a Mrs Annie Harrison was a Greenwich dressmaker, there was an Edward Harrison in Central Hill, Norwood, and a Miss Harrison at 35, Colby Road in Norwood. Next mentioned, although not appearing for some time in the case, is Lord Holdhurst, the Foreign Minister. The name appears to be another invention. Holdenhurst, Hampshire, may be found. Holmhurst is a house near Highcliffe, Hampshire, and there is another of the name in East Sussex a little northwest of Hastings. The Hampshire Holmhurst is about two miles west of Barton-on-Sea, where the Doyle family used to go for the sea-bathing when they later lived in Hindhead. However, this house is not listed in the 1895 Kelly's Hampshire Directory and the date of its building is not clear. The many invented peerages in the Canon are a special problem, and for the moment it can only be suggested that a real place with a similar-sounding name suggested the title. The Tangeys, the commissionaire and his wife, a singularly slipshod pair for an old Coldstreamer in a responsible position, bear a name unknown to the London directory which does have five listings under Tangye. Bearing the latter spelling is the Birmingham engineer, Sir Richard Tangye, 1833-1906, who was active in religious, municipal, and political life and founded the Birmingham Daily Argus. He was a benefactor of art, and an "ardent collector of Cromwellian literature and relics" circa 1891-4.3 Would Doyle have known, or known of, Sir Richard in his own Cromwellian research for his historical novels? Previous examples of this type include Sir Richard Musgrave, and Sir John Acton (The Reigate Squires) as well as the mention of seventeenth-century figures such as Hoby, Trevor, and Mercer in The "Gloria Scott." Forbes the detective (for once not an Inspector it seems) bustles about ineffectually. Among seventy-odd Forbes names in the 1891 London directory it is difficult to find an original as good as Alex Forbes who was an Edinburgh graduate in medicine the year after Doyle. A young cricketer, Dudley H. Forbes, had been in the Eton Eleven 1890-92, then played for Oxford and died of enteric in South Africa in 1901, but despite Dr Doyle's cricketing avidity this seems an outside chance. Dr Ferrier who ministered to "Tadpole" Phelps's brain fever is not hard to identify. Just across the South Norwood recreation ground from Dr Doyle's house in Tennison Road, at No 2, Lawrence Road, lived John Christian Ferrier, MD. The 1893 Medical Directory included only two Ferriers; the other was Sir David, consulting physician to King's College Hospital and the National Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic. It must be repeated that John Ferrier of A Study in Scarlet was in all probability

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named after Thomas Ferrier, the Edinburgh medical graduate of 1884, for Doyle had not moved to South Norwood until June 1891; though as John Christian Ferrier received the MD (London) in 188o he might theoretically have met Doyle earlier than 1891. Turning now to The Final Problem, only three new names appear, for all the tumultuous narrative. Inspector Patterson, who was to pick up Holmes's papers from pigeonhole M, is not to be found on the roster of Scotland Yard in 1891, nor among three London doctors and two dentists of that name. Three dozen Pattersons were in the 1gio directory but none seems apt. The only cricketing Patterson seems unlikely, but when you have eliminated the impossible — Thomas Main Patterson was just two years older than Arthur Conan Doyle and had been on the Uppingham School cricket eleven in 1875 when Doyle was captain of Stonyhurst. Uppingham was a traditional rival of Stonyhurst. Peter Steiler the elder, host of the Englischer Hof in Meiringen, can be identified, for all that Steiler is not a Swiss or German name. There is a Henry Peter Steil in Deodar Road, Putney, in 1908, but he is irrelevant. There was no "Englischer Hof' in Meiringen, though touristconscious Swiss undoubtedly have them elsewhere. Doyle, peripatetic sportsman, was familiar with other areas of Switzerland as well as the Bernese Oberland in which Meiringen and the Reichenbachfall lie. Yet one need not go far from Meiringen to find the original of Peter Steiler. Julian Wolff has noted Hella Pick's "The Swiss Family Ski Run" in the Manchester Guardian Weekly,4 about Alexander Seiler, pioneer Swiss hotelier who commenced in Zermatt in 1853 and had sixteen children who went into the business. One of those Seilers by 1885 operated "das Gasthaus Seiler auf der Passhöhe"5 (the Seiler inn at the summit of the pass) at Kleine Scheidegg, today the site of the lower end of the Jungfraujoch Railway and still the site of the Bellevue Hotel. The Bellevue at Kleine Scheidegg can be equated with the Englischer Hof operated by Peter Steiler, conveniently moved down to Meiringen for the occasion. Seiler is a common Zürich name but is not recorded as occurring in Meiringen. This would not mean that there were not Seilers in Meiringen and vicinity, as floating population rather than as a permanently resident family. The final name in the Problem is that of Moriarty. This fine Irish name was rare in London, only one being in the 19 to directory, but there was a Moriarty in Portsmouth. James Henry Moriarty, Royal Navy chaplain who had been curate of St Mark's, South Shields, 1881-3, had served in ships in the South Pacific and the West Indies before being posted to HMS Volage of the Training Squadron, based at Portsmouth,

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on 28 May 1889. He served in Volage until 25 March 1893, and went thence to HMS Boscawen at Portland. Doyle had not left Southsea until 1890, and we have already seen Service personnel reflected in canonical names from that period. The very important question of why Doyle chose a name, rather than from what original, or when, has been addressed by Gerber in an article which is too little known to Sherlockians. Gerber can be accused in Gilbert's words of being a "mystical German" but his Neue Rundschau article on "Namen als Symbol," also in The Armchair Detective, bears close study and is related to Horgan's study of the "bardic method." Gerber has identified Holmes as the justice-principle, finding in the name the Old English meaning "island" as well as the derivation from Oliver Wendell Holmes and an assonance with Hobbes, both of whom represented autocracy. Of Holmes's arch-opponent he says: That Holmes' mortal enemy bears a Celtic-Irish name is not by chance. Conan Doyle was an Irishman by descent and religion on both sides of the family, but he identified himself most stoutly in his whole behaviour with the prototype of an English gentleman, and upheld the English side in the struggle to the death between Ireland and England. From this viewpoint the Irishman is the hostile rebel and the element in himself which Conan Doyle sought to suppress. But the name Moriarty ... contains the Latin word moriar, which means "I shall die" or "I would die." Naturally, this Latin word does not etymologically lie within the Irish name Moriarty, but it simply appears associatively and springs to the eye. The last and greatest criminal, Moriarty, the "I-wish-to-die man" is therefore the opposing principle to the first criminal [in A Study in Scarlet], Hope ... The two forms are naturally complementary: He who kills the principle Hope in his soul is seized by the principle Despair and destroyed by it.6 Here, and in Gerber's discussion of the names Holmes, Hope, and Watson, lies an explanation for the associative process, not touched upon in these studies, which leads to the transfer from the original of the name, to the name of the canonical character. Conan Doyle's love of words, his love to play upon them, and his exuberant humour, support such a theory. The strange business of three brothers Moriarty, all apparently named James, may also be traced to the Bernese Oberland. Examples have been pointed out of three persons of the same name in the same place at the same time, and this is far from unusual. Bristowe in his "The Truth About Moriarty" in J.E. Holroyd's Seventeen Steps to 22 1s cites

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three sons named John, of John Snell of Cockfield, Sussex (di568); but would Doyle know of these? In any case the three Moriartys "named James" are not in fact mentioned in one place in the Canon; auctorial absentmindedness may account for them. Skene Melvin claims James Moriarty to be an unhyphenated compound surname, as Chapter 1 i related, but even this is not a necessary explanation. In Switzerland may be found an example of homonymic siblings where Doyle must have encountered it. The brothers Johann Jakob Knechtenhofer (1790-1867), Johann Friedrich Knechtenhofer (1798-1871) and Johannes Knechtenhofer (1793-1865) went into business as the first hoteliers to the tourist industry, opening the Hotel Bellevue in Hofstetten (Thun). The Bellevue at Kleine Scheidegg owes its name, as do all Bellevues everywhere, to the brothers Knechtenhofer. Following Gerber's train for a moment, the idea of the three Moriartys seems to suggest the Three Fates — though they never act in concert. It remains to analyse the reasons for the colonel and the stationmaster — not to mention the untold case of the politician, the lighthouse and the trained cormorant.

19 Name That Hound, and His Friends There were several Mortimers, but only one who could be our visitor. "Mister, sir Mister — a humble MRCS." "... this fellow, whose real name is the same as his father's." The Hound of the Baskervilles After a lapse of eight years from the Memoirs, The Hound of the Baskervilles heralded the coming immortality of Sherlock Holmes. The third and probably most successful of the four long stories, and the only one which maintains its pace and tone for its entire length without the wanderings or flashbacks which digress in the other three novels, the tale of the Hound introduces thirty-seven characters who among themselves possess thirty-one names. This includes a round dozen Baskervilles of whom only two actually appear. There are a couple of aliases and one maiden name as well as two names of firms, and two characters given only first names, so there are twenty-nine surnames to consider. The question of the name of the hound must, alas, remain a purely philosophic one; for while Dartmoor hounds of the spectral variety have a number of names, this monster was in fact a nameless hireling.

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Two-thirds of the names can be at least tentatively identified, and the usual groups are found: several medical men, a half-dozen neighbours or acquaintances, five sportsmen, one historical, and one public figure; and for the first time, a group of military men. Again the three foreign names defy identification, and eleven names have not been located. One handsome identification has been made by previous scholars, and two names which have not been found appear to be Doylean inventions. The author's situation had greatly changed by Igo', after a sojourn in Egypt and an abortive attempt to be a war correspondent; a change of residence to Hindhead, in Surrey; a trip to the United States; and most important, the Boer War. South African and Boer War military names begin to appear as canonical sources. In a few cases it is hard to sort out under which circumstances Doyle may have encountered a given person, or one of several with a particular name. But older and more domestic influences continue strong, and after The Hound there are no further clusters of military names. To take the names in groups is not entirely satisfactory for these reasons, but order-of-appearance, or alphabetical order, is even less so. Commencing with medical names, then, four appear: Fraser, Perkins, Murphy, and Stapleton; and the latter two run into other groups. No particular Fraser is obvious, but the mention of the name is so obscure in The Hound that it would be a stumping quiz-question. Frasers graduated in medicine from the University of Edinburgh in 1878 and every year from 188o to 1887 — as many as four in 1883, five in 1886 — and it must be assumed that the "consumptive tutor" used by BaskervilleVandeleur-Stapleton as the staff of his Yorkshire school was named after some Fraser acquaintance. Perkins the Baskerville groom, whose name recurs — it was unlikely to be the same man — as having been killed outside the Holborn Bar in The Three Gables, is a little clearer. Only two Perkinses were graduated from Edinburgh, one being George C.S. Perkins in 1881, the year of Doyle's graduation. Murphy too, the gipsy horsedealer, could on the same basis be William Murphy, the only one in a sea of Scots, who received his medical baccalaureates when Doyle received his MD; but as has been pointed out in Chapter 16 (for Murphys occur in The Crooked Man and The Valley of Fear as well), John Patrick Murphy was a well-known Surrey County Cricket Club member and lived in Norwood. Harrison's theory that both aliases of Rodger Baskerville, Vandeleur and Stapleton, come from the name of E. Vander Straeten, author of a work upon Orlandus Lassus, composer of the motets, is ingenious but

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cannot be supported. "Stapleton" probably stuck in Doyle's mind because Joseph Stapleton was a year behind him in medicine at Edinburgh, receiving the medical baccalaureates in 1882 and the MD in 1887; and because another of the same name, Joseph Whitaker Stapleton, lived at Rossye Lodge, Central Hill, Upper Norwood. This latter, a retired physician, had trained at Bart's and received the MRCS (England) in 1837. He was the author of "The Vaccination Act" and other medical works, and for our purposes a much more important book: The Great Crime of 186o, Being a Summary of the Facts Relating to the Murder Committed at Road. This little 1861 book discussed the Constance Kent case, the case which so unjustly defamed Inspector Whicher of Scotland Yard. Dr Stapleton had been "certifying surgeon to factories in the neighbouring district." The investigation of the murder had been incredibly sloppy, save for the activities of Insp Whicher, and Doyle would have seen that fact from Stapleton's account. The Edinburgh student and the retired Norwood doctor were probably father and son, and certainly joint forebears of the butterfly-chasing naturalist. Austin has commented upon the West Country placenames which occur as personal names in the Canon, among them Stapleton, Dorset.' Elizabeth Cabell, daughter of the infamous Sir Richard who was the original Hugo Baskerville, had married Cholmley d'Oyly in 1693; but when it turned out that he was a bigamist, and the marriage annulled, she married Richard Fownes of Stapleton. Austin speculates on a connection thereby between the Cabells and the Doyles. What does not appear to have been noticed is a different placename: Great, Middle, and Little Staple Tor, some three miles northwest of Princetown and close to where the Tavistock road crossed the River Wallcomb. It seems more likely that in Doyle's excursions on Dartmoor, where he was struck by the grimness surrounding Princetown prison, the name of the tors — and tor names are sometime written in the form of Stapletor — would make him think of the personal name with which he was already familiar. What better name for a Dartmoor disguise for a recreant Baskerville, than a name from the region? And though it is not a personal name, Merripit House where the Stapletons/ Vandeleurs lives is from Merripit Hill, five or six miles northeast of Princetown on the road to Moreton Hampstead. Some neighbours and acquaintances in the next group are obviously cross-classified, but groupings in these studies are in any case only loose ones for convenience. First among Doyle's acquaintance is obviously Baskerville. The fame of the Hound has led almost to proverbiality for the name Baskerville, but in fact others may be found well scattered even though there was only one in the London directory. The

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accepted origin for Doyle's use of the name has been Harry M. Baskerville, coachman to Fletcher Robinson who was Doyle's Dartmoor host and suggested to him the "West Country legend" which became The Hound. On the other hand McCowen claims "the original Radnorshire Baskervilles" resident at Clyro, near Hay-on-Wye at the eastern edge of Wales, as the source, and says "Doyle used to visit the Baskervilles at Caemawr." He says further: There are two local legends of the death of a poor country girl at the hands [sic] of Hugo Baskerville's pack of hounds, and the subsequent deaths in the family. One relates to "The Moor" [the earlier Baskerville home a few miles away] and includes reports of sightings and the baying of a ghost hound.2 As Mr McCowen lives in the actual house and possesses an 1822 painting of hounds at Caemawr, this rival claim must at least be heard. But there were Baskervilles elsewhere; Major H.W.M. Baskerville was of the Norfolk Regiment; Major C.H.L. Baskerville lived in Croydon; there was a Baskerville Hall in Birmingham. For the name of Theophilus Johnson, which had been added to the register of the Northumberland Hotel just after that of Sir Henry, we need go no further than South Norwood. Oddly — but oddities are commonplace — there were two medical men in South Norwood named Theophilus: Theophilus Robert Bush Parker, MD, of 18, Werndee Road, less than half a mile from Doyle's house in Tennison Road; and Theophilus Bryett Turner, MRCS, surgeon of 7, Warminster Road, about threequarters of a mile from Doyle. There were Johnsons in the area too: Thomas Charles Johnson of 17, Princess Road, while another Thomas Johnson was a builder in Oxford Road, Norwood. The Johnsons will not be vouched for, but Doyle must have relished Theophilus. Old Middleton, through whose park Mr Frankland established a right-of-way, could be one of several. Frank H. Middleton lived at 8o, Beulah Hill, Norwood. The commandant of Sandhurst, the British officers' training college, from 1875 to 1885 was Col F.D. Middleton, but he had died some time between 1892, when he was knighted, and 1900. There was Viscount Middleton. Most particularly there was James Middleton, the leading South African left-handed bowler (cricket, that is) from 1894 to 1906, a Durham man who had been bought out of the Army by the Cape Town Cricket Club, and who toured England in 1894. One inclines to this last Middleton. Colonel Upwood, whose atrocious conduct Holmes had exposed, is a problem: his antecedent cannot be found. But consider that the Doyles had recently built a new house at Hindhead named "Undershaw."

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A "show" is a "wood"; the opposite of "Undershaw" could be "Upwood." There was to be sure John Keynes Upwood, of Highbury in the northern skirts of London, but there are no other Upwoods in London and the name does not appear in the Dictionary of British Surnames, which indicates its rarity. Upwood, or Upwoods, is the name of several country houses in various parts of England, none near any of Doyle's dwelling-places. The inversion of "Undershaw" seems the simplest and perhaps safest, most libel-free, origin. The Nonpareil part of the Upwood reference, however, has a sporting origin. The Nonpareil Club was a group of boxing supporters who met at the Hole-in-the-Wall public house, in Chancery Lane, kept by Jack Randall, who was himself known as "the Nonpareil"; this was about 1821, and is related in Pierce Egan's Boxiana which was a favorite of Doyle's. Randall, it will be recalled, was the name attached to the gang of footpads supposedly involved in The Abbey Grange, published in 1904. By 1900, though there were still three pubs named "Hole in the Wall," the one in Fleet Street had disappeared; and no London pub was named Nonpareil. The last sporting name which might be identified at the moment is, surprisingly, that of Laura Lyons. Marder has suggested it was taken from J.J. Lyons, the Australian cricketer, whose career spanned 188o to 1893. As it is so hard to locate female names in published directories, and as Marder's perhaps detailed original research is no longer available, this referent may be taken for what it is worth. Laura's father, Mr Frankland — one of the few speaking characters whose first name is not mentioned — was based on one or both of two scientific gentlemen. Percy Faraday Frankland was a graduate of the Royal School of Mines, and the Universities of Würzburg and London. Professor of chemistry at the University College, Dundee, he "has principally identified himself with the chemical and hygienic applications of bacteriology."3 Sir Edward Frankland, who had died in 1899, was another professor of chemistry, a graduate of Marburg, and a specialist in water pollution problems. Percy wrote for the popular press and may be a little more likely. Our Dartmoor Frankland may be, on the other hand, like the third of the Moriarty brothers, who was a stationmaster in the West of England, less widely known than Percy or Edward. The other well-known public figure appears to be Shipley, owner of the cab-yard near Waterloo Station, who is only mentioned. On balance the name seems to come from Sir Arthur Everett Shipley, the zoologist (1861-1927). Had this name appeared in The Valley of Fear, for instance, or in one of the post-War cases, this identification would

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be more certain for Sir Arthur Shipley wrote The Minor Horrors of War (1915), The Open-Air Treatment of the Wounded (1915), and other works in which Sir Arthur Doyle would have great personal and professional interest; but at the time of The Hound Shipley was best known for his Textbook of Zoology (1901) and Zoology of the Invertebrata (1893). Shipley was a scarce name; there were three in 1910 London and none in 1899 Surrey. The only other likely candidate is still an outsider: Orby Shipley, MA, an American clergyman born in 1832 who turned Catholic in 1878 after having been a "ritualist" for twenty years, and who wrote much on these topics. In view of what we shall see about "Arthur H. Staunton, the rising young forger" in Chapter 3o, for he certainly was a ritualist Anglican curate, Orby Shipley cannot be excluded. Before passing to the military group we may note that "the unfortunate Mme Montpensier" (who could scarcely have been "defended" from a charge of murder by Holmes, who was not a barrister) has been identified as a historical personage by Harrison. This seems acceptable; but as far as can be determined Doyle invented Mlle Carere, the stepdaughter whose "death" occasioned the murder charge. The name is genuine and was found in Italy,4 but no individual who bears it has so far been found to be connected with our author. Baskerville and Middleton have been mentioned as having possible military referents. The most important name of the military group is however James Mortimer, MRCS - "Mister" he said himself, being a surgeon — who introduces the case of the Hound to Holmes and Watson, and has a solid supporting role throughout. In keeping with other major medical characters in the saga, James Mortimer was not named for a medical man. Lt-Col James Mortimer, CMG, of the Yorkshire Regiment, was captain of the Driffield Town cricket eleven. Lt-Col Mortimer took part in the Boer War, and Dr Doyle might have encountered him first in either way. Shreffler, in an excellent study of The Devil's Foot, Holmes's study of Cornish, and the unpublished case of the ancient British barrow, points out that John R. Mortimer in 1868 excavated a long barrow at Hanging Grimston, Yorkshire, discovering heaps of pig bones. "Here, therefore, we find the sources for the name of Dr. Mortimer, that of Grimpen, for the boar-head crest of the Baskervilles, and the connection of all these with Neolithic archaeology."7 From what we already know about Doyle's accumulation of details and names, it is quite likely that these were indeed contributory; but multiple referents are to be expected. Grimspound, on Dartmoor, is an accepted source of Grimpen, for instance. Mortimer is not a rare name; there were nearly fifty in the 1910 directory; but Lt-Col James fits the pattern of canonical referents

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very well. It is hardly significant that he is not mentioned in Doyle's The Great Boer War for the name of every wartime acquaintance could hardly be crowded into that work. Twenty-odd years ago Mr Frank Newman made one of the early and significant discoveries in canonical nomenclature: that the firm of Ross and Mangles, dealers in the Fulham Road from whom Stapleton procured the Hound, was named for Ross Lowis Mangles, who had been awarded the Victoria Cross for heroism in the Indian Mutiny. This discovery was imparted to Holmesian scholarship by J.E. Holroyd, the recipient of Newman's letter, who added: Mr. Newman assumed that V.C. Mangles' name came into the news — possibly the account of his death — at the time The Hound of the Baskervilles was being written. Or I suppose it could have been that this unusual name stayed in A.C.D.'s mind when he was reading up the Mutiny for background for Jonathan Small's adventures in The Sign of Four ... 5 Mangles is in fact mentioned in Doyle's The Great Boer War. But neither Holroyd's nor Newman's assumptions were correct. The name came to Doyle's attention probably while they resided temporarily in Haslemere, while waiting for Undershaw to be completed. For at "Valewood" in Haslemere lived Mrs Mangles. What the relationship may have been to Thomas Hutchinson Mangles Martin, Rear Admiral RN (retired), the probable original of Lt Martin in The "Gloria Scott," does not at the moment appear, but it would be most likely that if the Admiral had commented upon his unusual middle name, Doyle's remembrance of it would be reinforced in Haslemere. Fianlly in the military group is that other alias of the Hound-loosing villain, Vandeleur. This came from Lt-Col C.F. Seymour Vandeleur (1869-19o1) who served both in the Nile campaigns of 1896-8, and in South Africa i8gg—igoo. Dr Doyle's stay in Egypt had been in the early months of 1886 before fighting broke out, but he may well have met Vandeleur as he mixed with the bored and chafing British officers hoping for a tussle. Certainly he encountered him in South Africa, and The Great Boer War reports that "Colonel Vandeleur, an officer of great promise, was killed ... " in a train ambush near Watervaal, fifteen miles north of Pretoria, on the last day of August i go 1. There were indeed other Vandeleurs in HM Forces, including Capt Hector Vandeleur, the Lord Lieutenant of County Clare; Major-General John Ormsby Vandeleur who also served on the Nile expedition; and among others J.O. Vandeleur (not the major-general) who received his commission late in 1884 and was stationed with the Royal Sussex Regiment, the 35th Foot, at Ports-

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mouth. Dr Doyle might have made note of the name even then; but it is certain that he made note of Col Seymour Vandeleur. Two names now engage our attention because there are too many possible originals altogether. Bradley, the tobacconist from whom Watson procured his cigarettes, is real enough. The trouble is, which one? At the turn of the century there were four tobacconists named Bradley in London: Gus Alfred in Old Street, St Luke's; Edward James in the Roman Road, Bow; Bradley and Mitchell in the High Street, Wandsworth; and Samuel, in Kilburn Lane, Maida Vale. The choice is not really difficult; or is it? Bow is East; Wandsworth is South of the River, and East; but consider young Watson as a medical student at the University of London. Walk west from Bradley's on Old Street into the Clerkenwell Road; keep straight on as the road becomes Theobalds Road, which is the main east-west artery of Bloomsbury just at the edge of the University and Museum area. A very convenient stroll for a Watson who in those pre-jezail days was reckoned fleet of foot. And Bradley's in Old Street is only a few turnings from the scene of the Stanger disappearance which Harrison surmises gave the origin of A Study in Scarlet. But later? After Watson had purchased a Paddington practice? Walk up Westbourne Terrace, over the railway bridge, and turn left into the Harrow Road. Again a brisk stroll or a short hansom ride to reach Kilburn Lane where it arcs north and east, where Ladbroke Grove joins the Harrow Road, and dodging more railway lines joins Malvern Road, and thence Walterton Road debouches back into the Harrow Road. At some time, then, one of the Bradleys, Gus Alfred, or Samuel, would be convenient for Watson. Were those tobacchanal Bradleys related all? And there is one other matter. William E. Bradley was graduated with Arthur Doyle from the medical school in Edinburgh in 1881, and then took up practice near Doyle in Southport, in the Leyland Road. Perhaps Watson's smoking habits were influenced by attachment to the name of a classmate. The other name confusing through plenitude is the cab-driver, John Clayton, who has been mentioned in Chapter 6. His home address, Number 3, Turpey Street, Borough, is fictional. "The Borough" is that warren of bits of streets south of London Bridge, the Borough of Southwark, whose best-known thoroughfare must be Tooley Street. There is a Turney Road which wanders from Tulse Hill to Dulwich quite a bit north of South Norwood, and a Turley Close way out east in Stratford, not to mention Turpin Way (for the highwayman?) and even Turpentine Lane; but no Turpey. But there are John Claytons, seven of them in the tg 10 directory, and seven more in the Dictionary of National Biography,

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all of whom died before 1888. There is an architect (died 1861) and a Congregational clergyman (died 1865), and two other Reverend John Claytons, one in Wimbledon and one in Yorkshire. It is a little suspicious that James S. Clayton received the medical degrees from Edinburgh in 1882, a year after Doyle. But here Doyle has chosen a fairly commonplace name a-purpose. If there were "some hundreds of Henry Bakers" in London, there were at least some scores of John Claytons. The only place to pursue him further would be old records of the Hackney Carriage Office at New Scotland Yard. The butler did not do it in The Hound of the Baskervilles, but the butler is an important character and the name Barrymore not chosen at a hazard. Barrymore is not a common name; there was but one listing of the name in the 1 g 1 o London directory; and in the 1903 Post Office London Directory there may be noted in Hill Street, in fashionable Mayfair, Lord Barrymore, Lord Westbury, and Lord Revelstoke. The name Westbury occurs in The Bruce-Partington Plans (1 908) and Revelstoke has been suggested as the model for Lord Leverstoke in The Priory School (1904). Unfortunately this Lord Barrymore will not do in The Hound, for Arthur Hugh Smith-Barry was not created first Baron Barrymore until 1902. But dipping into the Complete Peerage one finds the account of the peerage of Barry, Barrymore, or Buttevant — an Irish peerage, originally a barony, known as early as 1489 but by 1534 assumed to be a viscountcy, raised to an earldom in 1627/8, and extinct in 1823. One of the Barrys much earlier in the family history was Gerald, known as Giraldus Cambrensis the scholar. But without prolonging detail, the history of the Barry succession (Barrymore means Barry the Great) is a sequence of scheming, of defrauding rightful heirs, of unexplained deaths. Laurence, third earl, was attainted in 1688 by the parliament of James it but was soon after restored. James, fourth earl, was half-brother of Laurence, being son of the second earl by his third wife, which is by the prevailing run of the family straightforward. He was arrested in 1715 on suspicion of treason but nothing was proved. Richard, seventh earl, was a rakehell — of a family of dubious reputation. His career was terminated by the unfortunate explosion of his musket while he was escorting some French prisoners. Henry, eighth earl, died "s.p. legit." — without legitimate issue — in 1823. The long entry in the Complete Peerage, over ten pages, is fascinating reading. There can be no doubt that Conan Doyle, knowledgeable of Irish, Commonwealth, and Restoration history, was quite aware of the shady story of the Barrymores, and inserted the name as a counter-thread with the tale of the Baskervilles (the Cabells) to be reminiscent of the theme of usurpation and dark deeds in the

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succession of a peerage. Suspicion of the Barrymores is early raised in The Hound of the Baskervilles. It is therefore significant that in The Hound appears the name of James Desmond, the old clergyman and distant cousin of the Baskervilles who was next heir after Sir Henry; for John, Lord Barry (Barrymore), died childless, slain at Ballycranagh by Thomas, earl of Desmond; while Edmond, second viscount, married Joan, daughter of James Fitz Gerald, earl of Desmond. She left him and he remarried but nonetheless died childless about 1556. Selden, brother of Eliza Barrymore, the escaped murderer murdered by the Hound, is also a rare name in London. A historical Selden, John, 1584-1654, was a jurist of stormy career and author of numerous works including De jure naturali (1640), singularly reminiscent of "De jure inter gentes" printed in 1642 by Philippe de Croy, which Holmes had just acquired in A Study in Scarlet. John Selden's other well-known work, Titles of Honour (1614) "is still an authority"6 — but why then is Doyle the writer and historical researcher so slipshod in his use of British titles? This identification can be only tentative until that distressing question is more adequately answered. It may also be noted that Selden Lodge, Sussex, is four miles east of Arundel while Amberley is four miles north of Arundel. This, like other collocations of canonical placenames, may be sheer coincidence; but then, the earl of Arundel and Surrey, who was mentally incompetent and a recluse, had provided plot material for Doyle's Stark Munro Letters, and for The Yellow Face and possibly other cases such as The Priory School. Those Ontario Sherlockians, the Bootmakers of Toronto, take their name from Meyers who made the boot which Sherlock Holmes retrieved from the Grimpen Mire. There was indeed a Meyers, or rather Joseph Meier, boot and shoe manufacturer on Queen Street West in the Toronto of 1898. He seems to have retired from business shortly after, while James Meier, probably his son, went into the same business. This is a much more attractive proposal than the suggestion that "Meyers, Toronto" was actually named after Charles Meyer, boot and shoe maker of Matilda Street, Copenhagen Street, N, in London, or for one of George, John, Mark, Simon, or Solomon Myers, all of whom were bootmakers in the Stepney and Whitechapel of 1903 London, and among at least 2500 boot and shoe makers in the metropolis. The origins of the remaining names in The Hound are less clear. Sir John Morland, another of Mr Frankland's victims at litigation, seems reminiscent of Lt-Col J. Morland, India Staff Corps (Bengal), retired 1873. There were four Morlands in Croydon which suggests that they may have been related, but there is nothing definite. Garcia, the maiden

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name of Beryl Stapleton, recurs in Wisteria Lodge in improbable combination with Aloysius. Marcini, the other of the trio of foreign names in the case, does not occur listed in the London of that era but is a genuine name, unlike Oldmore (the widow of the ex-mayor of Gloucester) which though a Doylean invention has a genuine English solidity. Anderson — which occurs in The Blanched Soldier as a soldier, in The Lion's Mane as a policeman — is in this instance ("the Anderson murders") not a personal name but a place, even if Doyle did put it in North rather than South Carolina, for which he may be forgiven. The other unidentified names include Cartwright (previously found in The Resident Patient) and one of the many Wilsons in the Canon. Stamford in Chapter ni, referring to the mapseller, must of course be read as Stanford and its form here attributed to sheer absentmindedness on the parts of author, copyreader, and proofreader — as witness Kemball for Kimball in A Study in Scarlet — or perhaps a deliberate change for some unfathomable reason. Certain American attempts to connect it with "young Stamford" in A Study in Scarlet may be ignored. The placenames in The Hound, ranging from Grimpen to Bovey Tracey to Folkestone Court and Lafter Hall, are a study in themselves. Sundry monographs, even one which moved the scene of The Hound away from Dartmoor entirely, have not considered the reasons for the disguised names of the all-but-real places in that wild Devon landscape. For atmosphere The Hound is probably unequalled in the Canon; for sustained pitch among the long stories it is certainly unequalled, and it met with exceeding great rejoicing when it appeared. For the present study, it sees the development of Doylean christening in equally fine form.

20

Nameplates on the Empty House "I am a neighbour of yours, for you'll find my little bookshop at the corner of Church Street ..." "... a Norwegian named Sigerson ..." "I have not introduced you yet." The Empty House

Where was Dr Watson dwelling in 1894, that the little bookshop at the corner of Church Street should be his "neighbour"? The Empty House

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is crowded with all sorts of mysteries, and the extensive attention which Holmesian scholars have devoted to it has by no means mined all of them, for most discussion has centred upon the story of the Great Hiatus, the Holmesian Hegira, the Retreat from Reichenbach. Nor has much attention been given to the names in the case, save perhaps by that other choleric colonel, Col Dr Henry Mutrux, who pooh-poohs the entire story of the Final Problem and the Empty House because Dr Doyle had not specified which Reichenbach in Switzerland he meant, among the many. "My collection of M's is a fine one," said Holmes perusing his index. The collection of M's in The Empty House is indeed a fine one, extending beyond those in the index — Moriarty, Morgan the poisoner, Merridew of abominable memory, Mathews, Moran — to Milner, Murray, Meunier, and Maynooth. Nine out of sixteen; this 56 percent loading surpasses even The Valley of Fear which has fourteen M's out of seventy-eight names. And the Molesey mystery can be thrown in for good measure, as a name connected apparently with an unreported case. Regrettably, not all the M's can be identified here, though the familiar groupings, medical and neighbours, account for perhaps five. Mathews, first, knocked out Holmes's "left canine in the waiting-room at Charing Cross." The most enticing supposition is that this was Harold Dewe Mathews, dental surgeon, but his surgery was in Brook Street rather than in Charing Cross Hospital as we might have hoped from The Hound. Henry John Mathews, an Irish physician, is an outside possibility for he practised in St Aubyn's Road, Upper Norwood. Several medical Matthewses must be rejected, as must Cornelius Mathews, the editor of Graham's Magazine and friend of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, for he died in 188g. Elie claims that Mathews was Moriarty,' but that need not detain us for we must still find the reason for the name or alias Mathews. A promising candidate may be Sir Charles Willie Mathews, the Director of Public Prosecutions in Whitehall. Sir Charles, born in 185o the son of Charles James Mathews the famous Victorian comedian, had become a barrister and senior Treasury counsel before his post as Prosecutor. But unless this was a gratuitous aside on Doyle's part, no causal relationship can be seen. There remains the Rev William Stewart Mathews, BA, LLB, the only Mathews in Norwood, who resided at 142, Knight's Hill, West Norwood, and who was the chaplain of Norwood Cemetery — which lay near the Doyle residence in Tennison Road. Among canonical names are occasional light darts at various clergymen, and this seems likely to be one. All memory of Merridew, abominable or not, has long since vanished. There were not even any Merridews in the 1892 London directory,

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and the only one who can be found is H.M. Merridew whose only offence appears to have been the editorship of a guidebook to Boulogne between 1880 and 1905. Whether by this reference Doyle meant that Merridew, Boulogne, or the guidebook was abominable can only be guessed; though it rather smacks of a rainy day immediately following an abominable Channel crossing. M Oscar Meunier of Grenoble, the sculptor in wax, like that other worker in wax Tavernier (The Mazarin Stone) is not in the directories of sculptors, but two Meuniers command attention, and the reference is one of those multi-part disguises behind which Doyle's characters often hide. First, there was a Belgian engraver named Jean-Baptiste Meunier, born in 1821. The firm of Henri Meunier & Co, artists' colourmen, was in the Earl's Court Road. Was one of the members of this firm disguised as Josiah Amberley sometime in 1926 and immortalized as "The Retired Colourman"? Finally there was a more notorious Meunier: Theodule Joseph Constant Meunier, arrested for murder in London in April 1894, extradited to Paris and sentenced to twenty years' penal servitude for complicity in blowing up the Restaurant Very on 25 April 1892. In short, an anarchist. The whole affair was something of a witch-hunt by the Parisian police, for of thirty prisoners brought to trial, of whom Meunier was one, twenty-two were acquitted by the jury, and The Times alleged that there had been a "very weak" case against the prisoners. Doyle could not have seen Sweeney's 1904 account in At Scotland Yard, but must have made careful note of the affair, for part of the plot of The Red Circle comes from the same newspaper accounts. According to one account, incidentally, Meunier got life, rather than twenty years, and was later found strangled in his cell. Two Milners, neither named Godfrey, may be the originals of that gentleman who lost heavily at whist with Moran and Adair. Samuel George Milner was a surgeon who had studied at Bart's, but been admitted to the Edinburgh LRCP and the MRCS (England) in 1883. He resided at "Hillside," Dulwich Wood, Norwood, and was acting surgeon to the First Surrey Regiment of Volunteers. Doyle's interest in the armed forces, and particularly in the volunteers, roused by his Egyptian and Boer War experience, remained high, though it would be another year before he became Deputy-Lieutenant of Surrey and more frequent participant in warlike activities. The other Milner was Edgar Charles, honorary secretary of the East Molesey Cricket Club. As "the Molesey mystery" also occurs in The Empty House one is tempted to seek a connection between the two allusions. There were other Milners to be sure, including Vincent who had received the Edinburgh MB, cm in 1888, and Sidney

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C. Godfrey had graduated the year before. There were two Mrs Milners in Norwood, and Sir Alfred Milner was governor of Cape Colony. Doyle was still working on his Boer War book and would know him, and there is the other reference to the earl of Maynooth as a colonial governor. The nearest thing to a "Molesey mystery" recorded in The Times is the odd case of Vernon Heath, a well-known photographer, who undoubtedly did walk into the Thames at East Molesey on the first of December 1892. The police claimed it was a suicide attempt; Heath said "he fell into the water by the bank giving way, and when he found himself out of his depth he ... struck out for the shore."2 He had owed fourteen weeks' rent and his landlady had turned him out. The magistrates thought his behaviour strange but discharged him, "on his promise that he would go back to his friends." The mention in Silver Blaze of "Heath Newton" as one of the horse-owners, and the mention in Doyle's Memories and Adventures of Lord Newton, make it at least ponderable whether all these mentions are not related in some semi-conscious stream. The obvious referent for Morgan the poisoner, who as far as can be discovered was not a historical criminal, would be a doctor. The 1903 Medical Directory had a dozen Morgans. Among the clan was John Hammond Morgan, consulting surgeon at Charing Cross Hospital. Alexander Blackball Morgan was also a consultant, at the Royal Northern Hospital. Frank Morgan was a physician residing at 27, St Julian's Farm Road in West Norwood; he had trained at the Westminster Hospital, and was admitted MRCS, LRCP (London) in 1902, which makes him an unlikely candidate despite his residence on a street we shall encounter again, unless Doyle had met him while he was a student. Cecil Augustus Morgan of 6, Gloucester Place, Portman Square, had left Edinburgh with the Ma, cm in 1891. Closer to Doyle's student days would be David Morgan (Ms, cm 1884), while Frederick and Thomas were graduated in 1888. Among more than three hundred Morgans in London it becomes difficult to choose. One non-medical Morgan is Matt, the political cartoonist, who had died in 1890 and had emigrated to the United States twenty years before that. Though Matt Morgan was called brilliant, his cartoons could be called poison-pen, for they struck home upon the Queen and the Prince of Wales, and whether for reasons of finance or prudence, Matt went to America. A Mr Murray is mentioned as a member of the Bagatelle Card Club in The Empty House, an allusion not as enlightening even as Murray the orderly in A Study in Scarlet. There were Murrays galore in Norwood — for instance, Col Ross Murray of 26, The Avenue; recall Col Ross in Silver Blaze. Ten Murrays had graduated from the University of Edinburgh

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at dates when Doyle might have known them; Walter G. Murray had been in Doyle's 1881 year, and Charles S. Murray in t883. The closest Murray to Doyle's Tennison Road residence had been John G.R. Murray of 163, Selhurst Road. The choice is open, but again it seems very likely that the card-playing Murray was a medical man or a neighbourhood acquaintance. Of the earl of Maynooth we know nothing, but the placename is appropriate (as were many others of Doyle's invented peerages) by its own improbability. Maynooth is a town in County Kildare, west of Dublin, notable chiefly for the Catholic St Patrick's College, sometimes known as Maynooth College, which was established in 1795 by Act of the Irish Parliament, and more richly endowed by a Bill launched in 1846 by Sir Robert Peel, who had earlier founded the Metropolitan Police, with a further endowment granted in 1871. The peerage may conceal some local character; and in view of Doyle's education at another Catholic establishment, Stonyhurst, perhaps other canonical peerages may conceal similar references. That leaves Moran. Blau points out that his name was originally Aloysius in the manuscript, and "was changed to Sebastian only after the story had been completed."3 Unfortunately neither Aloysius nor Sebastian may be found. The closest is James Joseph Moran of Grimsby, who surprisingly for an 1885 LRCP, LRCS (Edinburgh) was by 18go "retired." He had trained in Galway and Cork and at the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh, within reach of Doyle, but lacking detail we can only speculate. Klinefelter notes about Moran, "The Colonel had Charlie Becker's drooping mustaches, but otherwise one imagines him to have resembled the more distinguished looking Max Shinburne ..."4 Both Becker and Shinburn were accomplices of Adam Worth, the outstanding Victorian gentleman-criminal often cited as the original of Moriarty. Shinburn's robbery of the Ocean Bank in Atlantic City, via the cellars, was the original of part of the plot of The Red-Headed League. But the original of Moran's reputation as a heavy-game shot may have come from Col George Sartorius, cs, 184o-1912. One of a distinguished Army family, he had two brothers who were vc's and major-generals. His own recreation was shooting: tigers in India, lion and buffalo in Africa; he had shot the largest buffalo ever bagged. Col Sartorius also sounds as if his name much later suggested something of Count Negretto Sylvius. Rosenberg however derives Col Moran's (altered) first name from the pseudonym of Oscar Wilde, Sebastian Melmoth — finding a number of similarities between Wilde and Moran: Irish, sons of Irish knights, Oxford graduates, authors, outcasts, imprisoned as result of

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scandals involving a nobleman's son. Moran's father, Sir Augustus Moran, sounds much like Dr Cecil Augustus Morgan, mentioned above in connection with Morgan the poisoner (and Rosenberg points out that Wilde's father, Sir William, was the author of an authoritative text on diseases of the eye). An assortment of other occupants of The Empty House properly commences with Ronald Adair. Turn-of-the-century London Adairs included a tobacconist, a barrister, and several female Adairs, one a confectioner, but one stands out: Sir Frederick Edward Shafto Adair, fourth baronet, who wrote Sport in Ladakh and A Summer In High Asia, sagas of the huntin' shootin' Englishman in the Himalayas which remind one forcibly of Moran's Heavy Game of the Western Himalayas and Three Months in the Jungle. Trevor Hall makes a case for the original being Viscount Adare, the courtesy title, before he succeeded his father as earl of Dunraven, of Windham Thomas Wyndham-Quin.5 The case is strong because Viscount Adare's letters to his father on spiritualism had in 1869 been printed as Experiences in Spiritualism with Mr. D.D. Home. Hall demonstrates parallels between Viscount Adare and Doyle; and Adare had served in the Boer War where he could have met Doyle. Von Herder, the blind German mechanic who produced Moran's airgun, has been identified by Rosenberg with the obvious parallels: Johann Gottfried von Herder, the German philosopher, and friend of the family of Nietzsche, whom Rosenberg considers central to the Moriarty/ Holmes struggle. Certainly Herder had a "disease of the eyes" about 1 770, and Doyle as a German-reading quondam ophthalmologist should have known this; but once again there is a multiple referent, a threepart portmanteau, not a simple identification to be made. The principal London purveyors of airguns in i 903 were Meyer & Grammelspacher of Rastatt, Germany, whose sole British agents were L. Paechter & Co of Queen Street; and Martin Pulvermann & Co of No 26, Minories — just at the corner of Church Street, at the top of the Minories one turning below Aldgate High Street. The strange old bibliophile, Holmes in disguise, had said his bookshop was "at the corner of Church Street." Now the tgio Post Office London Directory lists only one Herder, Ernest, a manufacturers' agent in Cutter Lane, whose telegraphic address was "Tibullus" — which is clearly a "blind"! — but who does not meet our requirements. Instead, if we walk down the Minories from Martin Pulvermann & Co at No 26, turning the corner into Royal Mint Street and then straight along into Cable Street, Stepney, at No 55 is Wilhelm Von Gerber, a watchmaker. A watchmaker is of that breed of fine craftsmen amongst whom gunsmiths are also numbered. Indeed, watchmakers

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and gunsmiths were almost the only workers in fine and delicate machinery until late in the nineteenth century. In The Mazarin Stone, much later, we shall encounter another airgun made by a different craftsman, Straubenzee, who will be identified at the proper time; but Straubenzee's address was in the Minories. Clearly, Martin Pulvermann (a fitting name for anyone connected with firearms) and Company were the shop which was disguised in two stages, Von Gerber/Von Herder, to make Moran's airgun. That other disguise, the Norwegian named Sigerson, has led Sherlockian scholars a merry chase across the Himalayas, and been identified as almost anyone who could climb a mountain in the nineteenth century, as well as having been derived by Baring-Gould from that parent of the Holmes brothers, Siger Holmes. This is hardly necessary, for the name comes from George Sigerson, 1839-1925, physician, scientist, translator, writer on Irish history and literature. Born at Holy Hill, Strabane, educated in Cork and Dublin, he received the MD in the year of Doyle's birth. He became professor of botany and biology in the Catholic University, contributed political and literary articles to the Dublin press, and published translations from the Gaelic, and his own verse, as well as medical works. Some of his works include: Bards of the Gael and Gall (1897): History of the Land Tenures and Land Classes of Ireland (1871); The Law and the Lunatic (1886); Modern Ireland: Its Vital Questions, Secret Societies and Government (1868); and Political Prisoners at Home and Abroad (18go); while his translations include Charcot's Lectures on the Diseases of the Nervous System (1877-89) which are greatly reminiscent of Percy Trevelyan's monograph on obscure nervous lesions. Using Rosenberg's or Horgan's method it could be claimed that this referral of the Hiatus narrative by Holmes to Sigerson, the imaginative Irish writer, indicated that these "remarkable exploits" were in fact whole cloth, imaginative literature, not to be taken literally. Such a viewpoint will by no means be espoused in these studies, but it remains that the original of the wandering detective's Norwegian was Irish, not Scandinavian. In fact no Scandinavian biographical sources list any Sigersons. The nearest might be a Swedish or Danish Sigurd(s)son. It does not seem necessary to consider Mrs Clement Shorter, the poet who wrote under her maiden name of Dora Sigerson and who in 1888 or 1899 wrote "The Woman Who Went to Hell." The allusion to the gentleman on the pavement whom Holmes called "a harmless enough fellow, Parker by name, a garroter by trade, and a remarkable performer upon the jew's-harp" gives clues enough, at least a triple combination, for identity. They point to two referents:

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Henry Meredith Parker, 1796?-1868, "said to have been a violinist at Covent Garden Theatre" and later poet, actor, writer, and official in the Bengal Civil Service; but more particularly to "George Parker" which was an alias of "my old friend Charlie Peace" (as Holmes called him in The Illustrious Client), indefatigable burglar, master of deceptive appearance, and artist upon the violin. Charlie Peace was not a garroter — this is Doyle's touch — but a nasty hand with a revolver and probably responsible for the lives of more than one policeman, for which he finally swung. It would not do to have Parker the garroter play the violin — that was Holmes's instrument — so he is confined to the monotony of the jew's-harp. Two ladies from the North are mentioned in The Empty House: Miss Edith Woodley of Carstairs, who was Adair's intended, and Mrs Stewart of Lauder, who was apparently "done in" by Moran in 1887. Why were these two obscure places mentioned? Most of the other name-and-place combinations alluded to involve more prominent places, whether Mason of Bradford (A Study in Scarlet) or Fritz von Waldbaum of Dantzig (The Naval Treaty). Carstairs is very small; in 1903 there were only five private residents and a scattering of tradespeople listed in the Scottish directory, which listed neither Woodleys in Carstairs nor Stewarts in Lauder. The principal landowners in Carstairs were absentees whose principal seats were elsewhere. Certainly the son of the earl of Maynooth would have been engaged to a lady of the landed classes at the very least. But if Carstairs is a proper name rather than a placename part of the matter is at once clear, for William Barstow Carstairs, an 1877 medical graduate of Edinburgh, who had also studied in Paris, received the MD at the same time as did Doyle in 1885, and was subsequently a member of the General Council of the University as was Doyle. He was medical officer for the Women's Convalescent Home and the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, and resided at Plas Newydd, Rhyl, Wales. And there was another of the name. William Carstairs or Carstares, born in Cathcart in 1649, was graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1667 and went to Utrecht to further his studies. There he became a follower of William of Orange; and for a decade acted as secret agent between the restive Scots and the Orange party. Captured, imprisoned, tortured, released, he eventually became chaplain to William n1 and his advisor on Scottish affairs. He was nicknamed "the Cardinal" by the Jacobites and was influential in establishing Presbyterianism in Scotland. Becoming Principal of the University of Edinburgh in 1703 he was influential in the union with England in 1707. In our seeking a reason why Doyle should have picked two obscure placenames in The Empty House we can

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look at his interest in Scottish history; and note also that in Black Peter three years later he mentions another Scottish cardinal. The reference to Lauder similarly harks back to an eighteenthcentury Scottish scandal: "To students of eighteenth century literature the name of William Lauder, the traducer of Milton, is familiar; but it is to be feared that the present generation ... no longer remembers the brilliant method by which his fraud was detected."6 William Masenius Lauder was a Scot who in 175o in the Gentleman's Magazine attracted attention by a series of articles in which he brought charges of plagiarism against Milton ... [I]t was very plainly proved that the greater part of the passages cited by Mr. Lauder were ... from the very intelligent translation, by Hogaeus, of Milton himself! ... He had not scrupled to interpolate, and manufacture whole passages ...7 It was John Douglas, afterward bishop of Salisbury, who systematically exposed Lauder; compare the Jack Douglas who exposes the Scowrers in The Valley of Fear. Millar alluded to "the shifty, time-serving, dodging character of Lauder."e In the case of Lauder, as of Carstairs, there was a second gentleman of the name: William Lauder, who received the Ms in 1878, when Doyle was a medical student, and the MD in 1886, the year after Doyle's doctorate. The contemporary Lauder and the contemporary Carstairs would suggest their historical namesakes to him. The third part of the transition, so often found in Doylean constructions, is for the personal names to suggest the corresponding places. Balmoral, to be discussed in a moment, is another reference of the sort. For Mrs Stewart, however, it may not be necessary to go any farther than Norwood, for a Mrs Stewart lived at 52, Beulah Hill, Norwood. Ninety-seven Mrs Stewarts were in the Scottish directory of 1903, including nineteen in Edinburgh and seventeen in Glasgow, so it is hopeless to turn in that direction. With Miss Edith Woodley's name we fare little better, though noting that the name recurs in The Solitary Cyclist ("Roaring Jack" Woodley) three months later. In the 1903 London directory are only eleven Woodleys in trade, three of whom are John, while two of the four in the Surrey directory are also John. Possibly `John Woodley" was picked as a name first, and a feminine first name attached when it was needed in The Empty House. Of that other member of the whist-party, Sir John Hardy, little can be said save that over a hundred Hardys were in the 1910 directory, and three John Hardys were in Crockford's for the same year. Such use of a common name only points up how frequently even minor canonical names are unusual ones, until the reader almost expects rare names. No

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definite original can be cited for this knight who was at least lucky that "there was a fairly equal fall of the cards" when he played with Moran. Lord Balmoral had not been so lucky, which may account for the difficulty in identifying him today. The duke of Balmoral appeared in both The Noble Bachelor and Silver Blaze, published in 1892, which have not been discussed in this study to this point, but as a duke was not usually referred to as "Lord" So-and-So, the perennial perplexing question of Doylean titles of nobility arises once more. Was this Lord Balmoral the son of the duke? Hardly, for he would be known by one of the duke's lesser titles. Put it down to Watson's usual forgetfulness. Is there any original for any nobleman titled Balmoral? There was indeed a precedent. Queen Victoria's frequent incognito when travelling abroad in the 187os was the "countess of Balmoral." Balmoral was the name specifically of the castle rebuilt for her by Prince Albert. No British nobleman would or will ever bear that title, unless it be a member of the Royal Family. There is not enough emphasis here to suggest that the Prince of Wales was meant — though it well might be, for he certainly played cards for heavy stakes in company not always better than Moran's. While the Queen was in those days of her widowhood and retreat from public life sometimes flippantly called "Mrs Brown" or even "the Empress Brown" in reference to her constant attendant, John Brown the gillie, Brown had died in 1883. Nine years afterwards a reference to a "duke" or "duchess" of Balmoral would certainly have a clear inference; whether this would be true by 1903, in a new reign, is not so clear. The Tankerville Club, one of those to which Moran belonged, has been previously mentioned in The Five Orange Pips, and Harrison's solution of that nice reference has been mentioned in Chapter g, the Tankerville Club being the Walsingham Club which suffered scandal in 1887. On the basis of events such as this and the Tranby Croft scandal in which the Prince of Wales was a witness in the court case which followed upon alleged cheating at cards, it may be safe to identify "Lord Balmoral," whether or not the duke, as the Prince of Wales. While other fascinating problems remain in The Empty House including the reversed boots, Moran crawling down a drain, the wax bust and the head Llama, this is not the proper place to reveal their sources. The Empty House is indeed full of occupants.

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21 Murder on Home Ground "Mr. Jonas Oldacre is a well known resident of that suburb." "He intended to change his name altogether ..." The Norwood Builder

Not for the first time did Sherlock Holmes visit Norwood during a case, when he visited the Sydenham Road in Lower Norwood where Deep Dene was the home of the Norwood Builder; but in The Sign of Four when that odd procession drove from a tawdry street on the Surrey side of the Thames to Norwood and Pondicherry Lodge, Conan Doyle had not yet been a resident of South Norwood. Now as he wrote, he was out of the metropolis, in Hindhead. The first thought of The Norwood Builder may therefore be that it must reflect familiarity with that residential suburb; and considering the names in the case, that there may well be local ones. On the other hand, that might be risky business, to place recognizable names in a recognizable setting. It should really be no great surprise to find, first of all, that the setting is not as recognizable as it would seem. There is a Sydenham Road — two in fact — but one is in Sydenham itself, the other in Croydon, neither one in what was then Lower Norwood, by igog West Norwood. Mr Jonas Oldacre is not to be found in the Surrey directory, nor in the growing metropolis itself. There were in London two Oldacres, a hatter and a lithographer, and one Oldaker, a saddler, and two more Oldakers in Surrey. But among the fifty-four builders in Norwood is no one, save perhaps William Akers & Co, resembling Jonas. If that number seems high, Norwood like all the other suburbs had long felt the creeping brickwork of the city entwining it. Oldacre is a fine old English name, but the closest to our builder is Charles Edward Oldridge & Sons of Norbiton. Charles Everard Oldacres, MRCS, of Daventry, does not seem to be our man. But an intuitional paper by Holly considers the Builder's name: Beginning at Oldacre's home, Watson may well have meant to provide a clue to the solution of the crime by calling it Deep Dene House rather than by its real name — [T]he adjective "deep" seems suggestive of the deneholes or Daneholes which are found in southern England. It is conjectured that these ancient excavations were made for the mining of chalk (used in building, among other uses), and also that they were used for storage and for places of refuge, as from the Danes during their inva-

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sions — a kind of hiding hole. ... Coming back to Deep Dene House and concerning Mr. Oldacre's last name, deneholes often occur on old field boundaries, or boundaries of old acres. His first name, Jonas, the Greek form of Jonah, is reminiscent of that story of another "hiding hole." ...' More persons named Cornelius are in the directory than the few Oldacres. Among six was Walter Bernard Cornelius, surgeon, of 21, Compton Road, N, a side street close to that jumble of roads which intersect at Highbury and Islington Station. As a surgeon he would be called "Mr Cornelius," and while this is not proof it is suggestive in regard to "a certain Mr. Cornelius, who is, I imagine," said Holmes, "himself [Oldacre] under another name." The search is short for the unhappy John Hector McFarlane for J.H. Macfarlane resided at 1g, Central Hill, Norwood. A Rev John Macfarlane had died in August 1902 but no discernible connection with Doyle can be found. Hectors were scarce; there was a Miss Hector, and William Boyne Hector, a carman, but these are simply noted by the way. Doyle is imaginative with forenames as well as surnames. Probably the other half of that legal partnership, Graham & McFarlane, was picked from the directory.' Many firms bear each name separately, and among the solicitors are Graham & Wigley; Lawrence, Graham & Co; Nicholson, Graham & Graham. For some reason there are no barristers named Graham. The remaining names are allusions. "Hyams" was the name stamped upon the trouser-button raked from the timber-yard ashes. This was the imprint of Hyam & Co Ltd, tailors, etc, of 134-140 Oxford Street, and of Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Leeds — one of what the duke of Plaza-Toro referred to as "those pressing prevailers, the ready-made tailors." A gentleman would patronize Bond Street and Savile Row, not Oxford Street; which tells something about the character of Oldacre. A Savile Row firm would have recorded of all its customers; not so likely, this firm. "Bert Stevens, that terrible murderer" recalled to Watson by Holmes, has been equated by Harrison to J.K. Stephen and his confrere "Bertie," more formally known as Edward, Prince of Wales — if so, the second case in a row which has alluded to the Prince. What Harrison has not noted, and what seems much more significant in the context of The Norwood Builder, is J.K. Stephen's brother, Sir Herbert Stephen. J.K. could possibly be called a black sheep; Sir Herbert and another brother, Sir Harry, were paragons of rectitude. Sir Herbert, the second baronet, two years older than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, was a barrister and from

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1888 to 1927 clerk of assize for the Northern Circuit. A great authority on criminal law, he wrote both legal treatises and journalism — in the 188os, chiefly reviews for Saturday Review. He was a friend of Kipling, Henley, and other well-known literary figures, and a racing enthusiast. "He used to say that if he had taken orders he might have risen to a high albeit independent office in the Church ..."3 Hear an echo of the remarks made about Holmes, that he might have made "an actor, and a rare one" or a criminal himself. Among Sir Herbert's legal writings were Prisoners on Oath (1898), joint authorship of A Digest of the Law of Criminal Procedures in Indictable Offences (1883), and The Law Relating to Actions for Malicious Prosecution (1888). This last sounds as if it should be applicable to the cases of both Jonas Oldacre and Mr Frankland! Sir Harry for his part was at one time judge of the High Court of Calcutta. Now `Bert" is the invariable British diminutive of "Herbert," though it can stand for "Albert." That "terrible murderer" bore a name which was also that of Herbert Edward Stevens, curate of St Matthew's, Crumpsall, Manchester, and Herbert Percy Stevens, vicar of St Stephen's, Willenhall, Staffordshire; and of Herbert John Stevens, LDS, MRCS (England), LRCP (London), dental surgeon of Stoke Newington. Once more there are rather more possibilities with a very common name than can be handled. But if for "Stevens" is to be read "Stephen," for "Bert" must be read "Herbert" rather than "Bertie" and "J.K." Instead of a double referent, for once there is a single one. The identification is reinforced by the other part of the description, "that terrible murderer." Taken in Harrison's interpretation this is an allusion, possibly the only one in the Canon, to the candidacy of James Kenneth Stephen as Jack the Ripper. Taken as a reference to Sir Herbert Stephen it is a joke: the absurdity of the expert on criminal law as a "terrible murderer." The latter is more in keeping with Doyle's lively sense of humour. And while there was an item in The Times on 2 July 1902 about "Stevens and others for highway robbery," it had nothing to do with either the terrible murderer or the clerk of assize. The young doctor, Verner, who had purchased Watson's Kensington practice is explained away by Watson himself: a distant relative of the Holmes family — an anglicized Vernet, in fact. As the Vernet bloodline for Holmes has been accepted, no more can be done with Verner than accept him, noting that there was in fact one Verner in the 1gio London directory. The papers of ex-president Murillo have been explained earlier and at length as a reference to Manuel Murillo Toro, 1816-8o, fighting journalist and liberal president of Columbia 1864-6 and 1872-4.4 When

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the name recurs five years later in Wisteria Lodge there is no such firm referent. But in Lee, Kent, already visited in The Man with the Twisted Lip, close to The Cedars, the Boone almshouses and Blessington Road (The Resident Patient), is a byway called Murillo Road. For Mrs Lexington, the close-mouthed housekeeper of Jonas Oldacre who, Holmes said, "could tell us something if she would," there is nothing more to go upon than she herself has told: to wit, nothing but her name. Though it is not a personal name, "the shocking affair of the Dutch steamship Friesland" has been so often discussed that another note may well be added. The Friesland was a Red Star liner launched 18 August 1889, for service between the United States and Antwerp. Of Belgian registry, not Dutch, she does seem to have had her share of mishaps, for The Times records the "wreck" of the Friesland 29 October 189o; "refloating" of the Friesland 8 March 1895 after grounding at Port Said; "accident to" the Friesland 22 July 1898, a broken shaft. The Times recorded many wrecks and losses at sea over the years, such as a "strange occurrence at sea" 27 November 1881, "supposed" wrecks and "supposed" disasters, for there was no radio to give the alarm, and on 21 October 1899 even a "strange tale of the sea." On 7 March 1902 is recorded the loss of the Waesland, which had been sunk the day before off Queenstown and Anglesey in a collision with the Harmonides. The Waesland was the ex-Cunarder Russia, built in 1867, and had been bought by the SA Navigation Belge-Americaine about 1883. All her 114 passengers and 8g crew succeeded in getting to the lifeboats, but when one boat slipped from its davits two persons were killed: a Texan named Dangerfield, and a little girl named Elsie Emmott. This collision in dense fog might well have been a disaster; and were Holmes and Watson aboard, it might well have "nearly cost" their lives. There had been a Dutch liner lost in 1897, the Utrecht of Rotterdam, which went down in a storm near Ushant about 4 March probably as the result of a collision with a sailing vessel. The reference in The Norwood Builder is probably meant to recall vaguely all three of these referents: the loss of a Dutch vessel; the Friesland; and the loss of a vessel with a somewhat similar name, the Waesland.

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22 Dancing Norfolk Names "Patrick was the name — Elsie Patrick." The Dancing Men

The Adventure of the Dancing Men is perhaps the most openly derivative of the Sherlock Holmes cases, for the origin of the Dancing Men themselves is at least arguably clear, though considering Conan Doyle's asseverations regarding them it was by some unconscious path, and the name of the protagonists is reasonably clear. For all that, there are some interesting problems in the cast of characters. Norfolk is incidental to the affair, which could have happened in any isolated house in rural England, but the idea came to Doyle in Norfolk and there he has placed the adventure. Christopher Morley's "Clinical Notes" on the case are rather general, merely noting that Rid(l)ing/Thorpe Manor is named for Edingthorpe and Ridlington, that "The graveyards are rich in Cubitts" and that E.R. Cubitt was in business as a draper in North Walsham.' Merriman describes a journey through Norfolk and an exploration of the actual site, pinpointing the Manor House at Walcott, seven miles from North Walsham, as Ridlingthorpe Manor. He goes on: To conclude, we found that Cubitt was a well-honoured name in this part of Norfolk. My sister wrote to a Colonel R.G. Cubitt and here is his answer: "In reply to your letter about The Case of the Dancing Men, I can perhaps help you by throwing a little light on it, although my information is second-hand and deduced from memory a good many years ago. "Undoubtedly, the character in the story, Hilton Cubitt, was my father, or so my father told me, although his Christian name was not Hilton. "Conan Doyle was staying at the time at Bacton and my father often used to meet him. My father had at that time built a new farmhouse at Church Farm, Ridlington, immediately opposite the church and I have always understood that Doyle used that house as his 'Ridlingthorpe Manor' in the book ..."' Excellent, Watson, excellent. But Bengis two years later has this to say in the same journal: ... I have several letters from a Mr. G.J. Cubitt, of Aylesbury,

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whose mother once ran a small hotel and inn where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle often stayed, and whose name was undoubtedly borrowed for one of the main characters in The Dancing Men. These are most interesting claims, since Carr had in 1948 flatly stated in his biography of Doyle, that: His idea for one [story], the Dancing Men, he got on a motoring visit to the Hill House Hotel, at Happisburgh in Norfolk, then kept by a family named Cubitt. The hotel-proprietor's small son had a habit of writing his signature in dancing men. Conan Doyle worked at the story in the Green Room, overlooking the bowling green, and left his room strewn with dancing sketches.4 Brend in 1952 supported G.J.Cubitt who appears to have been the small boy; J.F. Christ, who was interested chiefly in the stick figures, simply cites Brend's discovery: Mr. Gavin Brend, in Coming Events in Britain (Dec. 1952), writes of his discovery of a first-hand Norfolk version of the origins of Sherlock Holmes' Adventure of the Dancing Men. One G J. Cubitt had invented them while he was a boy. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle visited Hill House Hotel in Happisburgh in 1903, discovered the lad at his amusement of writing his name in these characters and "then and there" (says Mr. Cubitt) set to work upon the story as we know it, embellishing it with Mr. Cubitt's patronymic.5 It is now well known that the Cubitt lad did not invent the Dancing Men, a cipher found under various guises, including an appearance in St. Nicholas magazine, long before publication of Doyle's story. Helling has also remarked on the original of the Cubitt family.6 This may all be taken as given, for the Cubitts were indeed an old Norfolk family as Hilton Cubitt claimed: " ... my people have been at Riding Thorpe7 for a matter of five centuries." Cubitts were at Bacton before 1381, and from 1577 onward the Bacton church register contains 140 Cubitt entries; but the name "Hilton" does not appear in this family. Notable Cubitts included Joseph (181172), railway developer and engineer; Thomas (1788-1855), builder; Sir William (1785-1861), father of Joseph, inventor and civil engineer. The one Cubitt who might be in a position to challenge the claim of G.J. Cubitt was the Hon Henry Cubitt, MP, MA, of Birtley, Bramley, Guildford, who was one of the Deputy Lieutenants of Surrey — as Conan Doyle had also become. There was also the firm of Cubitt & Walker, at Ebridge Mills, North Walsham. This firm solves one of the puzzles in The Dancing Men, for the name Elrige's appears to have been invented by Doyle. Dictionaries of British surnames contain no such name, though Elrick is a Scottish

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surname. A loch and a village in Wigtownshire are named Elrig, and the House of Elrig is a country seat, but they have nothing conceivable to do with the Norfolk Cubitts. Holmes "could only make sense by putting T and c for the missing letters" in the message A-ELRI-ES. But why not Elrides, Elrikes, etc? There had to be a familiar original containing a g. Following the Scottish placename, there is a Scottish and Old English word elrage with variant spellings, which today has become eldritch, but there is no elrige. One directory lists a Scottish seat named Elrigmore but in another place the same book gives it as Ebrigmore. There is an Eldridge, also in Wigtownshire, while "Erigmore" is the seat of Henry Peters Esq of Birnam (shades of "Holy" Peters and the witches' prophecy in Macbeth!). So we are left with Ebridge in North Walsham becoming "Elrige's" near East Ruston. No wonder Merriman states, "Two miles south of Walcott lies East Ruston where Abe Slaney lived at Eldridges Farm which was not traced by us."s Once again Doyle has combined elements to complete his disguisement; but not even this assumption is necessary, for the bll transfer or misreading has occurred previously, as in The "Gloria Scott" where "Hoby" has become "Holly" in certain editions. Whether this is to be blamed on Doyle's handwriting cannot at this point be known; examination of the manuscript would be enlightening. The third possible Norfolk name in the case is Parker, "the vicar of our parish" which apparently was not North Walsham; but this does little good in the quest for identity, for no reverend gentleman of that name was closer than Wymondham and Attleborough, well the other side of Norwich, twenty-odd miles away. The vicar of North Walsham was the Rev William Muskett Hobson who resides at Ridlington. The name Parker has occurred twice previously, in The Stockbroker's Clerk and the Empty House. Exploration of Cubitt's remark, "I stopped at a boardinghouse in Russell Square because Parker, the vicar of our parish, was staying in it," may be illuminating. The gentleman was said to come from Chicago, but the name might have been Norfolkian, for it did occur in Norwich; but it comes instead from Shropshire and Sussex. The surname is that of Col the Right Hon William Slaney Kenyon-Slaney, PC, MP (1848—igo8), of the Carlton and Wellington Clubs and Hatton Grange, Shifnal, Salop (Shropshire's oldand-new name) who in addition to being Unionist MP for Newport was a prominent cricketer. He played at various times for Marylebone (Mcc), I Zingari (one of the dedicated amateur or "gentlemen's" teams) and the Household Brigade (the Guards), and served on the Committees of the Marylebone and Prince's Clubs. The forename, and possibly the form of the whole name, seems to be that of Sir Abe Bailey, a South African

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who had been implicated in the Jameson Raid, had served in the Boer War as an intelligence officer, and was now JP for Sussex and a Deputy Lieutenant for the City of London. He resided at Yewhurst, East Grinstead, as well as South African addresses. Yewhurst is actually in Forest Row, the location of Black Peter which was to be published just three months after The Dancing Men. While both tales were written before the Doyles moved to nearby Crowborough, Sir Abe Bailey was well known; Doyle may have met him either in South Africa or through cricket. One notes with puzzlement that the name Slaney is another not listed in Reaney's Dictionary of British Surnames though there were several in London. The group of sportsmen in the case continues with Wilson Hargreave "of the New York Police Bureau." This supposed American might have been fashioned from an Inspector Hargreaves who appears in Jerome Caminada's Twenty-Five Years of Detective Life (1895) and was apparently in the Manchester police. The idea to use "Wilson Hargreave" for a policeman may have come in that way, but the surname (an unusual spelling without the s) is that of Samuel Hargreave, 1876-1929, himself almost a Mancunian, born at Longsight, who was groundsman at Old Trafford Park, played for the Lancashire Second xi and Warwickshire, and who in 1902-3 was a member of Lord Hawke's team to New Zealand and Australia. Another member of this team appears elsewhere in the Canon. His first name is that of two other gentleman, a cricketer and a clergyman. The Rt Rev Cecil Wilson, DD (186o-1941) was a fine batsman in the 188os when he was a curate in Portsea 1886-91 — where Dr Doyle was such an active local sportsman. Dr Wilson had by 1903 crossed the Pacific, become archdeacon of Adelaide, and was in Melanesia, before later becoming bishop of Bunbury. The other gentleman was Arthur Wilson, Hon Secretary of the Derbyshire County Cricket Club, Derbyshire Friars, and the Butterflies, "one of the best-known amateur cricket clubs in the country."9 Wilson is a very common name, both in the London directory and in the Canon, but the association of both Samuel Hargreave and Cecil Wilson, cricketers, with Australia in 1903 makes a strong argument for this origin of the American police official. Elsie Patrick too seems to have an Australian rather than a Chicago background, for C.W. Patrick was a cricketer in New South Wales and Queensland circa 1894, and did not die until 1919. Saunders, the Cubitt housemaid, another shadowy, first-name-less allusion, has been suggested by Marder to be J.V. Saunders, the Australian cricketer whose career spanned 1898 to 1909. Taking the association of Wilson and Hargreave with Australia, and the 1902-3 visit of the British team to

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Down Under, this may be a sound choice, but no additional information is at hand to support it. Identification of Inspector Martin of the Norfolk Constabulary is not as easy as these have been. Rear-Admiral Thomas Hutchinson Mangles Martin has been previously mentioned (Chapters g and 1 g) but to fix upon him would be as speculative as to name Arthur Patchett Martin (1851-1902), the Australian author, solely on grounds of his death date and the British team visiting Australia in that year. Perhaps that name caught Doyle's attention because it reminded him of Arthur Wyndham Martin, who had been a year behind him in graduating from the Edinburgh medical school. For that matter another Arthur W. Martin was at 128, Gipsy Hill in Norwood, a street from which other canonical names have come. This was not Arthur Wyndham Martin, who was practising in Manchester. Three other Martins had been in the medical school while Doyle was there; one cannot be picked with certainty. A good deal of certainty applies to Thurston, Watson's billiards partner. Most British, and a good many foreign, billiards players would "play with Thurston" for the founder of that firm had invented the slate table and dominated the market, and still does. The Doyles all went to Thurston Hall to play billiards — apparently in the room where lessons were given, for the Thurston premises in Leicester Square did not include a public billiards hall, though it had both instructional rooms and a tournament hall. But the name was significant to Dr Doyle at a much earlier date; for in 1892-3 in The Idler he says, "Then to me enter my housekeeper ... 'Mrs. Thurston's little boy wants to see you, doctor.' Mrs Thurston was evidently a patient; whether a real or a fictitious name we do not know. One possible interpretation of the Watsonian reference would be that Dr John H. was a rank beginner, and had gone to Thurston's for instruction — though by that time no Thurston was in person with the firm. Christopher Morley once published an apt comment by Ralph Hodgson: "Dr. Watson may have had a friend of the name ... He may have had."" The only Dancing name quite unidentifiable is Mrs King, the cook — another allusion, an extremely common name, almost superfluous to the narrative. That there is only one King compared to ten Wilsons among eight hundred characters once more reflects Doyle's care in the selection of names.

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23 The Bicycle Craze "Oh, Cyril is his name!" The Solitary Cyclist The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist has not been remarked upon as the extraordinary phenomenon it is: a chronicle of the height of the bicycle craze, about 1895, but not contemporary with that phenomenon for it did not appear until January 1904. Yet some assumptions in the case will be missed unless the reader is familiar with that brief and glorious spasm of the open air, the early flowering of which is chronicled by H.G. Wells in his 1895 Wheels of Chance. The characters are wooden and improbable, the plot is based on a passing phenomenon, and the effect is more melodrama than "marvellous, Holmes, marvellous!" The names of the ten characters offer the usual difficulties. Three Smiths are not least, and a James Smith at that. Fifty-five were in the 1910 London directory. Four James Smiths were graduated in medicine from the University of Edinburgh in the ten years 1879-88. Even his daughter's name is unimaginative, for the Canon contains, as someone has said, a whole posy of Violets. The renegade cleric Williamson does not help; Crockford's for 1903 had two dozen, and the Scots Kirk many more; six were graduated in medicine from Edinburgh in the same ten years. One might hazard upon the Rt Rev Andrew Wallace Williamson, minister of St Cuthbert's, Edinburgh, 1883-1909, who was graduated as Hepburn Prizeman in the same year as Arthur Doyle, but it would be only a hazard. The Rev Frederick Clements Williamson would be a closer chance, for he was also a cricketer, playing for Warwickshire in 1876 and apparently for Liverpool in 1882, but he disappears from Crockford's after 1899. That other unsavoury character, Roaring Jack Woodley, as well: there are in the 1903 directory only eleven Woodleys, three of whom are Johns, with two more Johns in the Surrey directory out of four persons listed. An interesting parallel between The Empty House and The Solitary Cyclist, published three months later, is the repetition or resemblance of four names: Morgan/Morton; Carstairs/Carruthers; Hardy/Harden; and Woodley. We have as little luck with Jack Woodley as with Edith Woodley. Jim/James Smith is a repetition from far earlier (The Sign of Four) and not so remarkable; from A Study in Scarlet, earlier still, "young" Stamford doesn't raise much of an echo in Archie Stamford, the forger.

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The original of "Carstairs" in The Empty House, even though the name is a placename, can be laid to an Edinburgh classmate of Doyle. Even closer is Carruthers, another rare name with only five in the London directory. James Gurney Carruthers, MRCP (Edinburgh), was not only a physician and surgeon at 239, Selhurst Road, in South Norwood, but Surgeon to "w" Division of the Metropolitan Police. There had been a William Carruthers three years ahead of Doyle at Edinburgh, the only such name near Doyle's student years, but it is not clear if he became the William Carruthers, FRS, who resided at 14, Vermont Road, in Norwood. Samuel William Carruthers, Ms, CM, was also a physician and surgeon living in Central Hill, Norwood, a road which has been traversed before in these canonical journeyings. There is no lack of Carruthers, then — enough left to make Col Carruthers who was locked up by Holmes sometime before the occurrence of Wisteria Lodge. There are interesting possibilities for Cyril Morton, the first of four Mortons to be met in the Canon, even beyond the fact that he becomes at the close of the case senior partner in a famous Westminster firm. He may well be another medico, for Edwin Morton received the Ms, cm when Arthur Conan Doyle received the MD in 1885, and Charles J. was graduated a year later. Andrew Stanford Morton, Ms, was a Harley Street ophthalmic surgeon, and Dr Doyle knew ophthalmic colleagues. He was one of five medical Mortons in London. The sporting possibilities are also interesting, such as Philip Howard Morton, 1857-1925, a first rate bowler who had been a Cambridge blue in 1878. Cambridge that year won all its matches, beating MCC, the Gentlemen of England, Surrey, Australia, Oxford, and all. Morton's family home was in Surrey, though during the mid-188os he played for Norfolk while he was headmaster of various schools. It is odd that Marder does not list him, but Marder's published list only skims the two hundred cricketing names he declared he found in the Canon. William Jenkins's version of the "peculiar persecution of John Vincent Harden" has the merits neither of simplicity nor of completeness.' Seeing the near-parallel name of Sir John Hardy in The Empty House — whose knightly namesake Sir Charles Hardy appears later in The Second Stain, though neither is prominent — it may be taken that "John Vincent Harden" is an attempt to elaborate the sound of the former name. In Hamlet Road, Norwood, was a William Tyas Harden, and while this is not to suggest the latter gentleman as even a partial source of J. Vincent, it does indicate that Doyle would have opportunity to know the e spelling rather than the "Hardin" spelling of the American outlaw nominated by Jenkins. The Hardens, a branch of the Scott family, "(represented by

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Lord Polwarth) separated from the main stem in 1346; and from this sprang the Scotts of Raeburn, ancestors of the great Sir Walter."° Cyril Morton's presumed partner Kennedy, in that great Westminster firm of electricians (which shows how far into the twentieth century this story really is), is very likely another cricketer. Charles Marshall Kennedy, born 1849 in Brighton, educated at Blackheath and Cambridge, played for Sussex 1872-79, and died at Tunbridge Wells in igo6. What the specific suggestion which brought the name into The Solitary Cyclist cannot be known; what the reason for the near-reiteration in The Red Circle, that quite incidental firm of Morton and Waylight the nature of whose business is not even stated, is equally hard to fathom. The Westminster location of Morton and Waylight may well refer back to Venner & Co, electrical engineers in Queen Street, Westminster, who were one of the sources of Venner & Matheson in The Engineer's Thumb. These links forward and back suggest some of the difficulty of selecting so many names, and the conscious or unconscious re-use of patterns which sound well. Discounting Mrs Dixon, that respectable elderly housekeeper in the Carruthers establishment, of whom nothing more is heard and about whom nothing has so far surfaced, there remains that intriguing reference to Archie Stamford, the forger. The use both before and after (in A Study in Scarlet and here) of this name with an m should make it less surprising that the famous mapsellers are erroneously given in The Hound as "Stamford's". But the name is rare in turn-of-the-century London, though there were some well-known sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Stamfords (Chapter g). Neither Charles Villiers Stanford, the Cambridge musical academic and composer of everything from symphonies to "Father O'Flynn," nor Col William Standford of Cape Town, who figures in the Boer War, seems a likely source of a transposition for this name. But the Stamford who became prominent after A Study in Scarlet was published was the eighth earl of Stamford, Harry Grey, an eccentric South African cousin of the seventh earl who had died in 1883. Harry Grey (1812—go), an Oxford BA, had three or four wives, the last a Hottentot. The Complete Peerage footnotes the story: "According to the law of Cape Colony where he and his third wife were domiciled, his marriage in 188o had the effect of legitimatizing issue born before wedlock, and though such legitimization did not render his only son John (b. Oct. 1877 .••) capable of succeeding to any title of honour in England, yet it raised a difficult legal question ..."s Which was the matter of the legality of Harry Grey's will. In this he leaves nothing to his "present wife" but makes his son, "John Grey, born before marriage", and his two daughters, his

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residuary legatees. Of these daughters, one (Lady) Mary, b. 25 July 1881 and bap. 4 Sep. at Wynberg, was legitimate, but the other, Emma b. about 1871 and bap. 5 Nov. 1875 at Wynberg, was illegitimate, being the da. of a woman named Caroline Christina Collins. A third da., Frances [died young].4 Harry Grey had never claimed the title of earl of Stamford. From him the title descended to a distant relative, William Grey, a professor in Barbados, as ninth earl. The latter became a diligent worker for charitable organizations and in the Lords, and gained the appellation "the Good." The evidence is not conclusive, but the first and second earls, who lived during the Commonwealth and Restoration, would be familiar to Doyle in his historical research and probably the source of the name Stamford for Watson's dresser at Bart's. It is logical to expect him to have regarded "The Stamford Peerage Case" (which became the title of a book) with some disapproval. The theme of South Africa, an eccentric relative, a will or rather in The Solitary Cyclist the lack thereof, and marital relationships or attempts thereat, found in the Stamford Peerage Case seem, along with the clue-name Stamford, to have woven themselves into the plot of Miss Violet Smith's predicament. Certain elements also resemble those in The Hound of the Baskervilles: the distant cousin as the next heir, the immediate heir in the colonies, an obscure document, even the deliberate reference to the mapseller by the wrong name. The transfer from South Africa to Canada is like the transfer of the "Baron's" activities from Arizona to the East Indies in The Reigate Squires. One other character, Peter the groom or ostler, has no surname given and so does not enter this discussion. It is not quite clear whether Peter is identical with "a frightened groom, who had appeared at the edge of the glade" in the last scene. The other extras, "three of the county constabulary," the "local house agent," "a garrulous landlord," are only hearsay figures.

24 Priory Pride in Names "Lord Leverstoke, the Earl of Blackwater, Sir Cathcart Soames — they have all intrusted their sons to me." The Priory School

Huxtable was a name-dropper. A name-dropper, a climber, and a toady to the aristocracy. If he had not been so ambitious he would never

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have collapsed on Sherlock Holmes's hearth-rug, and where would have been the case? The Adventure of the Priory School offers problems particularly in the names of people who do not appear: the names which are dropped, many of them aristocratic or titled. The titled names in the whole saga must be dealt with as a separate group. Meanwhile, still among the unidentified in this case are Sir Charles Appledore, the barony of Beverley and the earldom of Carston (both titles of the duke of Holdernesse), and the earl of Blackwater. Perhaps fittingly, the illegitimate James Wilder is also unidentified. But others fall into familiar groups. Cathcart and Caunter, Hayes, Holdernesse, and Huxtable suggest medical antecedents; Aveling, Blackwater, and Heidegger, historical or literary figures, while the reference to Abergavenny as well as young Saltire are drawn from the peerage itself, and Soames, whose name reappears four months later in The Three Students, is military. To take the last first, Sir Cathcart Soames is a name dropped by Huxtable in his inordinate pride at the breed of his students. (Was this Doyle's riposte at some memory of a headmaster he knew?) It does not seem likely that the name was drawn from that titled surgeon, Sir Charles Buckworth Herne Soame, baronet, of the Ironbridge Dispensary; he was of an older generation, having received the MRCS in 1854. Two other medicos are possible sources of the first name: Charles Walker Cathcart, an 1878 Edinburgh graduate and assistant surgeon in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh; or George Clark Cathcart, an ear, nose, and throat specialist in Harley Street of slightly later date at Edinburgh (MA 1883; Ms, CM 1891; he would not receive the MD until 1908). Neither forename nor surname was very common, with only eighteen Soames and seven Cathcarts in 19 1 o London listings. The surname Soames is also that of Major Alfred Soames of the Sixth East Kent Regiment, who was well known in Johannesburg cricket. Would Dr Doyle have encountered him in South Africa, or at the Oval or Lord's? Caunter, the schoolboy who was alleged to be a light sleeper, is another medico-sporting figure. Richard Laurence Caunter, MD, had attended the University of Edinburgh medical school, and in 1888 was admitted LRCP, LRCS (Edinburgh). He went to practise in Somerset but by 1903 was at 186, Clerkenwell Road, EC. One of only five Caunters in the 1910 directory, he had been captain of the University Cricket Club for two years, and Doyle must have known him. Using Horgan's "bardic method" of analysis it may be noted that the name comes from the Latin, with variants Cantor/Canter/Caunter; and that canter, the par-

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ticular pace of a horse, is significant later in the case. The choice of name was doubly deliberate. Reuben Hayes, the rascally innkeeper, cannot be traced directly. It is a common name, with ninety in the London directory. But another 1887 Edinburgh medical alumnus is Henry William McCaully Hayes, assistant medical officer of Grove Hall Asylum, in Bow. The unusual spelling of his middle name is reflected in McCauley, one of the victims of the Ku Klux Klan in The Five Orange Pips, and other examples of such a name are most infrequent. The reluctant central figure in this case, the sixth duke of Holdernesse, bears particular examination. Holderness (usually without the last e) is part of the East Riding of Yorkshire; there was once an earldom of Holdernesse (extinct in 1778) as well as a barony of Sutton of Holdernesse. Hallamshire, of which he was Lord Lieutenant, is also a traditional regional name for the district around Sheffield, and a modern central hospital in Sheffield bears that name. But Holderness(e) also occurs as a surname; Holdernesse & Holdernesse were harmonium, harp, and piano manufacturers in New Oxford Street, while four examples of Holderness may be found in the London area. One of these is J.C. Holderness, MRCS etc, a medical officer of Hanwell Asylum in lgoo, who appears to have moved by 1903 to Huddersfield. The appearance of two medical officers of two London area asylums, Hayes and Holderness, both named in one case, is too much to be coincidence. Thorneycroft Huxtable has multiple antecedents. A classmate of Doyle was Louis R. Huxtable, in 1881, and Doyle's memory of that name would have been reinforced by the escapades of one "Rev Huxtable" who was a swindler of the time. Whether "Rev Huxtable" is identical with Frederick Huxtable, who in 1887 stole a bag of money containing £3oo from an old messenger, by telling him his son had been severely injured and that he (Huxtable) would convey the bag, is not entirely clear but it sounds in character, and the presumed involvement of the son, as well as the May 1903 publication in the Strand of pictures of the horse-shoes which left the prints of cattle, may have helped to inspire the plot of this case.' For Thorneycroft there is a clerical athlete, Rev John Thorneycroft Hartley, MA (1849-1935), vicar of Burneston, Yorkshire, 1874-1919, who was the winner of the Wimbledon men's singles in 18798o and doubles in 1882. The tennis-playing vicar was great-uncle of W.T. Stead, prominent journalist and cricketer well known to Doyle. But one would like to know whether in Thorneycroft Huxtable there is any reflection of Edward Turle, MA, the proprietor of a boys' school at

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Trimmers Wood, Hindhead — a location which incidentally is not indicated on the 1888 Ordnance Survey map. The two masters at the Priory School, Aveling and Heidegger, have equally interesting antecedents. The former was almost certainly named for Frederick Wilkins Aveling, MA, BS, proprietor of another private school in Blackheath. He was however also a prolific author; and the item which would draw him particularly to Doyle's attention was Britons and Boers, an 1899 pamphlet. He also wrote Cromwell and Puritans, Ancient and Modern, and Oliver Cromwell, both of which also appeared in the same year, and which would come within Doyle's ken in his historical writing. An earlier book had been Why I am a Nonconformist (1876) which might also have caused the young Doyle to react. Aveling was not at all a common name though a number of Avelings of the time were notable. Another was Stephen Thomas Aveling, a writer on heraldry, of which Doyle had a wide knowledge. Two sporting Avelings were doctors, but not both medical: Dr E.B. (DSc London) "was for several years a regular attendant at Lord's and the Oval, and often wrote about cricket."2 The other was Dr C.T., whose name will be familiar to a great many Metropolitan cricketers, [who] met with a tragic end on Sept. 5th [1902]. Whilst bathing at Helston, Cornwall, he was answering the appeal of a nervous lady for help, when he died of heart diseases Heidegger, the unfortunate German master, was not named for Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) the German philosopher, whose work came into prominence much later than 1904, but for Heinrich Heidegger of a century earlier. In a history of Swiss tourism by Peyer, published in 1885, is a paragraph which Doyle, himself a pioneer of Swiss tourism, would relish: Only a few foreign tourists seem to have followed a suitable travel plan in the past century, if we may believe Heidegger [identified in note as Heinrich Heidegger, "On Travel through Switzerland," 1792]. "Most of them," he laments, "come to Switzerland, go to a few principal cities, then to the Grindelwald, and away home again, without it having occurred to them what they could have seen with the expenditure of a few days more and without much greater cost."4 These would be Doyle's sentiments exactly; as he knew Swiss travel, and Swiss travel literature, well enough that the innkeeper in The Final Problem is named for a Swiss hotelier, the German master is similarly named — if indeed he did not actually know some Lehrer named Heidegger from his year at Feldkirch at the end of his schooldays. And the previous

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autumn, he had used "von Herder" in The Empty House: another German referent, though the point must be repeated about the philosophers: a partial referent in the earlier case, not a referent in the later one. In response to Dr Huxtable's first entreaties Holmes says, "I am retained in this case of the Ferrers Documents, and the Abergavenny murder is coming up for trial." An ingenious explanation of the mention of Ferrers is given by Harrison: the reference is to papers of the Ferrers family, holders originally of a barony, latterly an earldom, a family with which is linked the Washingtons, among whom was the first president of the United States. "What Holmes sought, amongst `early English charters', generally and amongst 'the Ferrers documents' in particular, were the archives of the Washington family, to be handed over to the United States as a gift on the hundredth anniversary of the death of General George Washington in 1799."5 This delicate Sherlockian solution to an unpublished case is commendable and no alternative is suggested here. The Abergavenny murder is another thing. It might well have been some black case from the valleys of Wales; but in this case there was a peerage of the name. William Nevill, first marquess of Abergavenny, was so created in 1876, having previously been earl of Abergavenny, Viscount Nevill, and Baron Abergavenny. He was Lord Lieutenant of Sussex 1892-1905; moreover, he was a cricketer, and president of the Kent County Cricket Club in 1878. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was also a cricketer, and was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Sussex in 1902. William had a fourth son, Lord William Beauchamp Nevill, of whom Harrison also related that Lord William conned Horace de Vere Cole into signing a cheque for £20,000 by false pretences. But this was not the Abergavenny murder; such a reference would have been brazen indeed. There had been a real Abergavenny murder, recorded in another footnote in the Complete Peerage: Lady Abergavenny beat her sevenyear-old child to death in 1711/12. The sublimated appearance of this incident in the Canon may be seen in both the Rucastle child beating cockroaches to death with a slipper in The Copper Beeches, and the apparent attack of the mother upon the child in The Sussex Vampire. Notice the significance of the location of the latter case: a hidden link to the referent. Young Arthur, Lord Saltire, about whom the Priory fuss is raised but who does not actually appear in the case, may also be found among the genuine peerage of England. He, or someone of much the same name, appears in The Stark Munro Letters (1894) in which the Hon James Derwent, the son of Lord Saltire, is insane and requires a medical attendant. Saltire does not appear as a proper name in Reaney's Dictionary

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of British Surnames — though as we have seen there are omissions in Reaney. We are looking for a title then, rather than a surname, yet "Saltire" is not cited by Holmes among the duke's lesser titles. The eldest son of a duke would normally be known by the duke's next ranking title; Arthur must presumably be a second son. In The Stark Munro Letters Lord Saltire must be a viscount or baron since his son is known simply as "the Hon. James Derwent," the family name. Now there was a barony, Derwent of Hackness, created in 1881 by the ennobling of Harcourt van-de-Bempde-Johnstone (1829-1916). The arms of that family comprise those of Vanden Bempde and of Johnstone quartered; and the Johnstone arms begin with "Argent, a saltire sable ..." A saltire is the Scottish or St Andrew's (diagonal) cross. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had been taught heraldry by his mother. There had also been a medical student two years ahead of Doyle at Edinburgh, Derwent H.R. Waldron, who received the Ms, cm in 1879. The unusual first name may have stuck in mind; and the surname reappears much later as the alias of the forger in The Three Garridebs. With the earl of Blackwater we have hints but no confirmation. Blackwater was the seat of Francis Compton, Esq, MA, DCL, DL, JP, near Minstead in southwestern Hampshire (Minstead was the final resting-place of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle). Twenty streams and thirteen populated places bear the name Blackwater; one is in Munster, the scene of a bloody seventeenth-century fight about which tracts were written in 1646 and 1647. Doyle might well have encountered them in his historical reading. The closest possibility for Lord Leverstoke might be James Leverington of South Norwood, but no obvious link would justify such a guess. Harrison suggests Baron Revelstoke,5 John Baring of the banking family, second baron, who lived and died a bachelor and hence might justifiably be the butt of Huxtable's boast of having his son in the Priory School. Of Sir Charles Appledore, finally, it can only be noted that Appledore is both a West Country placename and a personal name.

25 The Initialled Tobacco-Pouch "I recognized him at once as Stanley Hopkins ..." Black Peter

The Adventure of Black Peter is rich in names with a hidden association. That which has most tantalized Sherlockian scholars is Holmes's "famous

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investigation of the sudden death of Cardinal Tosca" — explanations of which have ranged widely in fact and fiction, including now a full-length melodrama by Nowlan and Learning, The Incredible Murder of Cardinal Tosca. Black Peter is rich in Doylean background, ranking with "The Captain of the Pole-Star" in recalling his own experience on a whaler. Nonetheless, with three exceptions the names in the case fall into three groups: medical, historical/literary, and public persons. Stanley Hopkins, introduced in this case, reappears in The Golden Pince-Nez, The Missing Three-Quarter, and The Abbey Grange, published in consecutive months beginning three months later in June 1904. His recognition by Watson seems on a level with Watson's observation of Holmes's ravenous attack upon the cold provender on the sideboard: "You are hungry." Marder suggests that Hopkins may be A.J. Hopkins, an Australian cricketer who played between 1897 and 1909. Whether Hopkins distinguished himself in Australian cricket, or on a visit to England about 19o3, might be discovered; the suggestion does seem reasonable, as a number of Antipodean players have already been found in the Canon. Though he does not actually appear in Black Peter, the name of Dawson is linked to Neligan in that firm of ruined bankers. Dawson too might be a sportsman; William Arthur Dawson was cricketer, sprinter, and rugby player from the 187os onward, but is not obviously linked to Conan Doyle. James Dawson of The Avenue, Norwood, is much closer, and acquaintance with him may also account for Dawson, the accountant in Silver Blaze which is of the Norwood period. Alfred Stanhope Dawson too, who gained the Edinburgh medical licentiates in 1878, after attending the University. Thomas Moore Dawson also received the licentiates, in 1882, after attending the Universities of Liverpool and Edinburgh; he was subsequently surgeon to "s" Division of the Liverpool Police. Police surgeons have cropped up more than once; James Carruthers, for instance, surgeon to "w" Division of the Metropolitan Police and a South Norwood resident, in The Solitary Cyclist. Like "Morgan, the poisoner" in The Empty House, Allardyce the pork butcher in this case is a name which begs to be that of a medical man. In the neighbourhood of 221E Baker Street in 1go3 were just four pork butchers: John Bennett, 56, James Street, Oxford Street (two turnings east of Baker Street along Wigmore Street); Davies & Hollis, 399, Oxford Street just opposite James Street; George Jenkins, 67, Crawford Street, Portman Square, a bit farther away; and William Lemming, 84, High Street, Marylebone (four turnings east of Baker Street along Paddington Street). One of these must be Allardyce's. But in the 1 903

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London directory are only half a dozen Allardyces: no butchers; a stick mounter (ie, of walking sticks), lithographer, tailor, confectioner — and a wholesale stationer and paper bag maker. Allardyce & Co Ltd, wholesale stationers and paper bag makers of 136, Southwark Street, seem to have lent their name to a delightful joke: that Holmes with his huge barbheaded harpoon could not fight his way out of a paper bag. Doyle might have known one other Allardice (spelled a little differently), Robert E. Allardice who received the MA with a First in Mathematics from Edinburgh in 1882, the only Allard(i,y)ce in the Edinburgh list. But the paper bag makers have the edge. The unusual alias in Homes's advertisement, Captain Basil, was tantalizing from the very beginning. Why would a name usually thought of as a forename be used? It turns out to be a double-barrelled Doylean reference, perhaps even treble-barrelled. Minas M. Basil was graduated from Edinburgh in medicine a year after Doyle, and he too is the only one of his name among the alumni. The name is thus established as a surname, and there was in fact one in 1910 London as well. But now look back at young Arthur Doyle out of school hours in Edinburgh: rushing to the lending library, devouring books so voraciously that they finally refused to deal with him more than three times a day. He read travel, adventure, Wild West books. One of his favourite authors was Captain Mayne Reid; and one of the heroes in Reid's Young Voyagers, a tale of the fur-trade in Hudson's Bay Company territory, is named Basil. Another author whom Doyle must have read is Captain Basil Hall, 17881844, whose works include: Travels in North America in the Years 1827 and 1828 (1829); Extracts from a Journal Written on the Coasts of Chili, Peru and Mexico in the Years 1820, 1821, 1822 (1840); Fragments of Voyages and Travels (new edition 1860); and, Narrative of a Voyage to Java, China and the Great Loo-Choo Island (1846). His travels did not lose anything in the telling. Who knows? Captain Basil may have been Sherlock Holmes's own boyhood hero; he was certainly a fitting character from whom to take a seafaring alias. Of those two central characters with identical initials, Patrick Cairns and Peter Carey, it is not hard to identify the former as another captain, William Elliot Cairnes, 1862-1902, writer on military affairs and military history. Cairnes had been the military critic of the Westminster Gazette during the Boer War, and had published anonymously An Absent-Minded War (1900) "full of pungent and epigrammatic criticism."' Dr Doyle had been a constant and vociferous critic of the conduct of the Boer War, yet withal such a staunch defender of British policy that he had been knighted for it; he would certainly be familiar with Cairnes. Whether

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in Black Peter he intended to depict Cairnes as skewering his enemies in a literal sense, as he had with his pen, can only be guessed. Identifying Peter Carey is more difficult. Unless Doyle had seen advance proof of an article in Blackwood's for April 1904, the month date after the appearance of Black Peter in the March 1904 Strand, it would have to be dismissed as coincidence; yet among "The Wandering Population of the West Highlands," "There was old Black Peter ... who was probably given the prefix to his name because of his long sweeping black beard."s Even this does not say Carey. Among forty-odd Careys in the 1903 London and Sussex directories is neither Peter nor Patrick. Rosa Nouchette Carey, who died in 1909, was a prolific novelist, but there is no topic among her novels which might prompt Sir Arthur to pin her to the wall. Nor did Sir Peter Stafford Carey, 1803-86, who was barrister, judge, and professor of law, appear to have warranted Doyle's attack. With that "little Ribston pippin of a man," James Lancaster the sailor, there is a sudden surplus of possibilities. A historical one is Sir James Lancaster, soldier, merchant in Portugal, explorer, promoter of the search for the North West Passage, pioneer of the East India trade, who died in 1618. It is quite in keeping with Doyle's style that he should relish this ghost of past seafaring appearing in Baker Street. Although another James Lancaster was buried in Southsea on to August 1886, there was nothing remarkable about him unless Doyle was struck by the identity of names. In London of the day, James Lancaster was a cab proprietor in the Dulwich Road, Herne Hill, and among forty others was William James Lancaster of Ladbroke Terrace. Sumner the shipping agent, to whom Holmes telegraphed, is not among some twenty Sumners in the 19 to directory, nor among the thirteen in 1890, nor among the "Brokers, Ship & Insurance" and "Agents, Ship & Shipping" listed. The only name which catches attention is Surtees Sumner, MD, of Russell Square, a clinical assistant at the Royal Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital. Other staff from that hospital have been among the medical figures in London whom Doyle probably knew; why not he? A doctor closer to Doyle's Norwood address was Joseph William Neligan of "Penmorfa," Friends' Road, in Croydon, a Dubliner. John Hopley is not among the Neligans, and the only other medical Neligan is James Charles of Middleton-in-Tees, while Neligan is a rare name in London. In the 1903 directory appeared only the Rev Moore Richard Neligan (whose first name reminds one of Dr Moore Agar in The Devil's Foot) and in 19 to there was only a Mrs Neligan of 3, Marble Arch. But that middle name, Hopley — why? John Hector McFarlane is resounding

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enough; Arthur Cadogan West is much more impressive than Arthur West. But why Hopley? Is it from the Hon William Musgrove Hopley, barrister of the Inner Temple, who in 1892 became a puisne judge of the Supreme Court of the Cape of Good Hope?4 Is this another reflection of Doyle's Boer War acquaintance? And Edward William John Hopley (1816-69), the painter, invented a trigonometrical system of facial measurement.) Bertillon was mentioned in The Naval Treaty and The Hound of the Baskervilles; there was a fingerprint in The Norwood Builder five months earlier. Is "Hopley" another "bardic" allusion to the "P.C." identity problem? Slater the stonemason, a flitting, superfluous figure, raises the tiniest question as well, for a slater is a worker in stone. There were Henry B. Slater, an 1878 Edinburgh medical graduate, and Harry Slater of Stockport, whose medical qualifications date from 1 go l ; neither seems to be the Harry Slater who played cricket occasionally for Derbyshire between 1882 and 1887, and died in 1816. In Derbyshire are a couple of Henry Slaters, though not identifiable as the cricketer. There was even a John H. Slater (Sherlockians have warm feelings for any John H.), an 1888 Edinburgh graduate, rather late for Doyle's Edinburgh connection and well out of the picture for he was in Halifax, Canada, by 1903. But in The Times for 2 November 1887 the name leaps out: Murder and suicide. — A woman named Slater, wife of a stonemason, living at Cannon-hill, Ashton-on-Ribble, near Preston, murdered her child and then committed suicide ... A singular circumstance is that the deceased insured her life on Saturday last and passed the medical examination. The reference to Wilson, the notorious canary-trainer, has fired many Sherlockian imaginations. Sufficient collateral information here, it would seem, of so unusual a kind, that identification would be possible. If so, the disguise is cunning. Is "canary-trainer" to be taken literally? A "canary" is also a convict, or a mistress or harlot, or especially a woman lookout for criminals. The Third Dragoon Guards were known as "The Old Canaries" from their yellow facings (but had no officers named Wilson), and "canary" was also "a name for any soldier wearing a yellow brassard [armband]: an instructor at a gas school,6 or one of the Sanitary Corps of the R.A.M.C.; battalion Sanitary Orderlies."8 Maj-Gen F.D. Wilson had his residence at Groombridge Place (the original of Birlstone Manor in The Valley of Fear)8 until 1862, but he was of the 32nd and 35th Foot, not the Dragoon Guards. Catherine Wilson (1822?-62), murderer of female acquaintances, does not seem to fit, though some of the slang meanings apply to her.

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Three bird dealers in London and Liverpool were actually named Wilson: Edward and Peter, both of Everton (Liverpool), and James Larkham Wilson of New Oxford Street (predestined no doubt by his middle name). Why they should be accused of being East End plague spots is unfathomable, and we leave them with reluctance. A strange but regrettably undatable anecdote in Lieck's Bow Street World may be a clue to the notorious canary-trainer: Harry Wilson, the solicitor, a friend of mine ... Harry Wilson was a great character. He bought a menagerie once. A van got damaged and the animals, including a sizey snake, got adrift over the countryside. The police telegraphed him to come and collect them!9 This was Sir Henry Francis (Harry) Wilson, 1859-1937, who was Secretary to the Orange River Colony Administration 1901-2, and Colonial Secretary to the same agency 1902-7. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle must have known this Wilson for he was busy writing a history of the Boer War at the time. (Neither General Wilson, mentioned in Memories and Adventures, nor Col Wilson in The Great Boer War is the canary-trainer.) Hugh Pattins was another sailor who called in response to Holmes's wire, and his name has been found only in the near-miss form of Pattin, as well as Pattinson. Harry Cooper Pattin was a prominent Norwich medical man. The remaining personal name, the intriguing Cardinal Tosca, has prompted many Sherlockian proposals; but the real question here is not the name Tosca, which in all probability is linked to the opera, but the idea of the strange death of a cardinal in Victorian times. In medieval times, in the dark complexities of Papal politics, it was to be expected; but in Holmes's time? Yet the murder of a cardinal was a lively item at the end of the century, and Andrew Lang revealed the story in Blackwood's for March 1898, while Lang's History of Scotland was reviewed in Blackwood's two years later and the cardinal again turned up. Talking of "The Truth about the Cardinal's Murder" Lang said, "To do this requires attention to the dates and to the movements of individuals — in fact, we need the patience of Sherlock Holmes. This must be one of the first uses of the name of Holmes as a household word. Briefly, Lang was discussing the murder of David Beaton or Bethune, 1494-1546, cardinal archbishop of St Andrew's, who was regent of Scotland upon the death of James v, and who was murdered 29 May 1546. A black-letter tract published in 1547 gives an account of the trial of Wishart, one of the plotters against Beaton, and contains the first edition of a play by Sir David Lyndsay, "The Tragedy of the Cardinal."" Regrettably we cannot

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say that this was the old black-letter volume which Sherlock Holmes had opened in the cocaine scene of The Sign of Four. Lang refers in his History to "the gross Cardinal" and "the infamous Beaton," and the Dictionary of National Biography confirms that "the immorality of his private life, as well as his pride and cruelty, has been much enlarged upon by his religious opponents." And in James Grant's Memoirs and Adventures of Sir William Kirkaldy of Grange (1849), a copy of which belonged to Doyle, Chapter iv deals with "The Death of Cardinal Beaton." One more name, not a personal name, is worth noting in Black Peter. The ss Sea Unicorn, of Dundee, was commanded in 1883 by Captain Peter Carey. Now there are in Lloyd's Register of Shipping for 1902-3 twenty-nine steamers of which the names begin with Sea —, but none are of Dundee registry; and while three Unicorns may be found in 1883 they are sailing vessels, not Dundee whalers. But what is a sea unicorn? It is a narwhal. And along with the Hope, out of Peterhead, the whaler on which Doyle sailed as a young medical student, are listed two Narwhals in Lloyd's Register: a wooden screw bark built in 1883 and registered in San Francisco; and a wooden screw ship, McLennan master, built in Dundee in 1859, 362 tons, registered in Dundee and owned by D. Bruce and others. This is Peter Carey's ship, the Sea Unicorn – a companion whaling ship which Doyle must have known during the voyage in the Hope.

26 Charles Augustus "I am a plumber with a rising business, Escott by name." Charles Augustus Milverton

Next to Professor Moriarty, Charles Augustus Milverton must be one of the best-hated villains in the Canon; and despite the relative passivity of Sherlock Holmes, save in the unusual undertaking of (as he claimed) courting a servant-girl, and certain improbabilities which have been carped at by other Sherlockian critics, the plot line is immensely satisfying, the villain "gets his," and justice, or something like it, triumphs. From the onomatologist's point of view the case has some problems though there are only eight names in it. One of these is Holmes's alias, Escott, which

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has led Sherlockian genealogists to all sorts of conclusions. Another is the recurrence of Appledore as a name for a house, two months after it was used in The Priory School as a personal name. Both usages actually occur in England, but this appears to be the only such case in the Canon, other than titles of nobility which in genesis are usually placenames rather than personal surnames. There are shadowy allusions: Col Dorking (the Canon is worse than Kentucky for surplus colonels!), the Hon Miss Miles (would that we had a few first names for these ladies!), the earl of Dovercourt. There has been a Baron Dovercourt, but he was not created until 1 954' Despite these lacunae, the case is worth considering in part. The lesser figures may be taken first and briefly. Most of the figures, particularly servants, in the Canon who are given only first names are mere supers, walk-ons, holders of hats and horses. Two stand out: one is Beppo, himself a shadowy figure for most of The Six Napoleons, but highly distinctive precisely because he has no stated surname. The other is in Charles Augustus Milverton: Agatha the housemaid. Note that usage was to call female servants by their surnames; so there is Saunders, in The Dancing Men, a name which for some reason conjures up a stern-faced, grey-knotted female of uncertain vintage, rather than perhaps a young, fiery wench like Rachel Howells or Janet Tregellis of The Musgrave Ritual — a picture which is almost certainly an injustice to poor Saunders. Of course we know Agatha only by hearsay, and that from Holmes, who undertook (he says) to court her, rather than from her employer's point of view and of name. Right anxious to be courted she must have been, too, to succumb to the point of engagement in so brief an attack. Despite this vagueness, there is no doubt about Agatha's original identity. She was Agatha, daughter of William the Conqueror and a character in Julia Pardoe's Lord Mortar of Hereward, a rather dull 1829 novel. Doyle had a copy of Pardoe's Louis XIV and undoubtedly knew her other works. From that same novel, too, is likely derived the countess of Morcar, the owner of the Blue Carbuncle. The conclusion of this identity for Agatha is, of course, that she never had a last name. Another vaguely mentioned lady who can be identified with nobility is the Countess d'Albert. Like the false identity of the King of Bohemia, this was another example of Holmes's knowledge of the Almanach de Gotha. The Luynes family was the line of the dukes de Luynes-et-de Chevreuse. The sister of the duke was Yolande d'Albert de Luynes, born 187o. A second lady in a similar relationship was Marie-Therese-Henriette Augustine Sophie d'Albert, sister of Emanuel duc de Chaulnes et de Picquigny, who was born in 1876. Milverton (and Doyle) under the

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circumstances (and the very probable English attitude toward foreigners) might very well call one of them countess rather than by her proper title. The Lady Eva Blackwell — but we are not even certain of her name, for in the British text it is Brackwell which Edgar Smith has also preferred in the Heritage Press emendation — has perhaps managed to throw searchers off the track by this manoeuvre. There were prominent Blackwells, and Blackwells in trade. The best-known lady of the name is Elizabeth Blackwell, MD, 1821-191o, pioneer woman physician, who by this time was retired in Hastings. As the intended spelling is not certain, it is not even sure that a link with Dr Doyle would be worth seeking. There was another doctor, John Brockwell of Parkside, Gipsy Hill, Norwood, who might be a partial link with the name; or even Frederick William Blackwell who had been registered in Edinburgh in 1882 (though a London Hospital man) and who practised in the Commercial Road; or William Bernard Blackwell at 8, Weston Hill, Norwood. Of Brackwells there is no sign anywhere, and the name is not (though this is no sure proof) in Reaney's British Surnames, though names from Bracka through Brackney to Brackx may be found in the telephone directories. The nearest approximation is Bracknell, and this may bear further study. These ladies are elusive! The Hon Miss Miles (which makes it probable that she was the daughter of a peer whose family name was Miles) was not any of the four Misses Miles in the 1910 London directory, certainly, and there were nearly a hundred Miles to go. There was even Miles Miley, MA, MB (Cantab), a physician in Hampstead — the location of Appledore Towers. Escott the plumber is not hard to trace. He must have been the coming younger generation of one of the partners in Escott & Watts, gasfitters of 113, Great Titchfield Street. In 1910 the directory listed nine Escotts in trade including this firm, which by then had moved down the road to No 128 — a sure sign of a rising business. There was also T.H.S. Escott, whose reminiscences of "Thirty Years of the Periodical Press" appeared in Blackwood's in October 1894. This journalistic Escott might more likely be known personally to Dr Doyle than Escott the gasfitter's son. There is left the villain of the piece. Not only is his identity clear, the description in the case is cuttingly accurate and if anything understated. Fortunately when Doyle described him the gentleman was dead, or the wonder would be that there was not a lawsuit; but the gentleman depicted had little to gain by suit. He was Charles Augustus Howell,

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described in a sketch in Blackwood's as "A certain seductive AngloPortuguese gentleman ... the most astonishing compound of charm and chicanery ..."' Born about 184o, he died in 1890, and an extensive biography appeared in 1954. He was best known as sometime secretary and factotum to John Ruskin, and he was a hanger-on of that artistic and literary circle which revolved about Ruskin and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Howell can best be described by extensive quotation from Angeli's authoritative biography; first, from the foreword: It would be easy to compile a Vocabulary of Vituperation around a nucleus of epithets applied at various stages to the living, and more persistently to the dead Charles Augustus Howell. For the moment we may be content with the following samples: arrant rascal, base fellow, blackmailer, card-sharper, confidence trickster, cunning rogue, cur, infamous libeller, liar, parasite, pole-cat, robber, ruffian, stench of hell, thief, treacherous, unscrupulous, malignant fellow, vicious, vile wretch ... He has not been suffered to enter life or depart from it in peace, the simple facts of his birth and death having been turned to ridicule and obloquy, his parentage discredited, and a pitiful, unsavory story invented to account for his demise ... The blackest interpretation has been placed on his every action and he alone blamed for every breach or cessation of friendships Angeli's text should be savoured in full, of course; she was a member of the Rossetti family, and the brothers referred to in the following quotation are the Rossettis: ... even in his lifetime, when he was a very active presence in their midst [of Ruskin, Rossetti, Burne-Jones and others] Howell was regarded as something of a mystery. He had dropped in among them from a different world, and by the more jealous and exclusive he was looked upon as an outsider. No one was fully informed as to his past, and still less than of another man could one predict his future. To this day these have remained obscure.4 I more than once heard my father recite the lines of his brother: There's a Portuguese person named Howell, Who lays on his lies with a trowel. When he gives over lying It will be when he's dying, For living is lying with Howell .3 Angeli quotes Dunn's Recollections6 with a story of Rossetti and Howell and a blue Nankin dish, which Howell had found in a Hammersmith shop. This Rossetti stole as a lark, and Howell recovered it to Rossetti's discomfiture. This is markedly reminiscent of the Ming saucer incident

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in The Illustrious Client, which was of course not published until twentyone years after Charles Augustus Milverton. But good scenes can wait their time. Though the first names and the character appear in Howell fullfledged, those resounding forenames reappear, borne by persons Doyle might very well have known. Charles Augustus Edwards had been registered LRCP, LRCS (Edinburgh) in 1886 but was practising in Sydney, Australia. Augustus Charles De Chapeaurouge (another magnificent name!) lived at "Grovehurst," Kingswood Road, in Norwood. For the surname, the only person who can be suggested at the moment is John Milverton (died 1487), a Carmelite monk who was acquitted of heresy, and who possibly was bishop of St David's ("When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable ..."). There were no Milvertons to be found in the 18go London directory, nor in Devon either, whence comes at least one of the names in the case. Milverton is also the name of a market town in Somerset, and of places which are now part of Leamington, Warwickshire, and of a country seat in County Dublin; but the places do not seem to bear upon the personal name in Charles Augustus Milverton. Much more relevant is Milverton Street, which opens out of the Kennington Road close to its southern end. There were also a Milverton Gardens, Road, and Way in the metropolis, but Milverton Street is significant for reasons which the next chapter will elucidate. And Milverton Street is hardly more than a stone's throw from the Oval, the cricket ground which Conan Doyle must have known well.

27 The Bust-Breaker of Baker Street "Beppo was his name — his second name I never knew." The Six Napoleons Colonel Mutrux disagrees with everything Holmesian, so he finds The Adventure of the Six Napoleons to be based upon Poe's Berenice, as well as upon the history of the Borgias, Orsinis, and Colonnas at the turn of the sixteenth century. Mutrux's theories of literary piracy need not concern us, though it is important to note what he decries in passing, that certain names in the case give obvious clues to the background. For this reason, The Six Napoleons is a clearer demonstration of Doyle's onoma-

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tological habits than many other of the sixty cases. Involved with the pearl is Lucretia Venucci (cf Lucrezia Borgia). The Borgia pearl was owned by the prince of Colonna; cf the Colonna family who, says Mutrux, " e taient a couteaux till-6s avec les Orsini; et les Borgia entendaient bien ecraser les uns et les autres." ("The Colonnas were at daggers drawn with the Orsinis; and the Borgias watched for every chance to crush both of them.") In this case, as in others, are casual allusions which have titillated Irregular flights of fancy. "The dreadful business of the Abernetty family" has been more commented upon because of the parsley sinking into the butter than because of the "dreadful business" itself. Yet the Abernetty family must have been unusual, for their name is rare. Only two Abernethys were in London and two in Surrey in 1903 directories, but no Abernettys at all. But then Harrison alleges that the case occurred in Baltimore. No reason is obvious to connect Robert Abernethy, the Edinburgh physician who was graduated in 1888, with the reference. He remained in Edinburgh, to which Doyle did not return save for an unsuccessful election campaign. But that, like the night-time dog, may be the singular incident. The Conk-Singleton forgery case has been eclipsed by the accompanying business with the pearl put in the safe, even as the Abernettys were eclipsed by the parsley, for there is no further mention of it; yet it was apparently an active case of which records were kept. Nor for that matter is there any other mention of a safe at 221B Baker Street. (Did Holmes acquire a safe for which the surviving Stoner sister had no further use?) But forgery permeates the Holmes tales. Evans (Beddoes) in The "Gloria Scott" was a forger; Arthur H. Staunton and Victor Lynch, both forgers, were in Holmes's commonplace book. Hall thinks the early English charters which took Holmes to a university town in The Three Students were a forgery problem.' A pity that the papers in the case did not lead to a Watsonian account, but as Chapter 2 has demonstrated, the reference is really a souvenir a clef to the Six Napoleons themselves. The only available examples of the surname Conk are later twentieth-century American and hence suspect, for Conk is not British. In this coded allusion, however, it has a double reference: both to Wellington ("Old Conky") and to the bust-shattering by Holmes. The Wellingtonian connection leads to the Prince Regent, who purchased objets d'art from the Continent and all unknowing was an illustrious client of art forgers. The parallel in The Six Napoleons is Mr Sandeford of Reading, evidently a patron of the arts. (The objets d'art presented to Holmes, obviously by the Crown, have never been fully explained, even by Harrison.) The

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complexity of this set of references, say rather the tightly knit nature of the allusions, leads inescapably to the Wellington-Napoleon duel, and its sublimation in the Holmes-Moriarty duel. To note sources of the usual kind, Charles Singleton and others were involved in a June 1899 fraud case; nearly a dozen Singletons were in the directory; and Frank C. Singleton, MD, was in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. The manager of Gelder & Co declares, "Beppo was his name — his second name I never knew," putting his verb properly at the end, German style; but we can now question whether Beppo was forename or surname. Among a large group ("fifty workers") including a number of Italians (Beppo's cousin for one) there might well be several Giovannis or Giorgios. Beppo might be the easy name to remember. In a day when a workman was paid weekly in silver, without today's endless paperwork and government regulation, the man might well be listed in the ledger as Beppo, his initial lost. Additionally, an 1892 short story in Chambers's Journal gives the name Beppo to a pony.' But why in the world didn't the police ask Beppo's cousin what his other name was? Hill has proposed a substructure theory: that underlying the ostensible tales told by Dr Watson lie hidden plots.3 Horgan, plumbing the structure of canonical names, makes clear the existence of a syndetic nominal structure. This suggests that Holmes's strange utterance should be looked at upon a second level: as a Delphic utterance or warning key. "Put the pearl in the safe" — was there a safe? Is the instruction literal or metaphoric? "And get out the papers" — this is to say, substitute the papers for the pearl; keep the real story safe; the papers, which Watson is to take out (publish) in the form of a tale, deal with (are) a forgery — or at least the ending is fictitious.4 Of a piece with this is the other utterance, about "the depth to which the parsley had sunk into the butter upon a hot day." For commentators are at least divided, and while one assured me that he has sunk parsley into butter, another has asserted that parsley will not sink into warm butter.5 In identifying the Conk-Singleton case, a much wider and deeper problem has been glimpsed: fundamental or Darwinian6 acceptance of the Canon, versus allegorical or Rosenbergian analysis. Who was the conqueror of Napoleon? At Waterloo, the duke of Wellington; in The Six Napoleons, Holmes himself. Is Holmes saying in the last sentence, "I am the victor; to me belong the spoils" — and setting an artistic trap for Watson's readers? Why should the casual injection be made that the manager of the

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"sculptor works" was "a big blond German"? — if not that the other key figure in the Battle of Waterloo was the Prussian general Blücher. Though five plaster cast figure makers, all Italian, are in the 1899 directory they are all in Clerkenwell or westward, not Stepney, and no Gelder is among them, nor anywhere else in London, Surrey or Sussex. But Sir William Alfred Gelder (1855-1941) had been knighted in 1903. As mayor of Hull for five years, 1899-1903, he carried out large schemes of city improvement; he had been alderman for forty-three years. He was an architect and philanthropist, and is referred to in Pevsner's Buildings of England. The buildings in Hull which he produced had "Edwardian baroque motifs" and (they included two Methodist churches) are "Churchish, but the elements used with all kinds of licence."7 Such extravagance would not be to the liking of some — Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself protested about some of Epstein's early sculptures — and there was every reason why he should be caricatured as a plaster-cast maker, perhaps even a big blond German. But most significantly the name Gelder fits the Rosenberg-Doyle syndrome, as a sexual symbol or threat. The early history of the Colonnas has been mentioned. There were two contemporary princes of Colonna at the time of this case. Don Fabrizio, principe d'Avella, born 1848, had been an honourable soldier and civic official, and had been made a senator in 1888. Don Prospero, principe di Sonnino, born in 1855, was a cavalry officer who also fulfilled public duties and became a senator in 190o. While there is no trace of a sculptor named Devine there was James S. De Ville, 1776-1846, a figure maker who prepared casts from nature, whom the Gentleman's Magazine refers to as a "plaster figure-maker, lamp manufacturer and phrenologist in the Strand."8 His bust of Napoleon is not mentioned by Gunnis in his Dictionary of British Sculptors, but he was active at the right time and must have had ample opportunity. For once an identifiable London street scene is in the case. In the Kennington Road were Morse Hudson, Horace Harker, and Dr Barnicot. Their originals can be easily located. At No 356 Kennington Road lived Joseph Cunningham Harker, printer and stage designer (1855-192 7); Harrison calls him "one of the most famous three stage-designers and scene painters of the late Victorian era" — but does not connect him with The Six Napoleons.9 The name has been changed slightly in this case to be reminiscent of Hugh Harkin, journalist, teacher, orator, and poet of a slightly earlier day (1791-1854). Just over the road at No 251 was James T. Howe, glass and china dealer — Morse Hudson's shop. Next door at No 353, on the east side of the Kennington Road at Milverton Street, was the office of Herbert Belasyse Blackburn, MRCS (1872), a

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middle-aged surgeon in general practice and the original of Dr Barnicot. This location, Milverton Street, turns up just a month after the case of Charles Augustus Milverton. Ten other physicians were in the Kennington Road, and Dr T.A. Poirotte was at No 343, but Dr Belasyse is more strategically located. The Medical Directory included only one actual Dr Barnicot, Joseph Barnicot of Huddersfield, a young man (MS, RC Cantab 1902), and the name is quite unusual in that spelling; more common is Barnicoat. In the Metropolitan Police by 1910 was Inspector Henry Barnicott in "c" Division, St James's. At the moment no separate derivation of Morse Hudson is available. The art dealers in the Kensington High Street are also cleverly designated. The actual shop was probably that of either Story & Co, art furnishers at Nos 49-51-53 in the High Street, or Charles Pearce, dealer in antiquities at No 8. But the firm is named in the Canon after one of three firms of Harding Brothers: probably not the mining engineers in Queen Anne's Chambers, Tothill Street; possibly not the moulding-makers in Kingsland Road, Shoreditch, though their business would be a logical tie-in; most probably the builders at Shottermill, near Hindhead and Sir Arthur's own residence. Also, Mr George R. Harding of St James's Square was an art dealer. But it was the shop of Mr S.C. Harding, art stationer, etc, at 45, Piccadilly, which suffered a break-in and theft of property on Wednesday night, 11 January 1888. Inspector Hill may have been John Hill, an Inspector in "1.." Division, Lambeth, in 1891; or Arthur Hill who by 1910 was in "R" Division, Greenwich; or Alfred Hill of "w" Division, Clapham; while Robert Hill held the same rank and was assigned to the Public Carriage Office. John Stonely Hill, who had been graduated from the Edinburgh medical school in 1883, practised in Blackfriars and was medical officer for St Saviour's Union and insurance firms. No Laburnum Lodge is to be found in Chiswick, and no Josiah Brown. His name was originally, it would seem, John Thomas Brown, a Yorkshire batsman who died of heart trouble at 36 in 1904, though there was another J. Brown who had been a Sussex cricketer in the 'nineties and did not die until 1916. Another owner of busts, Mr Sandeford of Lower Grove Road, Reading, has also covered his tracks. Reading has thoroughfares called Lower Thorn Street, Grovelands Road East and West (very short) and Katesgrove Lane; but no Sandefords. (It also has an impressive monument to the Battle of Maiwand and the Berkshires.) In The Great Boer War however is mentioned "Sandford, of the Rhodesian force" and this is likely the original of the gentleman, though there was a corn chandler named William Samuel Sandeford in Kilburn. In Glas-

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gow, too, Sandyford Place is "a respectable street in the West End" where at No 17 in 1862 James Fleming murdered Jessie M'Pherson; the case was called "the Sandyford Mystery."1° Certainly a surname, but not used in this case for a person, is the Dacre Hotel at which the prince of Colonna stayed. Tracy's Encyclopaedia Sherlockiana calls this a fictitious name, and while a modern-day Dacre Arms public house stands in Kingswood Place, Blackheath, no hotel is to be found. The Dacre Hotel must be scrutinized further, but two items regarding the barony of Dacre may be noted. Thomas Fiennes was the ninth Lord Dacre. Having taken part in hunting deer in Laughton Park, Sussex, when one of the park keepers met his death, he was found guilty of murder, and was hanged at Tyburn, 29 June 1541, whereby it was considered that his honours were forfeited. [A note adds: The ground for this, in the opinion of Chief Baron Parker, as expressed when considering the attainder of the Earldom of Ferrers in 176o, was that Dacre was a Barony in fee simple ...J" As the matter of the Ferrers documents was mentioned only three months previously in The Priory School, the coincidence of Dacre and Ferrers coming together bears more investigation. On the other hand, the successive Barons Dacre were immense builders of houses, Chevenix and Hurstmonceaux among them, to which the Dacre Hotel may have some reference. Or to the marriage of Thomas Leonard, fifteenth Baron Dacre, born 1654 and created earl of Sussex in 1674, to Anne Palmer, illegitimate daughter of Barbara Castlemaine, duchess of Cleveland — which harks us back to the Darlington succession scandal in A Scandal in Bohemia. Anne "was a profligate as might have been expected from her birth and her surroundings. The Dacre Hotel might refer to Anne's keeping "open house" in both England and France. And in Lee, Kent, in a neighbourhood which has already provided the names of The Cedars, Boone, Blessington and Murillo, is Dacre Park, and formerly was Dacre Street, later Dacre Road, of which the name has now been changed to part of Boone Street.

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28 Too Big for their Cantabritches "Mr. Hilton Soames, tutor and lecturer at the College of St. Luke's." The Three Students

The endless canonical question of Sherlock Holmes's university will be debated by Sherlockian schoolmen forever. Evidence from the "university" cases (The "Gloria Scott," The Three Students, The Missing Three-Quarter, The Creeping Man) is extracted from context and forced into support of whatever side the player is currently taking, and the game proceeds with, as Sayers said, all the solemnity of a county cricket match at Lord's; and to the onlooker, with about as much logic and result as a cricket match in the eyes of a North American tourist. But some small points can be made about the university cases individually, without jeopardizing the solemnity of the game and without the long apprenticeship required to produce the minutiae which influence the result. "It will be obvious that any details which would help the reader exactly to identify the college or the criminal would be injudicious and offensive." So said Watson at the outset of The Adventure of the Three Students. Yet as the cases are reviewed in chronological order some patterns or some glints reflected from half-hidden clues may enable additional details to be guessed, sought, even found. The Missing ThreeQuarter was published just two months later and is definitely set in Cambridge, while The Dancing Men and Black Peter published in the preceding six months had been the result of a stay in Norfolk. It is not difficult to conclude that The Three Students is also Cantabrigian, and to look for confirmation. The difficulty is to distinguish those details in which Cambridge differs from Oxford; or to produce a pattern, single parts of which may fit either but the whole of which will fit only one. To conclude that St Luke's is St John's College is not enough; there is one in each university. What else? St John's College, Cambridge, is next to Trinity College which figures so largely in The Missing Three-Quarter. Cambridge has only two "Saint" colleges, John's and Catharine's, but the latter will not do because any of its buildings which are not newer than the date of the case have no staircases which correspond to that of Soames. In fact, the only Cambridge court of the proper age which has three storeys above the ground floor, and a separate staircase for each set of rooms, is the second

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court of St John's. Most Cambridge courts which have separate staircases have but three levels including the ground floor. "The College of St Luke's" is a strange turn of phrase with a double possessive. The invariable Cambridge term would be "St Luke's College" or usually just "Luke's." A possible reason for the choice of "St Luke's" as a disguise, other than the usual sequence of Gospel writers, is Harrison's argument for A Study in Scarlet being based on the disappearance of Urban Napoleon Stanger,' which was known as "the St Luke's mystery" — St Luke's being the triangle between Old Street, the City Road and Goswell Road; somewhere in this area was Saxe-Coburg Square, as well. Notice Stanger's middle name; the case published the preceding month had dealt with Napoleon(s), and the "St Luke's mystery" may have come easily to Doyle's mind. The most important analysis of evidence in the case is that of Bristowe, himself a Cambridge man, who relates that the 1923 film of The Three Students with Eille Norwood was in fact made in the second court at St John's. He cites the "insurmountable difficulty" in regard to this location, "that electric light was confined to the Hall, Chapel and lamps in First Court in 1895 and were not installed in the rooms until 1911."2 But The Three Students does not precisely specify electric light. "Three yellow squares of light shone above us in the gathering gloom," says the text, which sounds as much like lamplight as incandescent. Bristowe also swears to the putty-like clay in the jumping-pits in Fenner's athletic grounds — though the present-day head groundsman who boasts of forty years' service avers that the jumping-pits, now removed across the river to new grounds, never in his time nor that of his predecessor, also forty years and more, had clay in them but rather had sand, moistened to take the heel-prints better. The remainder of the soil at Fenner's is pure black Fenland peaty soil, without a trace of clay. But to pass on to the names in The Three Students. Bannister the gyp — there are no gyps left at Cambridge though the bedmaker still flourishes, but the term remains in the shape of the "gyp cupboard" where casual provender is kept. Bannister is represented among Cambridge names only by Frederick Bannister, a Sidney Sussex man who matriculated in 1856 and was graduated in 1860. Much more likely as an immediate source of the name is Edward H. Bannister, an Edinburgh man (ms, cm 1884) who by 1890 had disappeared from the Medical Directory. Gilchrist, the student who turns out to be the culprit, had more Cambridge company for there were three Gilchrists and two GilchristClarks, two at Jesus College, two at Trinity which is suggestive, one at King's. But no knight named Gilchrist is to be found despite Sir Jabez's

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reputation. As an antecedent may be suggested Harry Gordon Leigh Gilchrist who attended the University of Edinburgh medical school and was admitted to the LRCS, LRCP (Edinburgh) in 1885, the year of Doyle's MD. The 1503 Medical Directory reports of him "address uncommunicated" — had he joined the Rhodesian police? James Gilchrist, an Aberdonian physician and surgeon, had a practice in Coldharbour Lane in 1903 and by 1508 had moved to Sydenham; neither he nor two other medical Gilchrists seem to have any link to Doyle. Miles McLaren however is another Edinburgh man: James Alexander MacLaren received the medical degrees in 1883 and was practising in West Kensington by 1850. More than forty McLarens may be found in the 1910 directory, but few MacLarens, so the change in spelling is probably intentional. Marder suggests A.C. MacLaren, a Lancashire cricketer of 18go-1922, who may well be an additional antecedent. Miles is a common surname, and as pointed out in reference to the Hon Miss Miles (Charles Augustus Milverton) there was a medical Miles Miley in Hampstead, so the mellifluous combination is not too strange. Once more there is a recurring name, Hilton Soames, that of Sir Cathcart Soames having been dropped in The Priory School five months previously. Two Edinburgh men were cited in that case for the name, as well as a Kent cricketer and soldier. With that strength of example apparently the name was picked again. There is stronger ground for considering that Hilton Soames was indeed a St John's man, possibly Henry Aldwin Soames who matriculated at St John's in 1876 and received the AB 1880, AM 1883. Seventeen Soames had been Cambridge students by 1900, and thirteen Hiltons, four of whom were Johnians. At Oxford, Reginald Soames was at Balliol 1877-80 and thus of an age to be Hilton Soames, but the other two Soames who can be found, Edward Roland and Francis Archibald, matriculated in 1886 and 1884 and are therefore too young to be the tutor and lecturer. The names Hilton and Soames are identically frequent in the 1903 London directory, sixteen of each; not rare, but hardly common. Hilton can certainly be a forename and occurs in the author's own family. The third student, Daulat Ras, offers problems usual to Doyle's Indic names. His original draft of the manuscript left a large space for this name, and he obviously went back and inserted the rather short name, which appears only twice in the case. The second instance looks in Doyle's fine handwriting to be Raw — reminiscent of the Indian servant Lal Rao in The Sign of Four. Did Doyle bethink himself of that earlier name, and of the fact that two Indian students named Lal had matriculated at New College, Cambridge, in 1889 and 1 goo? Rao is a much

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more likely name than Ras, and more likely to be combined with Daulat, both being if anything North Indian. But this is a tenuous thread to connect The Three Students with Cambridge. Even Bristowe, a Cantabrigian closer to the scene and time than we now are, felt he had met a setback in his search for proof that the case took place at Cambridge. But he and all other students have failed to heed Watson's initial caveat (which may be more red herring than barking dog). Sufficient disguise has been added, sufficient details changed, to make positive identification less than obvious. This is the case throughout the sixty tales. In many cases no single antecedent exists. Often, A + B = AB(C), and that new sum may have a unique identity hard to unscramble. We may be left to pick our preference and not to render account for it. But one small link exists. Charles Cyrill Angell, who married Doyle's youngest sister Dodo, was a student at St John's College and received the Cambridge BA in 1896, before his theological studies and ordination in 190o. Nordon calls Angell a friend of both Louise and Arthur Conan Doyle.4

29 The Terrible Death of Willoughby Smith "Yoxley Old Place was taken by an elderly man, who gave the name of Professor Coram." The Golden Pince-Nez

Why did not the elderly man give his own name? Who was Professor Coram, and did he know what was going on? But to go on in such vein is to be ultraliteral rather than analytical. Yet The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez may yield as much to one approach as to the other, for at this juncture the ten names new in the case have not been clearly identified. Some offer no clues, some have too many possibilities; and even where an identification can be certainly made there is a problem. The latter is the statement by the Professor that his cigarettes were "especially prepared by Ionides, of Alexandria." There certainly was such a firm: Ionides & Co, cigarette manufacturers, but of 3, Swallow Street, Regent Street, not of Alexandria. Custom-blended cigarettes may still be had, though pipe tobacco is better known as custom-blended;

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and Watson in The Hound had given himself away among the neolithic huts on the moor by smoking cigarettes bearing the name of Bradley, Oxford Street. But the comma may be the telling part of the phrase. Was Alexandria intended to indicate the tobacco, not the location of the firm? Holmes, the expert upon the ashes of any tobacco, would know. Ionides of Swallow Street it may well be. But in London there was another Ionides. Constantine Alexander Ionides (1833—igoo) had been the son of Alexander Constantine Ionides, a Turkish merchant in Finsbury Circus. He entered his father's business, and then became a partner in a firm of stock and share brokers, Ionides & Ionides, in Threadneedle Street in the 187os. A collector, he bequeathed his pictures and art works to the Victoria and Albert Museum. "Ionides, of Alexandria" seems intended to recall the Alexander Ionides, father and son; "Ionides, of Turkey" would have been less subtle. Professor Coram himself trapped Col Dr Henri Mutrux in the flight of his diatribe antiholmsiensis, for Mutrux professed to see an anagram of Maroc (Morocco) in the name. This is nonsense, for Coram is a good English name. To be sure only one is listed in the 1910 London directory, our criterion for comparative rarity, but four or five were scattered through the London suburbs in 1goo. George S. Coram who lived in Dulwich in i goo moved sometime before igo8 to i 03, Gipsy Hill, Norwood, a road from which other canonical names have come. Doyle had left Tennison Road in South Norwood before that date, and no direct claim is made regarding George S., but he serves as an example. There is also Coram Street tucked away just north of Russell Square. It was named for Capt Thomas Coram (1668-1751), philanthropist, merchant, colonizer, founder of the Foundling Hospital formerly located in that street. And in Griffiths's Mysteries of Police and Crime is a statement which has baffled Scotland Yard itself: "To this day it is held at Scotland Yard that the real murderer in the Great Coram Street case was discovered by the police, but that the case failed before an artfully planned alibi."' Perhaps Scotland Yard knows, as in the Jack the Ripper case, but will not say; the best information at this moment is that no one at the Yard knows what Griffiths's reference means, but they are endeavouring to find out. Or the matter may not have occurred within the Metropolitan Police District at all, for Coram Street (known as Great Coram Street) is also a locality near Hadley in West Suffolk. Harrison has an ingenious proposition: that Yoxley is near Shorne, "near Dickens' house at Gadshill"2 and that therefore the name of Coram was chosen because Coram Street is near Doughty Street where Dickens lived at No 48, and for similarity in sound: Coram/Shorne. Unfortu-

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nately Christopher Morley preferred to find Yoxley at Boxley, three miles from Maidstone, Kent. While we are at it, if Coram is shorn of its initial letter there appears the name of Arthur M. Oram, who received the MD with commendation in the year Arthur Doyle received the MB, cm. There was an Oram in Norwood as well, in Whiteley Road, and Sir Henry John Oram was an engineering rear-admiral just a year older than Doyle. No claims are made for them either. The "estimable," "admirable" young man, Willoughby Smith, whose untimely and unintended death led to the case, is another character with a plethora of antecedents. A distinguished first name compensates for the plebeian surname — in Doyle's "Lot No. 249" it was Abercrombie Smith — or does it? For there was Willoughby Statham Smith who in 1903 had town and country addresses: 13, Courtfield Road, sw, and Rotherhurst, Rotherfield, Sussex. Courtfield Road is one of the putative originals of Caulfield Gardens in Kensington, the address of the villain in The Bruce-Partington Plans. Laurence Willoughby Smith had been born in 1880 in Norwood, the son of William Oliver Smith, an electrical engineer of Blackheath, and was graduated from Cambridge in 1903, then joining Elliott Bros (London) Ltd and eventually becoming its general manager ("a plumber with a rising business"?). Had Dr Doyle met this small boy in Norwood during his residence there, and met him again at Cambridge in 1903? Willoughby Allis Smith was perpetual curate of Chaddesden, Derby. There was even Willoughby Mason Willoughby, a medical man who will be mentioned in connection with Hynes Hynes, Esq,JP (Chapter 33). Among 2200 Smiths and twenty-eight Willoughbys in the directory, pinning down a specific Willoughby Smith may not be possible. Mrs Marker, the professor's housekeeper, sounds like Miss Charlotte Marker who kept "dining rooms" at 321, Kennington Road and at 36, Old Town, Clapham. She provided the "board" part of board and lodging. Marker is a very scarce name; there were only two others in the 1910 directory. Recall that Miss Marker's dining rooms were only a few doors from the surgery of Dr Barnicot and the china shop of Morse Hudson in the Kennington Road (The Six Napoleons), with Joseph ("Horace") Harker's residence just across the road, and her identity here is reasonably clear. The Smith-Mortimer succession case, one of those unpublished cases which form a distinct genus in the Holmesian lore, keeps company in The Golden Pince-Nez with the Addleton tragedy, the terrible death of Crosby the banker, Huret the boulevard assassin, and some other unpublished cases the mentions of which do not contain personal names.

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Not by any means all the unpublished cases have to this date been adequately analysed and solved. This group falls into that regrettable category. Considering a group of such cases together in a search for patterns and relationships is often more profitable than separate analyses; but we are looking for names and cannot digress in that direction. The SmithMortimer succession case may be looked at briefly. Edmund de Mortimer and his son of the same name were on opposing sides in the Wars of the Roses, the father laying some claim to the succession to the throne. Doyle as a wide-ranging historical student would know these facts. Among the phalanx of Smiths stands out James Smithson, the name itself carrying the connotation of succession. While James Smithson was arrested for stealing in October i 886, another, better known James Smithson gave his name to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, and was the illegitimate son of the duke of Northumberland. His family tree was at least slightly complex — again, a matter of succession, for the immediate reason for the founding of the Smithsonian was that James was not in the line of succession nor would he be the progenitor of such a line. The Smith-Mortimer succession is intended to be doubly or trebly reminiscent. Addleton seems less likely to be a personal name than a disguised placename. While there are places called Addle-brough, -hide, -stone, -thorpe, -strop, and persons named Addle-shaw, -son, -stone, there is no Addleton in Britain. Variants without an I include Adderstone, Addington, Addiscombe — all unremarkable places, save that Addington, Kent, has a churchyard in which at least five archbishops of Canterbury have been buried; and a tremendous storm in 1815 flooded the village five feet deep. But this is not enough to posit an identity. On the other hand Gore-Booth's choice of Addeestone as Addleton is, he says himself, "a conjecture founded on no hypothesis" and he suggests that "Addleton" is a printer's error.3 One is reluctant to accept such a conjecture without a modicum of evidence. The morpheme Addle- is probably from the Old English Æthel, and the Ur interchange is not infrequent, so a form like Addleton might originally have been identical with Atherton, or one reminiscent of the other. There was an Atherton tragedy. On Monday 22 July i 889 a young man named Walter Davies, assistant to a pawnbroker named John Lowe, obtained the shop keys from his master, opened and swept out the shop about 7:3o AM. About 8:50 a man entered and enquired about some silk handkerchiefs. About 9:10 a neighbour entered the shop and found Davies in the cellar, dying from head wounds. The man who had been in the shop earlier had re-entered, found no one, and taken some watches;

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he was heard by Davies, who came up the cellar steps and was attacked. Within a few hours, Davies's watch and chain were pawned in Manchester by someone giving his name as Fred Smith. A railway luggage thief named William Chadwick, who operated on the London & North Western Railway, was arrested on 23 October 1889 while trying to pledge stolen property at Eccles. He admitted the Atherton murder. We are not fortunate with Crosby the banker. It was not John Crosby of Kirkby Thore, one of the founders of the firm which became Martins Bank Ltd. No Crosby figures in Price's London Bankers up to 1876, nor among banking directors in 1902; there were no bank failures, and no deaths or murders of a Crosby in The Times from 1902 to 1904. It seems unlikely that the reference would be to "Crosby the banker" if he were only a branch manager or junior official. Messrs J.B. and G.W. Crosby, merchants and financial brokers, were in Abchurch Lane, but they were not commercial bankers and do not seem to have met a terrible end. It is true that Sir Edward William Crosbie, sixth baronet, was executed in 1798 for alleged complicity with Irish rebels, but no link with banking is evident. Dr Thomas Boor Crosby of Gordon Square and Fenchurch Street seems equally innocent. Harrison has placed the matter of Huret the boulevard assassin correctly in the perspective of French affairs of 1894, but has not unravelled the source of the name Huret. Nor has Fleischauer who blames the matter on Col Sebastian Moran in disguise and claims that Watson "decided to use a pseudonym, a French one; hence Huret, a passable French name." Passable it is, for there was for instance a Jules Huret, 1864-1915; but Fleischauer's inventiveness outpaces his historical verities. Two English names also elude identification at the moment. Susan Tarlton and Constable Wilson — another of ten canonical Wilsons — may be left to pair it off together.

16o

30 Three-Quarters of Trinity College "I blessed this Mr. Overton, whoever he might be ..." "... if you have never heard of Godfrey Staunton, you don't know Cyril Overton either?" "My name is Lord Mount-James." The Missing Three-Quarter

The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter should be required reading for tourists in Cambridge; and tourists are Cambridge's second industry, for Cambridge ranks behind only London as a tourist attraction in England. Whether Sherlock Holmes, in the matter of Godfrey Staunton, approached Cambridge as would a tourist or as an old Cantabrigian can be held irrelevant in studying The Missing Three-Quarter, for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle visited Cambridge and must have seen it as would a tourist; yet a large amount of Cambridge detail is accurately reflected in the case. The names are well disguised, yet some of them are traceable — but not to Cambridge. With four exceptions they fall into by-nowpredictable groups: medical and sporting. Dr Leslie Armstrong is not the first character to appear, but as the unravelment of his identity indicates some other facts about Cambridge and the case, he is a useful starting point. "One of the heads of the medical school of the university," his name obviously was not Armstrong, though Mr W. Armistead, MB, CM (Edinburgh 1865) was practising in Stapleford, one of the nearby villages. Leonard Henry Armstrong, BA (Cantab), MRCS (England, 1885), had studied medicine at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, but by 1890 was practising in Yorkshire; he will not do, though the name is very close; no connection with Doyle is evident. The most immediate candidate is Warwick W. Armstrong, an Australian cricketer born in 1879, who won the Test matches in 1go 12: "His highest innings in England ... was 172 not out against Sussex at Brighton, he and Noble on that occasion quite wearing out the Sussex bowling."' Doyle the cricketer would have been deeply interested, nay involved, in the struggle. Marder also plumps for W.W. Armstrong in this case. Brody has identified Armstrong as Sir Thomas Clifford Allbut (1836-1925), Regius Professor of Physic at Cambridge,' but has not considered either the entire Cambridge context or the name Armstrong itself. Armstrong resided in "a large mansion on the busiest thorough-

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fare." Sufficiently vague, until it transpires that Holmes and Watson lodge in "this little inn just opposite Armstrong's house." Now other than temperance hotels (and the idea of staying in one of those would never have entered Holmes's mind), of the hotels and inns of Cambridge only the Bull Hotel in Trumpington Street was situated opposite doctors' consulting-rooms or residences and in a principal street in the centre of the city. The Bull has now been absorbed into buildings of St Catharine's College. Dr Bushell Anningson, MD, the Medical Officer of Health, was situated just opposite the Hat and Feathers in Barton Road, but that was scarcely a "busiest thoroughfare" of the city. And who resided in the house next to the Bull Hotel? Dr Joseph Griffiths, MA (Cantab), Reader in Surgery, had consulting-rooms at No 63, Trumpington Street; and he had received the Ms, cm (and later the MD) from the University of Edinburgh in 1885, the year Doyle became an MD. On the other side of the road (the numbers in Trumpington Street run up one side and back down the other) were consulting-rooms in a row: Dr G.E.W. Wherry, university lecturer on surgery, at No 56; Carver and Simpson, surgeons, at No 58; Ernest Lloyd Jones, MD, Hon physician to Addenbrooke's Hospital, at No 59 next to the London and County Bank at the corner of Bene't Street. Take your choice as to which of these was Armstrong's house. In those days there would be standingroom for a brougham in front of the houses; but as "the carriage came round to the door" it was not usually housed on those premises; and there was no driveway. Holmes also mentions the cycle shop next to their inn; in fact John Ayers' cycle shop was, circa 19431, on the same side as Armstrong's house, but farther south at No 33 — not the same cycle shop or location as that which exists today, and has since 1912, near the site of the Bull Hotel. It is less than a five-minute stroll from the Bull Hotel along the King's Parade and through Trinity Street to Trinity College, and just beyond it St John's College, the site of The Three Students. Arthur H. Staunton, the rising young forger, was in Holmes's index though Godfrey Staunton was not. He was the Reverend Arthur Henry Stanton, 1839-1913, curate of the Church of St Alban the Martyr, Holborn. Holmes's sly but obvious dig was a reference to a 1904 controversy over a slight volume called Catholic Prayers for Church of England People, the preface to which was signed by Stanton, who was wrongly accused of the authorship of the whole thing. It was a time of revival in the Church of England, when many Catholic doctrines and practices were claimed as the rightful heritage of the Church of England people, to the astonishment and

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dismay of Bishops, Judges, and members of Parliament. The claim was stoutly resisted, and conflicts raged in the Law Courts over questions of ceremonial, only decided in a number of cases by the imprisonment or resignation of the offending clergyman. Mainly the battle turned, as it did at the Reformation, on the doctrine of the Eucharist ... The indebtedness of Anglicans for the present liberties of worship to the stalwarts of 186o to 1885 cannot be too heartily acknowledged. In the front rank of those stalwarts were Mackonochie and Stanton of St. Alban's, Holborn ...s Controversy had flared intermittently for decades. Stanton had been a thorn in the ecclesiastical flesh almost from the time of his ordination and his coming to St Alban's, shortly after it was built in the 186os. He had been interdicted by his bishop from preaching elsewhere, but was content to minister to the working-class district of Holborn. His powerful preaching and strongly ritualist stance gave him a staunch following. While vehemently anti-papist and anti-episcopal, Stanton was strongly Catholic. "Romanism is to me a lie, and Anglicanism hopelessly Erastian," he wrote in an 1899 letter. Russell adds that "From 1875 onward he was one of the most conspicuous figures in the Church of England."4 In 1899 the Commons defeated a bill to take the power of veto from the bishops, who had intervened to stop the persecution of highchurch clergy by their Puritan opponents, but the "Ritualist" or "Sacerdotalist" controversy continued. In the session of 1904 the Conservative Government, hard pressed by their Puritan supporters, consented to appoint a Royal Commission on Ritualism ... directed to "enquire into the alleged prevalence of breaches or neglect of the law relating to the conduct of Divine Service in the Church of England, and to the ornaments and fittings of churches ..." ... By a considerable stretch of their terms of reference, the Commissioners made it their business to examine and report upon several books of private devotion which had been brought under their notice by Puritan agitators. Among these books they assigned the most conspicuous place to Catholic Prayers for Church of England People, 6th edition (21st thousand), 1904.5 The chairman of this Royal Commission on Ecclesiastical Discipline was Sir Michael Edward Hicks-Beach. He had earlier held Cabinet posts and had been referred to as a power behind the throne. He has been referred to as the probable original of Lord Backwater in The Noble Bachelor and Silver Blaze.

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Stanton had founded workingmen's clubs, especially one for postmen. The St Alban's Club which he founded was "half-way up Brooke Street, on the left going up."6 In Brooke Street occurred the mystery of The Resident Patient (at No 403, a fictitious number). Was Blessington the resident patient, a criminal on the lam from his fellow felons, another sly dig at Stanton, who throughout his more than forty years at St Alban's, his only charge in his whole priesthood, resided as a paying guest in the Clergy House of the church? His colleague, Rev Robert Doling, has been alluded to much earlier in connection with the matter of Dolsky, in Odessa, in A Study in Scarlet. Doyle's Jesuit education led to his later intolerance of Catholicism. By 'goo he was not "anti-" nor yet "pro-Catholic" though he lost the contest for an Edinburgh seat in the Commons by a narrow margin, his opponents having claimed he was Catholic-educated and pro-Catholic. Doyle no doubt derived amusement from the Anglican controversy; small wonder he cast an incidental shaft at the saintly Stanton. The real question might be whether the name of the central character in The Missing Three-Quarter was chosen on purpose for this sly allusion. And there was another reason why Doyle would be interested in Father Arthur H. Stanton: Arthur T. Stanton had received a Bsc in Physics from Edinburgh when Doyle received his MB, cm in 1881. Harrison has pointed out a Staunton who should have been in Holmes's index but was not: Louis A. Staunton who with others of his family was convicted of murdering his feeble-minded wife in 1877.7 At Cambridge were other Stantons. Of J.W. Stanton, MA, of Wisbech and William Stanton of Gonville Place we need take no notice. The third was the Rev Vincent Henry (or Harry) Stanton, of Trinity College, Ely Professor of Divinity in Cambridge, and canon of Ely Cathedral, author of The Jewish and the Christian Messiah (1887); The Place of Authority in Matters of Religious Belief (1891), and The Gospels as Historical Documents (1go3—g). This Trinity College man would certainly remind Doyle of that other Stanton, and so he too is in the great index: "Henry Staunton, whom I helped to hang." But Godfrey Staunton is not to be found. Instead, there was Nathaniel Stedman Godfrey (1817-1883) who had been educated at St Catharine's College, and was incumbent of St Bartholomew, Southsea, from 1858 to his death. Godfrey had been suspended for three years for his spiritualistic practices; he was the author of Table Turning, the Devil's Modern Masterpiece (1853) and other titles. This is part of Doyle's early spiritualist background which has not previously been noticed; would Doyle have had contact with Godfrey in those first Southsea days?

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That irascible nobleman Lord Mount-James is another of the peers whose titles are a set of problems. Consolatory readings in this regard are in Cokayne's Complete Peerage and Kelly's Parliamentary Directory on titles of eldest sons of peers. The example given by Kelly's for 19.03 is that of Victor George Henry Francis Conyngham, marquess of Conyngham, who sits in the Lords as Baron Munster and whose son takes the title Earl Mountcharles. Cokayne however cites the title as earl of Mount-Charles. The fourth marquess, Victor George Henry Francis, died in 1897 and was succeeded by his son. An earlier Henry Joseph Conyngham, styled earl of Mount-Charles, 1795-1824, attended Trinity College and was "a tall, stout, good-humoured fellow of exuberant spirits" according to Cokayne, but his father outlived him. Nonetheless the description and title are at least suggestive of the canonical footballers though not of Lord Mount-James himself. The only other title of the same style is the sixth earl of Mountcashell, Edward George Augustus Harcourt Moore, 1829-1g15, who was a barrister educated at St John's College and had no heir. Perhaps the simplest explanation of all for the name of the hot-tempered peer is an entry in the 1903 Post Office London Directory for "Mount James Albert, glass cutter, 23 Islington Green, N." That group of Oxford and Cambridge athletes who are mere mentions in The Missing Three-Quarter includes some medical and some sporting possibilities. Moorhouse of Oxford could be either; for Benjamin M. Moorhouse was an 1883 Edinburgh medical graduate, while Robert Moorhouse was a Yorkshire cricketer, and Lt-Col Sir Harry Claude Moorhouse was also connected with the sport. Morton, also of Oxford, was either Charles J. Morton, MB, CM (Edinburgh 1886) or Edwin (1885) — the latter more likely perhaps since that was the year of Doyle's MD. Edinburgh graduated so many Johns(t)ons that there is no way of picking one out, and the name is very common in England as well. Stevenson is also Edinburgh medical: either Donald M., 1882, James R., 1882, or perhaps Thomas, 1886; while Sydney H.A. Stevenson after receiving the MB, CM in 1884 became medical officer for ophthalmological cases, in Hanwell, and clinical assistant at the Royal Westminster Ophthalmological Hospital — another of those eye doctors with whom Doyle was certainly acquainted and who found it a lucrative specialty. Overton however was a Cambridge name; Doyle chose well. Venn lists seven, two of whom were Trinity men: Francis Edward, 1891-5, and Isle Grant, 1888-91. Several Overtons had been prominent in Cambridge in Commonwealth days. Sir Arthur knew his Commonwealth history well. Overtons slightly older than the two Trinity men were the Rev John Henry, 1835-1903, a well-known clergyman, and it may have

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been his obituary which gave Doyle the idea; and Robert, 1859-1924, author, dramatist, journalist, and lecturer. It was not a very common name; for all the examples cited, there were only eight in the 1903 London directory. One name in The Missing Three-Quarter which cannot be traced as such is Jeremy Dixon of Trinity College. Dixon would have been a college servant, rather than a student or Fellow; possibly a porter, perhaps one of those indefinable but indispensable persons who attach themselves to such institutions. In Cambridge at the time were nine Dixons including three in the University Senate, two private residents and three in trade, but no Jeremy. The only "dog fancier" in the directory is Charles C. Lawrence; but college servants are not indexed in Spalding's directory, and unless they lived in the city are not listed at all. Trinity College itself does not have records by which Jeremy Dixon could be located, if he were there. There was an Augustus Edward Dixon in the Chemistry Laboratory at Trinity College, but alas, Dublin, not Cambridge. It seems likely that Jeremy was named after John Auger Dixon, 1861-1931, Nottinghamshire cricketer and captain for ten years, who also played county and England soccer. But what about Pompey? Pompey was a draghound; and in the flat Cambridgeshire countryside a sport still popular is beagling: foxhunting on foot, if you will. The Trinity Foot is a beagling society which still exists. It is possible that Watson garbled the text of the telegram, and that it was the Trinity Foot, not Trinity College (the two are not connected) to which Holmes was directed. In 1904 there were also the University Drag Kennels — another unofficial body, ie, a private society— located in the Grantchester Road. If Sir Arthur's knowledge of Cambridge was indeed superficial, as a visitor's would be, he may well have heard of the Trinity Foot or the University Drag Kennels and not realized that they were not connected with Trinity College.

31 The Game Afoot at Marsham "Mary — Mary Fraser — for never will I call her by that accursed name." The Abbey Grange The Abbey Grange has an opening most dramatic, and an ending feeblest in logic, of any in the Canon. It is really too much to consider that the

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stolid processes of British police and British law would, even enhanced by that noble institution the British jury, prove as emotionally susceptible as would the French processes under similar conditions. But nothing can equal those marvellous sentences "Come, Watson, come! The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your clothes and come!" In Marsham we find five names (besides Stanley Hopkins whom we have met several times previously) but only three people, Sir Eustace being already dead and the Randalls in New York, and Lady Mary's maiden name accounting for another. For once these are not dominated by medical men or persons near the author. Brackenstall is another of the fifty-odd names apparently invented by Conan Doyle, and it too has precisely the right style and sonority. Place names in Bracken- are predictably many, from -bank through -hill to -thwaite, and personal names in -bury, -ley, and -ridge may be found; but not Brackenstall. The nearest approximation among Doyle's acquaintances appears to be General Charles Brackenbury, mentioned in a letter from George Meredith.' Sir Henry Brackenbury, 18 37-191 4, was also a general, while Maule Campbell Brackenbury was a colonel. Lady Mary's maiden name Fraser is common. When it recurs in The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax, with Annie Fraser, there are numerous Annie Frasers in London alone. It seems hopeless to search England, let alone Australia from which Mary Fraser came. Locating an original for Captain Crocker is complicated by the two names Crocker/Croker. While the John Murray edition uses Croker, and the first American book edition Crocker, Edgar W. Smith's Heritage Press text for once sides with the American version. Possible referents for either spelling may be evinced, and once more the manuscript should be used to settle the obscurity. For the spelling Croker there was Mrs Bithia Mary Sheppard who married Lt Col J. Croker; she wrote novels of the life of English people in India. The Rt Hon John Wilson Croker (178o-1857) and Thomas Croften Croker, antiquarian, both wrote upon Irish history of which Conan Doyle was a devotee. J.W. Croker also wrote upon the French Revolution, and essays in the Quarterly Review — again, of much interest to Doyle. Then there were two medical Crockers: Henry Radcliffe Crocker, MB, BS, MD, FRCP, MRCS, author of many dermatological treatises, whom we shall meet again because he was probably the original of Sir James Saunders. The second, John Hedley Crocker, MD, of Gort House, Petersham, was medical officer of health for Richmond. For that matter London suburbs in 19oo had several other John Crockers, including a Fulham gasfitter, a Wimbledon fishmonger and a Catford cycle maker. There were only five Crokers in 1903 London.

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In Norwood at the time of the Doyles' residence, there were both Crockers and Crokers: for instance W.J. Crocker at 174, Portland Road, South Norwood, and Arthur Joseph Croker at 26, Saxon Road. One wonders whether the Crocker/Croker confusion may be deliberate on Doyle's part. Though there are two possibilities regarding the Randalls, the weight falls upon Jack Randall the boxer, called "The Nonpareil," 1 7941828, who has been mentioned previously (The Hound, Chapter 21). Doyle in Through the Magic Door quotes George Borrow with relish: "Randall? The terrible Randall, who has Irish blood in his veins ..." The other possibility is more remote: R.M. Henry Randall, MD, medical officer of Beckenham Provident Dispensary, just two stations by rail from Doyle's South Norwood address. Theresa Wright, the belligerently protective old retainer of Mary Fraser, who was quoted at the head of this chapter, has so far kept her own secrets. But Prestige points out that "Marsham" in Kent is named for the local landowners, the Marsham-Townsends.2

32 The Spy and the Spot "Is that Eduardo Lucas of Godolphin Street?" The Second Stain

Thirteenth and last of the Return series, The Second Stain appeared in December 1904, three months after The Abbey Grange which was the last of twelve to have appeared in consecutive months beginning in October of the previous year. The final case was unusual in having what sounds like an author's apologia, which mentions the long-previous forecast of a case with such a title — but it is not the case described in that forecast. Again the statement is that details, dates, names have been left deliberately vague. Yet the names used offer some points of interest. Like The Naval Treaty and The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Second Stain contains a small group of foreign names which have not been identified; and a couple of noblemen of peculiarly similar names, one invented and one identifiable. A book which should rank as a Sherlockian oddity is Lord Bellinger, an Autobiography which appeared in 1911 under the aegis of Harry Graham. Whether Graham's choice of Bellinger was deliberate or coincidental

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has not become apparent. The career of Graham's Lord Bellinger is that of the "successful failure" who is completely inept but has great good fortune; a horrid thought if this were to be the august Premier chronicled by Dr Watson. Bellinger is a very uncommon name; there were three in 1910 London, rather more than the Garridebs. In 1903 no private residents named Bellinger were in the London directory, though there was a firm of diamond mounters in Hatton Garden by the name, and a William Bellinger in the suburbs. Neither Debrett nor Burke knows such a peerage though there had been a Bellinguard (attainted 1661) and eighteen others begin with Bel-. But for the original of the name in this case we must go back to the days of A Study in Scarlet and the early struggles of a young doctor who had the good fortune to render some assistance to a Southsea fruiterer, who thereafter traded comestibles for medicaments. Of the three fruiterers in Southsea one was Edward William Bellinger of 101, Palmerston Road. Chapter 5 has mentioned the matter; whether in fact it was Bellinger or Johnston whom Doyle attended, is not recorded; but while Johnston appeared in the Study, Bellinger waited seventeen years for his name in print. Note that these studies are not concerned with the physical characteristics of Lord Bellinger, nor of the duke of Holdernesse in The Priory School, upon which previous identifications have been based. Those have been the plaything of numerous Sherlockian scholars who have nonetheless never asked why the name Bellinger was used. Though the duke of Belminster does not appear in the case his name is dropped for Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope was his daughter. But who was he? The name does not appear in any directory; Doyle must have invented it. The name occurs well on in the case, after Lord Bellinger has been on and off the scene. Was it a slip of auctorial pen in naming him so much like Bellinger? The Right Honourable Trelawney Hope, Secretary for European Affairs, was not a peer but his name is as obscure as some of the Doylean peers. His title was that of a member of Her (presumably) Majesty's Privy Council; and the problems connected with the name of Cadogan West apply equally to Hope, with the addition that Lady Hilda's name is also a problem, for she seems to bear both her own forename, and both forename and surname of her husband. If Trelawney is a forename, her name is an impossibility. In any case, her honorific ("Lady") must be in her own right, for his "Rt Hon" does not entitle her to the "ladyship." Presumably she is the daughter of a peer. Like Johnston, Bellinger and the Southsea fruiterers, the previous

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time Hope occurred was in A Study in Scarlet; there, the source was Edward W. Hope, Edinburgh medical graduate of 1878 and 1882. Whether there is justification for assuming this occurrence to be a re-echo of Southsea days is not at all clear. There were for instance Sir Theodore Cracraft Hope, xcst, CIE, late of Bombay Civil Service, of Elvaston Place, sw; or Edward Stanley Hope, LCB, of Gloucester Place, who would be knighted in 1906; William Hope, KCB; and for the first name, Sir William Lewis Salusbury (sic) Trelawny, Bart, DL, JP, of Bramham Gardens, sw. Trelawney is not to be found and there are only two Trelawnys in the 1910 directory. "Squire Trelawney" had appeared in Stevenson's Treasure Island; had he and Trelawney Hope a common source? But Edward Stanley Hope was in fact Registrar to the Privy Council — which is not too far removed from being "European Secretary" and a Privy Councillor! As for the villain of the piece, Marder suggests that Eduardo Lucas was named for A.P. Lucas, Essex cricketer of 1876-1907. However, Luman has noted that in the manuscript of The Second Stain the name was originally Edward Lucas, which was crossed out in its first occurrence and changed to Eduardo, that is, during the original composition of the case.' It may be that this was for better fit with the other foreign spies, La Rothiere and Oberstein, but Lucas does not sound particularly nonEnglish. But an Edward Lucas, 1822-99, was prominent as a former member of the Society of Friends (Quakers), who entered the Church of Rome in 1853 and became secretary to the Catholic Academia in London 1855-75. Several of his papers on religion and literature were published, edited by Cardinal Manning; and he wrote On the First Two Centuries of Christianity: Proving the Incorruptibility of the Catholic Church by Historical Considerations (1862). He died at St James's Square, Boscombe (near Bournemouth). Here was another of the religious enthusiasts — the kind which included Father Stanton who was dubbed by Doyle "the rising young forger" — whom Doyle evidently jabbed with his pen, changing the first name for the desired "foreign spy" effect. But whether this Boscombe had anything to do with The Boscombe Valley Mystery has yet to be shown. One nobleman whose name is traceable is Lord Merrow — another allusion among the contents of Hope's dispatch-box: "Letter from Lord Merrow ..." Overhead during 1903 and 1900 was the Merrow Downs Scheme. Merrow is a parish and village in Surrey two miles from Guildford, directly between Hindhead and London; Merrow Downs was a large tract of common land at 525 feet above sea level. The Board of Agriculture issued an order for the management of Merrow Downs, upon

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application made to the Board by Lord (the earl of) Onslow who was lord of the manor. This order provided for "adjustment of the rights of common, of pasture and estovers, and for a board of conservators." The labouring poor were to be allowed to take long grass and fern for fuel and litter. To meet the expenditure involved for upkeep of the Downs, which had been eighty pounds to December 1904 with four hundred pounds in prospect, power of sale of a small portion of the Downs was proposed. Naturally many people were opposed, a committee was appointed, etc. The earl of Onslow, who owned half the village, was not a local resident. William Hillier Onslow was the fourth earl (18531911); he had been Undersecretary for the Colonies 1887-8 and 19001903, governor of New Zealand 1888-92, and a member of London County Council. These posts are also somewhat reminiscent of Trelawney Hope's Cabinet position — but then Viscount Adare had also held such posts (Chapter 22) and in The Empty House also the earl of Maynooth was "governor of one of the Australian colonies." The train of thought leading to "Lord Merrow" should be obvious. The next item in the dispatch-box was "report from Sir Charles Hardy" and there is no difficulty in locating him. Charles Stewart Hardy, ,JP, of Chilham Castle, Canterbury, Deputy Lieutenant and High Sheriff of Kent, (Hon) Lt-Col (retd) late East Kent Imperial Yeomanry, was president of the Kent County Cricket Club in 1881. "At his seat, Chilham Castle, he had a private ground where a great deal of cricket has been played, especially in the seventies."° It may be noted that among the hundred Hardys in the London directory were four Charles Hardys (and Sir Reginald, Bart, MA, DL, JP, of Grosvenor Square): a solicitor, a law stationer, a baby linen manufacturer, and a gentleman of Canonbury Park North; while Crockford has three reverend gentlemen of the name, and seven more appear in the suburbs. Among such profusion, the candidate with known Doylean interests (a Deputy Lieutenant, cricketer, probably a Boer War veteran) stands out. Hardys had appeared twice previously: Sir John Hardy in The Empty House, and Hardy the foreman of the gas-fitting firm in A Case of Identity. The note from Lord Flowers in the dispatch-box is not very revealing. The best guess seems to be another cricketer: Wilfrid Flowers, Nottinghamshire player (1856-1926) who was called "one of the best all-round cricketers of his time."9 As Nottinghamshire names are possible originals also for Dixon (The Missing Three-Quarter), Mycroft, Falder (Shoscombe Old Place), and Roylott (Rylott), this one seems logical. Flowers is not a very common name, provided it is distinguished from the twiceas-common "Flower." Notable in the latter form is Sir Ernest Flower of

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6, Upper Phillimore Gardens; but it is unlikely that that distinguished gentleman inspired the mention of James Phillimore in the much later Thor Bridge. W.H. Flower had received an honorary degree from Edinburgh in 1884, and was Director of the Natural History Museum, but no more than Sir Ernest does he have any link to Doyle which can be seen; nor does Robert Flowers of West Norwood. On the other hand Mrs. Pringle, the housekeeper, reminds one of Mrs Pringle at 12, Highview Road, Norwood, but without more information this can be only an observation. Police-constable Barrett who also figures in the newspaper article regarding the murder of Eduardo Lucas may be one of two doctors: William H. Barrett, an Edinburgh medical graduate of 1883; or Dr John E. Barrett, an Australian cricketer who visited England in 18go. Barrett is a rare name in London; the 1910 directory has none; and William H. is the only Barrett to have graduated from Edinburgh between 1859 and 1888. The best-known Barrett in London would have been Wilson Barrett, and the theft of his household goods late in 1887, almost immediately satirized in Punch,4 seems to have given rise to the mention in The Noble Bachelor of "the little problem of the Grosvenor Square furniture van"; so he must be a possibility, though Doyle seems to have relished fellow sporting medicos. The "big constable," MacPherson, whose "inexcusable conduct" revealed the secret of the second stain, is harder to trace, indeed harder than Fitzroy McPherson in The Lion's Mane (Chapter 45) — but in the latter case there is more information with which to work. That alter ego of Eduardo Lucas, his Paris personality with the wife who was his doom, Henri Fournaye, seems to be another of Doyle's very interesting coinages, for the spelling cannot be traced. Both Fournet and Fournier may be found in London, and the spelling Fourn6 is known, as well as a number of variants not so pronounced. The only item at all suggestive is E. Fournet's De l'influence du socialisme et du materialisme au point de vue de la politique exterieure contemporaine (1883). This sounds as if it might be a youthful effusion of a gentleman later to develop a knack for espionage, but it is no more than a hazard. Neither manservant in the stained affair, Jacobs, Hope's butler, and John Mitton, Lucas's valet, can be identified at this point, though Mitton is not at all a common name (about four in the London area) while Jacobs is very common. Nor has there been any trace of those other two rascals (one presumes) La Rothiere and Oberstein. One unpublished case of which Holmes gives no details is the "woman at Margate whom I suspected." The lack of name here is intriguing, and since Palmer's Index to The Times Newspaper does not mention a murder

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in Margate, it is a question whether this may refer to the case of Christiana Edmonds at Brighton in the spring of 1892. For reasons too vague and complicated to enumerate here, she bought chocolates into which she inserted poison and then returned them to the shop as "not suitable" — exposing the public to a terrible risk; and a boy, Charles Barker, was her unwitting and random victim. Clever police work led to this middleaged spinster. Holmes's name does not appear in the accounts, but then he says only that he "suspected" a woman, not that he captured her.

33 Wistful Lodgers in the Wisteria "Are you Mr. John Scott Eccles, of Popham House, Lee?" "Pray sit down, Mr. Scott Eccles." "Mr. Eccles was going to tell us about it when you entered the room." Wisteria Lodge

The Singular Experience of Mr John Scott Eccles appeared in September 1908 after a four-year Holmesian or Doylean hiatus, the first of the twopart adventure now generally known as Wisteria Lodge. It marked a new movement in the Sherlockian symphony: after the first two long cases, and two series of short cases, the third long case which may be the climax of the cycle, and yet another series of short cases, there were now to be only seven short cases over five years, and the author's environment had once again changed: to Crowborough. Looking at Wisteria Lodge alone it might be guessed that the pattern of the stories had changed as well, for there are nearly as many characters, or rather names, in this case as in a full-length novel: twenty-three in Wisteria Lodge, thirty-four in A Study in Scarlet, thirty-eight in The Hound, thirty-six in The Sign of Four. There occurs a group of half-a-dozen names coming from persons in the public eye, and at least one from each other grouping previously encountered (sporting, historical or literary, military, police/criminal, very common, invented names). Five foreign names cannot, with one exception, be identified — as was often the case in earlier stories as well. But a number of medical names and several persons in the neighbourhood of one of the Doyle residences also appear. Mr Scott Eccles — or Mr Eccles, for again we have the problem of an unhyphenated, apparently compound surname — is an interesting

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case. On Holmes's own usage the compound name must be rejected, for he does refer to "Mr. Eccles," and Chapter 34 will show an identical problem in the matter of Arthur Cadogan West. The Victorians hang onto the middle name almost as lovingly as the Russians. Harrison offers a perceptive view of the process by which Holmesian names were selected, though he fails to generalize from the example: ... When Watson is casting around ... for a name to hide the true identity of an honest, well-meaning, somewhat pompous gentleman, who has been made to look a bit of a fool (and is more puzzled than resentful ...) [he] comes out with a name so like that of a real-life, well-meaning gentleman, who had been made an object of ridicule, that the real and the imaginary names — Scott Ellis and Scott Eccles — are almost identical.' Major Borrowes had beaten up his brother-in-law, Lord Howard de Walden — rather badly, as it turned out. Lord Howard de Walden — whose family name ... was 'Scott Ellis' — took Borrowes to court ...' But bearing in mind the multiple structure of the name, and the frequent portmantizing of more than one name and/or personality into a single character, it is useful to cast back for other sources as well. So John Eccles, whose name got into the newspaper on 28 September 1886 in Portsmouth, may have come to the attention of a young doctor who kept extensive and systematic notes. In Norwood in the late 'nineties lived Herbert Annesley Eccles and William Soltan Eccles, both in Church Road, probably related; while John Scott lived in West Norwood, William Scott in Upper Norwood, and two Mrs Scotts in Norwood. The multiple impressions of familiar names produced the bemused and irritated Mr John Scott Eccles of Popham House, Lee. That house may have been the residence of Robert Brookes Popham, LRCP, LRCS Edinburgh 1886, at Herne Bay, Kent. He was the author of Zig Zag Ramblings, Hither and Thither, Finger-Posts to Animal Life, etc; made to order for Doyle's amusement. Somewhat the same process occurred to produce the Durandos, Victor and his wife whose first name is not given. Sweeney in his At Scotland Yard reminisces about the case of "an Anarchist and convicted thief, Victor Durand, formerly living at 13 Huntly Street and now [13 September lgol] at 13 Whitfield Street, Tottenham Court Road." s Durand and his wife, whose first name is not given either, were witnesses in the case of Martial Fougeron, who had killed Herman Jung, a cobbler. Jung was a rabid Socialist and pro-Boer, who regarded Joseph Chamberlain, the statesman, as responsible for the war. Fougeron declared that Jung

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had offered him £io to assassinate Chamberlain. "The Clerkenwell murder," as it was called, was one of those complicated and sordid affairs not infrequent in the foreign colonies in London. The Times in reporting it spelled the names "Faugeron" and "Durant" but Sweeney's spelling is probably right. While the name Durando certainly occurs, the best-known bearer of such a foreign-sounding name in England was Augustus Edward Durandeau, 1848-1893, composer of popular songs the best known of which, appropriately, was "If You Want to Know the Time, Ask a P'leeceman." Doyle appears to have taken the criminal's name and either deliberately or unconsciously influenced by the other name, added the

o. Five names may have Edinburgh recollections behind them. Burnet was a common name at Edinburgh in Doyle's time, four Burnets graduating between 1881 and 1887. Hendersons graduated in 1882, 1884, and 1886. Timothy Hynes received the medical degrees in 1888. Both Charles H. and Henry B. Melville were 1885 medical graduates, while Edward H. Warner received the baccalaureates in 1883 and the MD along with Doyle in 1885. In each case however there are other plausible referents. Burnets (sometimes with a double t, but not in the Canon) number some fifty in 1910 London, including several Misses Burnet(t) — dressmakers and florists but not governesses. James Burnett of Norwood seems to have died between 1899 and 1908 leaving Mrs Burnett alone. There is no reason to identify this alias with Mrs Frances Hodgson Burnett the prolific author. Henderson, another alias, might be William P. Henderson of 44, The Avenue, Norwood, a road from which names in three other cases may also come: The Cardboard Box, Silver Blaze, and The Valley of Fear. When such gratuitous information is given as: "a retired brewer called Melville, living at Albemarle Mansion, Kensington," one wonders why. The name is not very uncommon; twenty-three examples are in the 1910 directory, among them William Melville, a beer retailer in the Cambridge Road, Bethnal Green — which is suggestive but hardly positive. Nor can Stanley Melville, MD, of Mayfair and Nevern Road, be seized upon. C. Melville of Lancaster Road in West Norwood might be a trifle closer, but again nothing is positive. Albemarle Mansion must still be investigated. John Warner the gardener has plenty of company: five John Warners among a hundred Warners in the 1910 listings, but none of them gardeners. Marder suggests the name is from P.F. Warner, Middlesex cricketer of 1899-1920, but in this case Edward H. Warner, an 1885 fellow MD with Arthur Conan Doyle, has a slightly better or at least earlier

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chance. The Rev John Warner had become vicar of All Saints, South Norwood, in 1907, but Doyle had long since left Tennison Road; had he perhaps met the Reverend Mr Warner on a visit? About Allan Brothers, the land agents in Esher, Surrey, there is little doubt. There was in fact only one land agent in Esher, John Garrod, and no Allan Brothers were land, house, or estate agents. A well-known firm of the name was Allan Bros & Co United Kingdom Ltd, steamship owners of Cockspur Street, founded by James Allan (1826-94) of Berwickon-Tweed. Allan Bros & Co were also wholesale tea dealers in Aldgate High Street. (Were the steamships introduced to bring tea from the Far East?) The purpose of what was obviously intended to be an in-joke, other than that this firm was well known and unlikely to be in such a business, is now obscure. Kimball's detailed and elaborate identification of Inspector Baynes of the Surrey Constabulary as one Thomas Pennant Terwilliger Baynes, second cousin to Thomas Spencer Baynes (1823-87), supervising editor of the ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica,a cannot really be sustained. Two better candidates are available. One is Adam Baynes, 1622-70, captain in the Parliamentary Army and MP, of whom Doyle the historical novelist would be aware. The other is Frederick Ebenezer Baines, 1832-1911, promoter of Post Office telegraphs and other Post Office services, and "enthusiastic Volunteer" who "edited Records of Hampstead, 1890"5 — and Doyle was also an enthusiastic and active promoter of Volunteer and Rifle corps. There was another of Commonwealth and Restoration times, Sir Thomas Baines, musician and physician, 1622-80, but the one closest in time and interests to Doyle seems preferable. The locking-up of Colonel Carruthers is almost as enigmatic as the madness of Colonel Warburton (The Engineer's Thumb) and annoyingly close to Bob Carruthers (The Solitary Cyclist, published four years earlier). James Gurney Carruthers the police-surgeon seems preferable for the latter (Chapter 25). The Records of the Carruthers Family are suggestive in several ways, for they note that "the interminable litigation" of the Carruthers estate was the basis of the plot of Scott's Guy Mannerings — but in this case we are after names, not plot. The family included LtCol Francis John Carruthers of Dormont, JP, late King's Own Scottish Borderers, who had been a brevet major mentioned in Boer War dispatches, but not in Doyle's own Great Boer War. He retired in 1904 and could have come to Doyle's attention then; during the First World War he served in the War Office. Doyle's Memories and Adventures mentions the Scots Guards but not the Borderers. In the Army List for January

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1908 are two Colonels Carruthers, H. St C. of the Indian Medical Services, and R. of the South Lancashire Brigade, late Liverpool Rifles. Surgeon-Colonel H. St C. Carruthers was registered LRCP, LRCS (Edinburgh) in 1878, which increases our speculation. Holmes was wont to receive telegrams with (to modern readers) infuriating lists of names: whether of spies, or houses in a district. That in Wisteria Lodge with its names of houses as well as persons is doubly infuriating. Neither Lord Harringby nor Sir George Ffolliott have so far been discovered, but the Rev Joshua Stone may be a little easier. Though Stone is a common name, one Stone of just Doyle's age was Darwell Stone (1859-1941), a theologian of Pusey House, Oxford, whom the Dictionary of National Biography calls "leader of extreme Anglo-Catholic group." Here is another like the Sta(u)ntons mentioned in The Missing Three-Quarter: a high High Churchman, as rigid as the Romans in his way, and a target ripe for Doylean humour. Perhaps the Rev J.C. Elman in The Retired Colournnan who was a rigid character in his way may yet turn out to be another of the kind. James Baker Williams in that list could not, surely, be James Williams the baker of 4, Commerce Place, Dulwich High Street? What about either of the William James Bakers, the butcher of Hackney and the publican of the "Sir John Cass" in Victoria Park Road? If not, further study of Mr Baker Williams is required. Some study may also be useful regarding Marx & Co, the clothiers, for of six Marx firms in the directory none are clothiers. Yet it would be logical. Compare the use of a real firm of clothiers, Hyam, in The Norwood Builder; or perhaps there had been objections, and Doyle was not about to repeat a real name. Of Wisteria Lodge itself there is not much doubt. Arthur Cowell Stark, who received the Edinburgh Ms, CM, in 1883 and was thus a prime original for Col Lysander Stark (Chapter 14), lived from 1886 to 1896 at Wisteria Lodge, Whiteparish, Salisbury. England may be full of wisteria, and full of Wisteria Lodges; no doubt it is a trite name, as house names tend to be; but here is a link of the name to one of Doyle's fellowstudents. Downing, Ffolliott, Harringby, and Walters in the case cannot at the moment be identified. Harringby seems to be an invented title. Once again the foreigners, Garcia, Lopez, Montalva, and Ruth, elude search. Tracy suggests that Montalva could be derived from Juan Montalvo (1832-89), "the famous Ecuadorean essayist and patriot, one of the leading figures of nineteenth-century Spanish letters."7 Another possibility is Garcia Ordönez de Montalvo, the fifteenth-century Spanish writer who was "the father of the novel of knightly adventure,"8 and whose

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retelling of the legends of Amadis de Gaul "had countless imitators, not in Spain alone, but in all the Latin countries (more especially in France) and in England ... [T]hey only disappeared with the breaking up of chivalry and before the ridicule of them so persistently carried out in Don Quixote." This sounds like Doyle's interest in chivalry and novels of historic adventure; and the occurrence of Garcia as well as Montalva reinforces the suggestion. Juan Perez de Montalvan, another Spanish novelist and dramatist of the seventeenth century, who collaborated with Lope de Vega, and who became apostolic notary of the Inquisition, is another long shot. The other foreign name is Don Murillo, the Tiger of San Pedro. There has been argument whether or not he is identical with that "exPresident Murillo" whose papers are mentioned in The Norwood Builder. It will be assumed here that the two are not identical, but there is no reasonably satisfactory explanation of the name save transfer — perhaps absent-mindedly — from the story of five years earlier. Dakin opines that the two are identical: " ... there could not be two ex-presidents of the same name with whom Holmes had to deal."9 This is hardly an adequate reason. If there could be two American presidents named Adams, and two named Roosevelt, there could be two (quite likely not even from the same country) named Murillo. The problems and probabilities in English usage of plain and fancy surnames are quite as bewildering as the much better known examples of British titles of nobility. One fine example is that Justice of the Peace whose name is buried in a list in Wisteria Lodge and who is quite irrelevant to the action: Mr Hynes Hynes. Mild astonishment has been registered by Dakin: "Can we really believe that there was a man called Hynes Hynes?"'° Has Watson made a dittograph, as Dakin suggests? To begin with, Mr Hynes was probably named for the Edinburgh graduate Timothy A. Hynes, NIB, clot 1888, but it is not necessary to insist on this. Hynes is an unusual name; there were only five in igio London. The reduplication of the name was suggested to young Dr Doyle by news items as early as 1886. Here is one: "Rees Rees, a collier, was found drowned head first in a water tub at the back of his house in Twyindin, Merthyr Tydvil, yesterday morning" (Portsmouth Evening Mail, 28 September 1886). Another Rees Reese was a physician in Wales, who had studied at Edinburgh in the 18gos. A second item from the Evening Mail was on 6 October 1886, an article involving Alderman Emanuel Emanuel of Portsmouth. But by the time the duplicated Mr Hynes appeared in Wisteria Lodge in 1go8, many other examples must have occurred to

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Doyle. Indeed, Jerome K. Jerome was his close friend. Here are a few others: Sir Penrose Penrose, 1822-1902, was a general in the Royal Marines, prominent in the China campaigns. The name is reminiscent of Sir Penrose Fisher in The Dying Detective, but more of that anon. Maarten Maartens, whose real name was J.M.M. van der Poerten Schwarz, wrote "The Doctor's Dilemma" in the Strand Magazine shortly before the appearance of Wisteria Lodge. Willoughby Mason Willoughby, 1875-1936, a medical graduate of Cambridge, was lecturer in port sanitation and tropical hygiene at the London School of Tropical Medicine, the institution which also probably inspired The Dying Detective. There were no less than four Doctors James James in the Medical Directory for 189o, three with middle names, and one of them, James Thomas James, was a Harley Street man. Morgan John Morgan was an Edinburgh medical student a year behind Arthur Doyle. Ford Madox Ford was grandson of a member of the Ruskin-Rossetti group with which Doyle was well acquainted. Henry Bence Bence, the son of the Rev Bence Bence (sometimes Bence-Bence) was an army officer in the 183os. The dashing great-great-grandfather of Edith, Osbert, and Sacheverell Sitwell was Sir Sitwell Sitwell, of whom Osbert says, "As the proud repetition of his name suggests, Sir Sitwell Sitwell seems to have been a very typical figure of the Regency."" Leeson in Lost London refers to "the North London Sessions, at that time under the able chairmanship of Mr. Loveland Loveland"" who was actually Mr Justice Richard Loveland Loveland, 1841-1923. By the way, the Rev Bence Bence's surname was originally Sparrow.

34 Underground or Underwater, Deadly "Cadogan West? I have heard the name." "The man's name was Arthur Cadogan West." "Mr. Hugo Oberstein, of 13 Caulfield Gardens, had become my objective." The Bruce-Partington Plans

The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans is deservedly one of the most popular of the sixty tales, showing Sherlock Holmes in active and, for once, rather communicative vein. The baker's dozen of names in the

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case pose some interesting problems and some intriguing original referents, and a few of the usual problems. Two foreign names recur from The Second Stain, the spies La Rothiere and Oberstein, while the villain uses the code name Pierrot — more common on the Continent and in the Agony Column than it is to North American ears. The name of the victim, Arthur Cadogan West, has been discussed by several Sherlockian writers. Extensive speculation has centred about the original of the submarine boat here called the Bruce-Partington design, but no attention has been paid to the name itself. At least one excellent identification has been made, that of Sir James Walter, but unfortunately that study was incomplete and some further light can be shed on the Walters. The Bruce-Partington submarine is (to generalize where the commentators have not reached consensus) a compound of the GarrettNordenfeldt and the French Gustav ZeØ. Conan Doyle was fully aware, in days when many were either grossly uninformed or grossly scornful, of the possibilities inherent in even the leaky tin pots which were early undersea boats, and by 1912 his Danger! endeavoured to alert the nation to the menace; but by that time he was taken too much for a brilliant popular novelist to be readily believed, if indeed it might have been at all possible to convince the Admiralty of anything. Meanwhile those gentlemen were still fighting previous wars and had only a generation earlier abandoned the smooth-bore muzzle-loading canon. The name which Conan Doyle chose for the plans of the new secret submarine is therefore a clever dig at this hindsight-foremost attitude. Dakin in speculating about the name, which he does not analyse, drew attention to the parallel name of "The Great Brown-Pericord Motor," a Doyle short story which had appeared four years previously, an early aviation tale, adding, "... if it was constructed on the same principles as the BrownPericord motor, I would not give much for the Bruce-Partington submarine."' Its name however was constructed on sound principles: those of Sir Gainsford Bruce (1834-1912) and Charles Frederick Partington (who died about 1857). Sir Gainsford was a judge and author of a standard treatise on The Law of Merchant Shipping. A.T.C. Pratt wrote: "He enjoys yachting, and has acquired a small craft; while among his river boats is a quaint Norwegian vessel yclept the Yardo. Sir Gainsford has travelled extensively in Norway ..."2 In its obituary of him The Times observed that he was "possessed of a sense of pawky humour" (which reminds us of our own Dr Watson) and that "his favourite intellectual pursuit was astronomy" (which reminds us of Mr Frankland in The Hound). Partington, while of an earlier Victorian age, was a scientific writer, professor of mechanical philosophy, who always, on titles of his books,

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designated himself as "of the London Institution"; he was a "lecturer on modern improvements in mechanics" who "edited and wrote many works treating on the sciences and the practical working of various trades."3 He edited J. Ferguson's lectures on mechanics and hydrostatics (1825) and the Century of Inventions by the marquis of Worcester; and he wrote the Shipbuilder's Complete Guide (1925) and "A Course of Lectures on the Steam Engine, to Which is Subjoined a Copy of the Work on Steam Navigation Published by J. Hulls" (1826). Sir Gainsford Bruce and Mr Partington would be a fine pair of inventors indeed for the latest in submarines. Harrison, astute and indefatigable in historical and Holmesian research, has pointed out that Sir James Walter was named for the founder of the Corps of Commissionaires, Sir Edward Walter (1823-1904) .4 But there are two Walters in the case; Col Valentine Walter, "the younger brother," is the villain. Walter is a fairly common surname, and among sixty-four in the 1910 directory were James William Walter, a solicitor in New Bridge Street, and James Walter in Catford. But the eye is caught by Arthur James Walter, xcB, LLB, an attorney "chiefly engaged in Patent, Trade Mark and technical litigation."5 For that matter, Alexander Valentine was an 1882 Edinburgh medical graduate, a year after Doyle, while John Walther received his degree in 1883 and the MD along with Doyle in 1885. Looking at the villainous younger brother, two interesting name coincidences may be found. Sidney Valentine was a well-known actor born in 1864 who had made a great success early in his career as the title character in The Colonel, a farce by Sir Francis Cowley Burnand. And Valentine Walter Bromley (1848-77) was a painter in watercolour who had been a contributor to the Illustrated London News. The combinations of names must have been familiar; but it is very likely that another well-known, if not infamous, colonel contributed. Col Valentine Baker (1827-87) had been a distinguished army officer, serving in the Kaffir War and the Crimea, a spectator in the Franco-Prussian War; but he had been convicted at the Croydon assizes in 1875, and then cashiered out of the Army, for assaulting — apparently kissing — a Miss Dickinson in a railway carriage. He became a major-general in the Turkish army and fought the Russians brilliantly. There are elements here of Col Sebastian Moran as well; but Col Valentine Walter's name would readily recall Col Valentine Baker — or vice versa. David Skene Melvin has carefully examined the problem of the brothers Moriarty, and disagrees with other commentators, reaching the conclusion that James Moriarty was an unhyphened compound surname, similar in fact to Skene Melvin. His discussion of the victim in The BrucePartington Plans bears repeating:

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That unfortunate young man is referred to as "Arthur Cadogan West," "young West," and mostly as "Cadogan West". Park in his encyclopaedia assumed, as would most Americans, that that junior clerk's surname was West, with Arthur and Cadogan as his given names, and that he preferred to use his second given name rather than his first. This hypothesis, however, is proven wrong by Sherlock Holmes's own words upon announcing that he and Watson are leaving to visit the boy's parents. "Now we shall turn to the Cadogan Wests," he says. If Arthur's second given name was Cadogan, and his surname merely West, no one would refer to his family as the "Cadogan Wests". The only given name of the clerk that we are cognisant of is Arthur, and his surname is Cadogan West. Q.E.D. Thus we can readily see that compound names are taken for granted in the Canon and appear regularly.6 Regrettably, Victorian usage does not bear out this conclusion, at least not consistently or fully. Some examples will be useful. The entry in Men and Women of the Time under "Wilson, Sir Charles Rivers" uses the following forms: ... a formal announcement to Mr. Rivers Wilson ... ... Mr. Rivers Wilson went to Egypt ... ... Mr. Wilson represented ... ... Mr. Rivers Wilson accepted this position ... In May 1881 Sir Rivers Wilson was appointed a Royal Commissioner ..? Amy Charlotte Menzies (Mrs Stuart Menzies) signs the preface to her Sportsmen Parsons in Peace and War (1919) "A.C. Stuart Menzies." In an 1887 Notes & Queries discussion of usage, especially of names of married couples (both of wife and of husband), R.H. Buck mentions "Mrs. Garrett Anderson" as "one of a small category of exceptions."8 Yet references to well-known persons often named in full, such as Elizabeth Barrett Browning, seem as often to be by middle and last name: "Mrs Barrett Browning"9 and "Mr Ward Beecher."" Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is an example of what can happen. His surname and that of his family was Doyle. He preferred to use A. Conan Doyle, and is recorded as having exclaimed summarily to someone, "My name, Sir, is Conan Doyle." His son Adrian, having the middle name Conan like his father (the surname of Arthur's uncle Michael Conan) preferred to consider his name to be Conan Doyle; his mother was referred to as Lady Conan Doyle, Lady Jean Conan Doyle, or Lady Doyle. Adrian's sister Jean was invested in her own right as Dame Jean

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Conan Doyle, just as her father had been knighted as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. But the confusion of usage became such that not only on the Continent but in English print the good knight was often called Sir Conan Doyle. In the current Who's Who Dame Jean is listed as Conan Doyle, Dame Jean (with reference from Lady Jean Bromet), and it may be taken that it is her definite wish to maintain the compound. But in Through the Magic Door Sir Arthur himself refers to "Wendell Holmes" for the Oliver Wendell Holmeses, a usage which occurs along with "Mrs Barrett Browning" in the Cornhill. Perhaps it would be better to give that useful Scottish verdict to Skene Melvin's claim: Not proven. "Cadogan West" is, in view of the fluctuating use in the case itself, at least as likely to be a matter of habitual Victorian usage as to be a compound. In all this the question of the true surname of Arthur Cadogan West — simple or compound — was considered, but not the referents from whom the name was derived. Inferential allusion was probably intended to George Henry Cadogan, first Earl Cadogan, the Conservative statesman (1840-1915), but the direct sources are more likely to be two London physicians of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. William Cadogan, 1711-1797, was physician to the London Foundling Hospital in 1754. Note that the Foundling Hospital was originally in Coram Street, having been founded by Captain Thomas Coram (Chapter 32). Later another physician to the Foundling Hospital will appear: Christopher Stanger, whose name appears in The Valley of Fear. The later physician in the present case was Charles West, 1816-98, a graduate of St Bartholomew's and physician to the Hospital for Sick Children, the Middlesex Hospital, and Bart's, whose specialty was midwifery. The spy Adolph Meyer was probably named after Dr Hans Meyer, German explorer of Africa, born in 1858. In The Devil's Foot and Lady Frances Carfax, which followed just two and three years later in the Decembers of 1910 and 1911, characters appear to be named for two other explorers or travellers; Dr Hans Meyer fits that pattern. Doyle's interest in Africa had undoubtedly been spurred by the Boer War, and with the growing unrest in Anglo-German relations he was apparently watching the German African colonies; he had become aware much earlier of the pernicious influences in those areas. One of three or four cricketers was probably the original of Sidney Johnson, the Admiralty senior clerk in the Arsenal and one of five canonical Johnsons (and one Johnston). As this name is extremely common this can be only a speculation. Maj-Gen Frederick Francis Johnson, CB, CBE, DL, 1852-1931, had played cricket for Cheltenham. Tom Johnson, who died at Kirkaldy in 1918, was a well-known Scottish cricketer.

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Doyle owned a copy of The Memoirs and Adventures of Sir William Kirkaldy (by James Grant, 1849) and the place-and-name association makes Tom Johnson a plausible referent. The Hon George Randall Johnson, 18331919, had been Cambridge captain and later a distinguished member of I Zingari, that prominent gentlemen's team (of which other members appear among canonical names); but he had lived in New Zealand for many years. Robert Baines Johnson, 1862-1927, had been a cricketer at Forest School in 1878-80, a soccer player at Oxford, and later chairman of the Essex County Cricket Club. As we meet the chairmen of other county clubs in the Canon, this Johnson also seems very plausible. Admiral Sinclair, who lived in Barclay Square — which is fictitious, not being "Berkeley" Square though identically pronounced, and unlikely to be Barclay Close, or Oval, or one of a half-dozen Roads in downat-heel neighbourhoods — Admiral Sinclair was one (or both) of two similarly named gentlemen. James Edward Sinclair of Prince's Street, Storey's Gate, sw, had attended medical school at the University of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Surgeons (Edinburgh), and received the licentiates in the same year Doyle received the Edinburgh degrees. By 1890 he was medical officer to the Ordnance Survey Department. James Henry Sinclair, 1876-1913, was a cricketer. One of the first men who made South African cricket famous, he came into prominence during the tour of Lord Hawke's team in South Africa in the winter of 18g8—gg ... Sinclair met with brilliant success. ... Coming to England with the South African team in 1901, he fulfilled expectations as a bowler, but his batting was disappointing ... On his next visit to England, with the South African team in 1904, Mr. Sinclair again bowled very well." Marder also suggests him as Admiral Sinclair, giving career dates of 1893-1908, which would mean that his retirement occurred in the year the Plans appeared. One of the posy of Violets in the saga, Violet Westbury, who seems to be very vocal in this case considering the tenuous relationship she bore to the matter, can be surprisingly identified. Sir Richard Bethell, first Baron Westbury, 1800-73, had been a Lord Chancellor whose only lasting accomplishment, and that iniquitous, was the Divorce Act of 1857. Prestige points out the strong remarks on unhappy marriage in The Abbey Grange and Conan Doyle's joining the Divorce Reform Union in 1912, and concludes that "About a decade prior to 1912 ... Conan Doyle was writing autobiographical views on divorce reform ..."'2 Three names in The Bruce-Partington Plans offer difficulties because

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the mention is brief and the name common: "Brooks, or Woodhouse, or any of the fifty men who have good reason for taking my life" (according to Holmes), and Mason the platelayer on the Underground. Later in Shoscombe Old Place, John Mason the horse-trainer will be met; there were dozens of John Masons, but if "horse trainer" is not far from "horse doctor" we might look for a medical man. Three doctors in London alone were named John Mason. We can have no luck with the platelayer. With the (presumed) criminals Brooks and Woodhouse it is nearly as bad. There had been a Hugh Mottram Brooks, of Hyde, Cheshire, who had been admitted as a solicitor in 1883. In 1886 he was tried at St Louis, Missouri, for the cyanide poisoning of Arthur Preller of Bradford in April 1885; he was hanged at St Louis in August 1888. So Hugh Brooks was not around to wish to take Holmes's life in 1895 or later, but the derivation might ignore this. Persons named both Brooks and Woodhouse were certainly on the police records in 1go8. Sir Stewart Woodhouse was a member of the Irish prisons board; and a dozen other guesses might be made, including Herbert Brooks, an 1885 medical graduate of Edinburgh and Edward R. Woodhouse who gained the same degree the following year. A sporting Woodhouse may be possible: The Rev Thomas Woodhouse played cricket for Shropshire against the Free Foresters in 1887. He is one of three clergymen of the same name, but appears to be the one who was vicar of Ropley, Alresford, Hampshire, and had earlier been rector of Otterhampton, Somerset. Another sporting Woodhouse, W.H. from Yorkshire, had played for the county in 1884-5 and lived until 1938. But the Rev Frederick Charles Woodhouse has already been mentioned in connection with Coxon & Woodhouse: the author of a volume on military religious orders of the Middle Ages, and most probably the Woodhouse known personally to Doyle. In passing, Caulfield Gardens in which lived Adolph Meyer is both a personal name and a disguised street address. The very first issue of the Sherlock Holmes Journal had a definitive paper on the Underground problem in The Bruce-Partington Plans. Crump in that paper identified it as Courtfield Road, while Harrison saw it as Cornwall Gardens. Once again it must be remembered that antecedents are seldom single in these carefully built disguises. Caulfield Roads exist in Peckham and East Ham; but Caulfield here may have a personal referent, rather than either a real placename or a portmantized one. Sidney Burgoyne Caulfield, architect of 48, Hamilton Gardens in St John's Wood, for instance; he lived nowhere near the Underground, but did his profession have anything to do with the matter? For the genuine location of the crime is distinguished by the false fronts of houses in the street, which hide the

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railway cutting. Caulfield Road in Peckham we shall encounter again in the next chapter. Whether the proximity of that in East Ham to roads named Holme, Watson, and Stamford, not to mention Latimer, is significant, is another question entirely. Many other matters in the case must be passed over. The plot incident of a body found beside the lines is remarkably similar to a case related by Maurice Moser, a famous Victorian detective, in an 18go book. The question of Mycroft Holmes's salary, like that of Jabez Wilson's stipend, bears attention; and Goldini's restaurant, supposedly in the Gloucester Road a stone's throw from Meyer's residence, is unknown to the directory as either restaurant or personal name.

35 Who the Devil Was the Lady in the Red Circle? "The vicar of the parish, Mr. Roundhay, was something of an archaeologist." The Devil's Foot "And who is Miss Marie Devine?" Lady Frances Carfax "Mr. Warren is a timekeeper at Morton and Waylight's, in Tottenham Court Road." The Red Circle

Of the three cases published in 1910 and 1911, The Devil's Foot, The Red Circle, and The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax, fewer than two-thirds of the personal names have been accounted for, but it seems worthwhile to report on the problems remaining, as well as the data found. Seven names in these three cases appear to be Doylean coinages; five are foreign, only one of which has been satisfactorily identified; eight others have not been found and two are so common that no identification seems possible. Several offhand allusions occur, to otherwise unreported incidents in the career of Sherlock Holmes, and these alone could fill several chapters. The principal characters in The Devil's Foot are the ill-fated Tregennis family and Dr Leon Sterndale. Tregennis has not been found, Cornish as it sounds. "Tregenna" and "Tregunna" occur; Joseph Tregenna lived in Werndee Road, South Norwood, at the time Dr Doyle lived in Tennison Road. Tregellis, also apparently Cornish, has been mentioned in Chapter 15. Sterndale is a rare name — there were none in the 1 g i o

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London directory — but Robert Armitage Sterndale was a prominent bearer of the name. Fourth son of a Derby man, born in 1839, he had been in the Bengal Military Police and the Central Provinces Commission, and ended his career as Governor of St Helena, from 1897 to his death in 1902. He wrote extensively on India, Afghanistan, and Turkey; his publications included The Afghan Knife (1879); Denizens of the Jungles (Calcutta 1886); Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon (Calcutta 1884); and Seonee, or Life on the Satpura Range (London 1877). R.A. Sterndale and Handley Bathurst Sterndale wrote an article on "Asiatic Architecture in Polynesia" in the Asiatic Quarterly (Fall 18go) which was reprinted in Living Age and cited in Review of Reviews; it was about "historic tombstones of Asiatic peoples, the very memory of whom has utterly perished.' There is a vague reminiscence of Sebastian Moran's Heavy Game of the Himalayas in some of Sterndale's writing. He seems a suitable antecedent for the African explorer of the case. Two doctors are mentioned in The Devil's Foot. Watson's offhand mention of "Dr Moore Agar, of Harley Street, whose dramatic introduction to Holmes I may someday recount" whets our appetite. There were several Doctors Agar but no Moore Agar. Frederick Agar and Samuel Hollingsworth Agar had both been registered in 1859. Frederick practised in Ponders End, while S.H. "gave up general practice and devoted his attention to the care of the insane ... He became the proprietor of a large private asylum — Glendossil, Henley-in-Arden ... a man of much public spirit ... his genial manners and suave address gaining him many friends."' He died in 1905. He had two sons, of whom Samuel Hollingsworth Agar, Jr, became a physician and was registered MRCS (England) in 1884, joining his father's practice. A name somewhat closer to that of the dramatic Harley Street specialist is Dr Morley Frederick Agar, apparently the son of the Ponders End Frederick, who was registered in 1892 and set up in Wimpole Street, which is parallel to Harley Street and nearly as full of doctors. The most notorious Agar was one involved with Pierce in the audacious theft, recently dramatized on film, of gold bullion from the South Eastern Railway in 1855. Accounts differ as to his first name, Edward or Robert. A cricketer, the Hon Herbert Wellbore Ellis Agar, of Highworth, Wiltshire, and Bryanstone Square, died in 1go1 at 77. Tracy has noted that the major landowners in the area where The Devil's Foot occurred were the Agar-Robartes family. Thomas Charles Agar-Robartes, second Baron Robartes of Lanhydrock and Truro (-1930) was Lord Lieutenant of Cambridge, 1906-1915, and Conan Doyle was a Deputy Lieutenant of Sussex. Col Edward Agar (1859-193o, exactly Doyle's dates) had been

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much decorated for his South African War service; Doyle in writing his history of that war would certainly have encountered him. Francis Agar (knighted in 1926) was also just Doyle's age. One of this group, though which (to repeat Gilbert) "it is not quite clear," lent his name to the Harley Street specialist. One suspects that the Boer War offered possibilities for a dramatic introduction between the Colonel and the Doctor. Dr Richards, the local practitioner on the scene of The Devil's Foot, could be any one of many: four were graduated from Edinburgh between 1881 and 1885, seven were in London in 1910, and four more in the London suburbs. The name is so common that only a guess could be made. The same is true of Mrs Porter the Tregennis housekeeper. As for the Vicar, Mr Roundhay, no examples of this as a surname have been located. Roundhay is a parish in Leeds. Shreffler, discussing Holmes's study of Cornish, and the ancient British barrow, remarks upon Mortimer (Hound) and goes on, "It may be added that Mr. Roundhay's name was probably similarly derived from the famous barrow on Roundhay Down, Wiltshire."' A more ingenious explanation occurs in the slender pamphlet Mr. Holmes in Cornwall, published as by "Percy Trevelyan, M.D." The Vicar of Mullion in 1897 was the Rev James Henry Scholefield; Mullion appears in the case as Tredannick Wollas. "Trevelyan". equates "round" in Cornish usage, a place for leisure, with schole (Greek) and "hay" as in "church hay" with a Norman-French word meaning field. "Round-hay thus equals Schole field."3 Sterndale, for whom other possibilities have already been discussed, is found by "Trevelyan" to be an anagram from Lander est, the identification being with Richard Lemon Lander (1804-34), like Sterndale an African explorer, and discoverer of the source of the Niger. Lander was a Cornishman from Truro. The same pamphlet also equates Dr Moore Agar with the Agar-Robartes family, and precisely identifies the placenames in the case: Tredannick Wartha as Predannack Wartha, an equation which has been noted elsewhere by other scholars, and Beauchamp Arriance as Venten (or Fenton) Arriance near Mullion. The disguised name Tregennis however is not precisely identified, beyond its being based on the real Tregelles. There appears, "Trevelyan" does state, to be a link between a Tregellas family, sometime in the Redruth area, later in Truro, with Richard Lemon Lander. Mrs Warren, who took in lodgers, and her husband the timekeeper, may well have been some couple Doyle knew. In igio Mrs Arabella Warren ran a boarding house in the Holland Road, Mrs Fred Butlin Warren maintained apartments in Ebury Street, and Mrs Maria Warren

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was in Highbury. Two Edinburgh medical Warrens, Edward Albert and Edwin Charles, both received 1883 licentiates. Our landlady's husband's first name is not revealed. His employers, Morton and Waylight, may well have been an electrical firm of the kind that inhabits the Tottenham Court Road to this day, or the firm name may have been a slip for Morton and Kennedy, the well-known firm mentioned in The Solitary Cyclist seven years earlier but alleged to be a Westminster firm. In seven years the junior partner could well have changed and a branch been opened. The name Morton recurs in the next case but one to appear, The Dying Detective (1913), as Inspector Morton. Among the hundred Mortons in the directory finding the right one is difficult, but the name Waylight appears nowhere. It is another of those absolutely right-sounding coinages in which the Holmes stories abound. Mr Fairdale Hobbs had been a lodger in Mrs Warren's house. Beyond that he leaves no trace. Had the name occurred in The Devil's Foot rather than three months later in The Red Circle, there might be reason for suspicion, but as it is there is nothing to connect Fairdale Hobbs with `John Oliver Hobbes," the pseudonym of Mrs Pearl Mary Teresa Craigie, who was the daughter of John Morgan Richards the wealthy London wholesale chemist, and who was author and dramatist, flourishing in the 'nineties. More possible is Lt-Col George Radley Hobbs (1853-1907) who served in the Boer War; not very likely, the involvement of J.W. Hobbs & Co in the Liberator Building Society fraud of 1892-3. Marder suggests "Jack" Hobbs the cricketer (Sir John Berry Hobbs) and gives career dates 1905-34, but his prominence came rather after 1811. The name Fairdale may be the key here, for no trace of it has so far been found, and it is not a British placename. The name Leverton for the American detective was almost certainly intended to be evocative of Pinkerton, for whom he worked, but there are half a dozen Levertons in the London directory, none of them relevant to this case. No slang meaning of "lever" suggests a reason for the name; and while there is indeed something behind the Long Island Cave Mystery with which Holmes associated the American — a real mystery, beyond the mere lack of caves on Long Island, New York, alleged by previous investigators — that is another matter upon which we have no time to dwell. The name Lucca for the principals in the case was probably picked up by Doyle from the names of Paolina Lucca, Italian singer born in Vienna, or Pietro Lucca, engineer and Italian cabinet minister, though Lucca is also a placename. In London only one Lucca was listed in the directory — Rudolph, a coppersmith of the firm of Moresi & Lucca of

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Neal Street, Long Acre. Or does Moresi & Lucca in any way suggest Morton & Waylight? That other Italian firm, Castalotte & Zamba, fruit importers of New York City, may also be intended to be reminiscent. The well-known opticians Negretti & Zambra, of Holborn Viaduct, have been mentioned several times by Sherlockians, who however have neglected to notice that the firm was founded by Enrico Angelo Ludovico Negretti and Joseph Warren Zambra — which brings us back to the problem of Mr Warren's first name. Further to Dr Moore Agar of Harley Street and Dr Morley Agar of Wimpole Street, in the previous case, another professional man in Wimpole Street was Dr Bonaventure Castelotte, a dentist. The name Castalotte has not shown up in any source, though several spelling variants can be found in New York City and elsewhere in the United States. And while the name Barelli is genuine, nothing suggests an original for Augusto Barelli of Posilippo, near Naples. Gorgiano the villain, on the other hand, can be found nowhere as a surname — another coinage, of a fine Italian sound; but can a root for it be found in Gorgie, a district and railway station on the Water of Leith, Edinburgh, with which Doyle was surely familiar? In this case occurs the third allusion to an Edinburgh street, for Mrs Warren's house in Great Orme Street (presumably Great Ormond Street) faced a view of Howe Street. Like Lauriston Gardens and SaxeCoburg Place, Howe Street must have been familiar to Doyle; it runs from Royal Circus to Queen Street Gardens, less than half a mile southeast of Saxe-Coburg Place. Each part of the antiheroine's name in The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax has given some Sherlockian meat at which to pick. Firstly, could she rightfully be called "the" Lady Frances Carfax as Holmes describes her? Secondly, the manuscript originally read Maria Carfax. Thirdly, while most attention to the surname has revolved around the central point in Oxford which is known by that name, Harrison has pointed out a street named Carfax in Horsham, Sussex, a town which figures in The Five Orange Pips.4 He also identified the original of the lady as Frances Rose, Lady Gunning, who was convicted of forgery in 1895. This is in line with other cases, where partial names come from one or more sources, characteristics from another source or sources. Two other sources of Carfax exist, however. Bram Stoker's Dracula appeared in 1897, and the first narrator, Jonathan Harker (cf The Six Napoleons), describes an "estate called Carfax, no doubt a corruption of the old Quatre-Face" at or "near" Purfleet. The OED explains Carfax

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as from the Latin quadrifurcus, a place where four or more roads meet — in fact, a crossroads, which has symbolic significance in Stoker's tale of the vampire. That Doyle uses the name in a case which hinges upon a coffin containing the un-dead Lady, as well as the withered corpse of Rose Spender, is an obvious reference back to the tale of the thirsty Count.5 Stoker was Henry Irving's manager at the Lyceum, which appears in The Sign of Four, and Doyle knew Irving. In addition, Carfax occurs as a proper name; witness Carfax & Co Ltd, art dealers in Ryder Street, St James's (and Nathan Garrideb's residence in the fictitious Little Ryder Street). At least one presumes the name here to be personal, though firm names are often invented. Next, that smooth villain "Holy" Peters, alias Dr Shlessinger, who has a complicated derivation — yet no part of the referential material seems excludable. This is consistent with the idea that Doyle's strength lay in assimilating and melding his sources. The first referent is Dr Carl Peters, German explorer in East Africa. Born in 1856 of a mother who was apparently English, he hated the English. With the approval of Berlin, he agitated the colonies in 1884 and led an expedition to Uganda. In 1888 he led an expedition (quite unnecessary as it proved) to the relief of Emin Pasha, and followed it with a year's killing, burning and harshness. He was made Imperial (German) Commissioner at Kilimanjaro in 1891 and nearly wrecked the area. He returned to Germany in 1893, but was denounced in the Reichstag in 1896. Germany had meanwhile in 18go signed a treaty with England which largely nullified Peters's efforts. From 1899 to 1905 he travelled in Portuguese East Africa and Rhodesia. His anti-English activities and propaganda were regarded with astonishment by the British press. A second referent, from an earlier period, is Hugh Peters or Peter (1598-166o) who was Cromwell's army chaplain, who was so generally unpopular that at the Restoration he was arrested and executed as a regicide. Suspected of heterodoxy in the time of Charles 1, he had fled England and in 1629 became minister of the English church in Rotterdam.6 The Church of England and the government, instigated by Archbishop Laud, tried to arrest him and he went to Massachusetts (he was related to Governor Winthrop's family by marriage). He excommunicated Roger Williams, the colonial leader, and was regarded as a man of public spirit and wide interest. Returning to England in 1641, he "became prominent in controversy, war and politics," preaching against Laud. He became army chaplain, confidential agent and war correspondent, and had great influence, but "the presbyterians regarded him with the strongest aversion." Pensioned by Parliament in 1646, he was

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interested in shipbuilding and law reform, banks, and poor relief, and opposed war with the Dutch. "The popular hatred was hardly deserved," DNB adds; "His reputation was further assailed in songs and satires ... but these accustations ... deserve no credit." A comment in igoo styles him "Pseudo St. Peter" and "Prince of army chaplains."7 Doyle would have known Peters as part of his wide acquaintance with Commonwealth history. The third part of the "Holy Peters" portmanteau is the idea of the pseudo-clergyman. Griffiths mentions "Dr. Berrington," a quondam clergyman and sometime inmate of Princetown prison,' and Doyle's wide reading of criminal literature would possibly have acquainted him with this gentleman, but of Dr Berrington no further details are at hand, though the name is a faint echo of "Beddington" (The Stockbroker's Clerk) and "Blessington" (The Resident Patient). But another clerical criminal was contemporary with Doyle. In December 1886 another clerical impostor caused some noise, and there is some reason to suppose from his own story that he had actually been ordained a priest in the Church of Rome ... He rejoiced in several aliases, Keatinge being the commonest, but he was also known as Moreton ... Keatinge made out that he had studied at Stonyhurst ...9 Theodore Oswald Keatinge had been convicted in 1858 for fraud and in 1877 for false pretences. In 1886 it was the Priests Protection Society in Dublin which claimed it had been defrauded, on the strength of Keatinge having been Roman Catholic and turned Protestant. He was a "liberated convict under surveillance" — a parolee. The defence was that it had not been proved that Keatinge was not a reformed Roman Catholic priest, but he was found guilty. This was reported not only in The Times but in the Portsmouth newspaper; Doyle would certainly have heard of him, and because of the Stonyhurst claim had an immediate interest. The "Reverend Huxtable," another of the kind, has been mentioned in Chapter 24. Another facet of this smooth-faced rascal was his alias, Dr Shlessinger. A real Dr Richard Emil Schlesinger had been graduated a year ahead of Arthur Conan Doyle from the University of Edinburgh, in 188o, having been granted the MRCS in 1879; and by 1g10 he was in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia, where he was assistant surgeon in Alfred Hospital, Prahran, a Melbourne suburb. "Holy" Peters got his ragged ear when he "was badly bitten in a saloon fight in Adelaide in '8g." Blau notes that the manuscript of Lady Frances Carfax originally said that Peters had been bitten in Omaha, and this was changed during the original writing

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to Adelaide."' Victoria was apparently still living down its original reputation, and presumably would be more familiar to British readers than anywhere in Nebraska. Another of the same surname was Dr Herman Schlesinger, professor of internal medicine in Vienna, who might perhaps have attracted Dr Doyle's attention during his abortive stay in Vienna to study ophthalmology. Admiral Green, who is mentioned but does not appear, is unknown to the Navy List but his origins may be found in Paymaster-Captain Warwick Arthur Green, RN (retired), whose address was Pencombe, London Road, Crowborough. The Honourable Philip Green would seem, bearing such an honorific, to have been the son of an admiral who was also a minor peer. Two actual Philip Greens may have contributed their names: Philip Anthony Mark Green, MD, physician and surgeon of Onslow Square, and Philip Green, publisher, of Essex Street, Strand. Among 45o Greens in the 1g10 directory, who include a major-general and two majors but no naval officers, it is difficult to come closer to a probable source. Two sportsmen are among minor mentions in the case. Bevington, or Bovington, the pawnbrokers in the Westminster Road, have suffered from the too common muddling of canonical spellings. The first edition published in England, by John Murray in 1917, has "Bevington" as does the first American edition by Doran, but "Bovington" has crept in somewhere and is enshrined in the 193o Doubleday text. Both names actually occur as both personal and place name, but the original for the canonical use of it seems to be John Currey Bevington, 1871-1933, who played cricket for Harrow and for Essex and Middlesex. The gallant French Jules Vibart, lover of Lady Frances's maid, was named for the solidly English Ronald Frank Vibart, 1879-1934, who was also a Harrow cricketer, playing at Lord's for Harrow when only fourteen. In 1911 he scored 149 against Berkshire, which suggests why his name was used in a case published that year. Once more encountering the Kennington Road in this case is a reminder of the incidents in The Six Napoleons and the number of characters there who had an origin in the same road. In this case it is Stimson & Co, the undertakers. Two mortuary firms were indeed in the Kennington Road, Alexander Ashton & Co at No 42o, and James Cook Dadley at No 345, not to mention undertakers in Harleyford Street, Kennington Park Road, in Brook Street, Kennington, and in both Upper and Lower Kennington Lane. Unfortunately the closest name to the undertakers who were to conduct the Spender funeral is Stimson & Sons, auctioneers

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and valuers of Moorgate Street and the New Kent Road. The New Kent Road may be as close to the Kennington Road as we can get. The dubious lady accomplice of "Holy" Peters, Annie Fraser who passed as his wife, and was probably what would now be dignified as a common-law wife, has a common enough name. Mrs Annie Fraser was a dressmaker in Bayswater, a confectioner in Putney, the proprietor of apartments in the Marylebone Road — among the hundred and thirty Frasers in the directories. But Harrison mentions — though failing to make the connection — "Mrs" Annie Frost, one of the perpetrators of "the other great fraud case of 1888"" for she and her "husband" R.F.B. Frost cashed numbers of worthless cheques. Despite the twenty-three year interval it seems likely that "Mrs" Peters, who is irrelevant to the plot of the case, was patterned on "Mrs" Frost, and the closeness of the names is remarkable. The name of Dr Horsom, of 13, Firbank Villas, appears to be another invention. Though this exact name cannot be found, any number of doctors' names commencing in Hor- are listed. Reginald Ernest Horsley was an MB, CM from Edinburgh in the year of Doyle's MD, and set up in Edinburgh as an ear and throat specialist. Sir Victor Alexander Horsley, 1857-1916, had been surgeon to the National Hospital for Paralysis and Epilepsy and was emeritus professor of clinical surgery and consulting surgeon to University College Hospital. Dr Edward Collett Hort was a prolific writer on haematology. William Herbert Horsman was a Willesden surgeon. Wilfrid W. Horton had been a year ahead of Doyle for both the baccalaureates and the doctorate at Edinburgh. But significantly Dr Reginald Horsley was also an author: In the Grip of the Hawk (1907); Stonewall's Scout (1897); The Yellow God (1895); The Blue Balloon (1895); Hunted through Fiji (1897) and so on — not medical works but dashing adventures. Dr Horsom's address, which "Holy" Peters enjoined Holmes to "mind," would probably be in Firbank Road, SE, at the eastern edge of Peckham, rather a long way from Brixton Workhouse, though a direct railway journey. The street was named for Joseph Firbank, the contractor who built extensive sections of South London's railways, and with them extensive workingmen's housing developments such as Wharncliffe Gardens in St John's Wood (1895).12 If they were Firbank Villas indeed, they were cramped, overcrowded flats in solid, massive brick blocks, not "villas" at all and most unlikely to be a doctor's address. And Firbank Road was built, turn-of-century, leading out of Caulfield Road — a name which, transposed to Kensington, may be found two years earlier in The Bruce-Partington Plans.'s

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M Moser the hotelier in Lausanne could have been named for any number of prominent Mosers — Hans the translator of Turgenev and Tolstoy, Julius the professor of art, Koloman the painter, Ludwig the commander of an infantry regiment — but in London out of eleven Mosers listed, two were private detectives: Antonia (a lady detective? shades of Lady Molly of Scotland Yard!) in High Holborn, and Maurice (a very well known detective) in Bridge Street, Westminster. The similarity of a case related by Maurice Moser, of a body found beside railway lines, to the plot of The Bruce-Partington Plans, makes him a highly attractive antecedent.'4 The earl of Rufton, father or at least ancestor of Lady Frances Carfax, came from Doyle's own Memoirs of Brigadier Gerard in which Lord Rufton appears — and in this regard it may also be noted that in Doyle's Stark Munro Letters appeared "Dr Horton" who vaguely sounds like "Dr Horsom" in this case. Rufton is another of Doyle's coinages but in this case, since he had coined it for another work, further search may be postponed. Two names in the case had been used previously — Devine as the sculptor in The Six Napoleons and Latimer in The Greek Interpreter. Two female names give the usual difficulty: the only Dobney in the 1gio directory is Mrs Ellen Dobney, a wardrobe dealer (presumably of used clothing) in Hackney, and unlikely to be connected save by chance and sound (in Doyle's ear) of name with Susan Dobney the old faithful retainer; while of the half-dozen Spenders, there is no reason to connect John Alfred Spender the journalist and author (1862-1942) or his mother, Lily Spender the novelist (1835-95) with the wizened remains of Rose Spender. Holmes's excuse at the beginning of the case, for remaining in London and sending Watson to Lausanne, is another unexplained allusion: "I cannot possibly leave London while old Abrahams is in such mortal terror of his life." Ignoring the tautology, old Abrahams may have been suggested by Abraham Abrahams, who was born in Poland in 18o 1 and fled to England in 1837 because of Russian persecution. After holding a series of respected posts he died peacefully in Jerusalem in 188o; but no persecution of him in England is recorded. Contemporary with Holmes was Sir Henry Aaron Isaacs, third Jewish Lord Mayor of London (1889-9o). His part in arousing and organizing British indignation against the European atrocities of 18go, culminating in sending a protest to the Czar, raised the fury of anti-Semitic propaganda, which linked him and other British protestors with the fierce repression of the Irish peasantry by absentee landlords. While Sir Henry Isaacs seems, from his mayoral reminiscences,'S to have been a cheerful, even

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gullible soul, he shortly afterward had the misfortune to become involved with the notorious Horatio Bottomley, an indefatigable and unscrupulous promoter who at that moment had been kiting the Hansard Publishing Union — a printing firm whose name was adroitly capitalized on the fact that one of the firms absorbed was the printers of the Parliamentary debates. There was hanky-panky over some £3oo,000 in debentures, but Sir Henry appears to have been in the affair only for the weight of his name, and was acquitted. Some critics consider it unlikely that `old Abrahams" was named for a specific antecedent — that far more likely it was picked simply as a typical name. There is some weight to this view, for fifty private residents in London were named Abrahams and many others were in trade, including three Abraham Abrahams, three Lewis Abrahams and four Louis Abrahams. Indeed, in Norwood were Arthur Abrahams, an ironmonger in Gipsy Hill (whence other canonical names have come), and Arthur Abrahams, who had a fancy bazaar in Portland Road, South Norwood. Then one recalls that as early as A Study in Scarlet one of Holmes's visitors had been "a gray-headed, seedy visitor, looking like a Jew peddler, who appeared to me to be much excited." Was Holmes being faithful to an old client?

36 Dying Despite the Doctors "You can now go and fetch Mr. Culverton Smith, of 13 Lower Burke Street." The Dying Detective

"Malingering," said Sherlock Holmes, "is a subject upon which I have sometimes thought of writing a monograph." Dr Conan Doyle, and Dr John H. Watson, and any other Army doctor could also contribute a few choice items to such a monograph. But the intention of The Dying Detective is as much to malign the cocksureness of the medical profession as to illustrate malingering, and this is highlighted by the discovery that alone of all the sixty cases in the saga, the characters in The Dying Detective are entirely named after medical men. There are only seven, to be sure, and one of them is a Smith while two names have not yet been identified, but the grouping is still striking. Dr Ainstree, the specialist in tropical diseases, alphabetically the first, though the third consultant suggested by Watson, is named for

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William Francis Ainsworth (1807-96), surgeon, cholera specialist, traveller, editor, one of the founders of the Royal Geographical Society, and a cousin of William Harrison Ainsworth the writer. The name is probably disguised by relating it to Aintree, the location of the racecourse outside Liverpool, but not to any ascertainable person associated with Aintree or Liverpool. Penrose Fisher, the second consultant mentioned, is a portmanteau. The Fisher is likely either Alexander, or John B., who gained the Edinburgh MB, CM, in 1885 and 188o respectively — both when Conan Doyle was at the medical school. Fisher is a common name, there being over two hundred in the 1910 London directory, but only seven Fishers took Edinburgh degrees between 1859 and 1888. The second part of the name is clearer: Penrose is used here as a forename, but it was an uncommon surname, with only nine of the name in the same directory. One was Francis George Penrose, MB 1884 MD (London) 1885, who had studied at University College, London, and in Vienna and Berlin, and who was, in addition to being assistant physician to St George's Hospital, in practice in Clarges Street in 1850 and in Wimpole Street by 1903. While the name of Sir Penrose Penrose, 1822-1902, a general in the Royal Marines, is of interest in regard to the reduplicated name of Hynes Hynes, JP, in Wisteria Lodge, he is less likely to be a source of this Penrose, one of the "best men in London." Sir Jasper Meek is the first name which occurs to Dr Watson among these best men. Perhaps it is significant that this is a working-class name, for among the sixteen directory listings in 1910 all are in trade — none are private residents in the "Court Directory." Perhaps Sir Jasper was one of the nouveaux riches, as successful a businessman as he was a physician. He is named, it seems, for one of two or three Meeks in the London and Norwood area. John William Meek held the London MD (1881) having earned the MB in 1880 as a University Scholar, with the Gold Medal in Forensic Medicine, and Honours in Medicine and Obstetrics. He had already been registered LRCP (London) and MRCS (England) in 1877 after study at Guy's Hospital, and was in practice in Norwood Road, Herne Hill. Truly one of the "best men in London" — University. Wilfred Ombler Meek was also a medico, a little younger, having earned the London Ma, Bs in 1905 after study at St Thomas's Hospital. And Thomas S. Meek lived at 58 Thornlaw Road, West Norwood. The reference to Victor Savage is a trifle puzzling. While the chase after his murderer is the ostensible reason for Holmes's trap for Culverton Smith, unlike all the others of Holmes's cases we see only one scene from a drama which is obviously of several scenes. It is therefore conjectural

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who Victor Savage was, and what the reason for his murder. The antecedent of the name is not conjectural; three Savages are obvious. Mark A. Savage received the medical baccalaureates from Edinburgh in 1883 and would have been a first-year medical student while Doyle was a student, while Samuel R. Savage received his medical degrees in 1886. Sir George Henry Savage was consulting physician to Guy's Hospital and the Earlswood Asylum, and a specialist and lecturer on mental diseases, with consulting rooms in Devonshire Place — where Doyle briefly had his own consulting rooms — and a country address in Hampshire. Medical men attached to various mental hospitals have been encountered previously among the antecedents of canonical names, and Sir George is therefore the most probable single Savage. The name is not unusual; the 1gso directory musters fifty-two Savages in trade and eleven private residents, but no Victor. The name is also a reminder of Victor Lynch, that name in The Sussex Vampire so unexpectedly filed among the V's rather than the L's, but in The Dying Detective no specific reason for the forename is visible. The police officer in the case is Inspector Morton, the only case in which he is met, though he is one of four Mortons in various cases. He also is medical, for Charles J. Morton was an 1886 Edinburgh medical graduate while Edwin Morton received the Ms, cm in 1885, the year of Doyle's MD, and then the Mn in 1888. Five medical Mortons are among nearly a hundred in the 1g10 Post Office directory, but among these stands out Andrew Stanford Morton, Ms, an ophthalmic surgeon in Harley Street. Such a large number of ophthalmologists bearing names seen in the sixty tales must be more than coincidence. If Dr Doyle's practice as an eye specialist was unsuccessful in everything else, for he had never a single patient, he made good use of his colleagues in his writings. And there were Mortons also in Norwood, in particular William R. Morton of 24, Gipsy Hill, a road in which other familiar names have been met. Only suspicion would connect the name of Staples, Culverton Smith's butler, with the retired Brigade Surgeon Lt-Col Francis Patrick Staples, late Army Medical Services, who had been a professor at the Army Medical School at Netley even in John H. Watson's time there. Nor has Culverton Smith himself been found. Chapter 11 suggested that major medical characters in the stories are not named for medical men, while medical names are freely used for minor characters. Whether Culverton Smith should count as medical is doubtful, for he was apparently a retired planter with some obscure medical knowledge of his own gleaning; and the entire case, as remarked at the beginning, seems to be an exception

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to the pattern. Among the million Smiths it is therefore not clear whether the quarry might be medical or not. However, Culverton, unusual for a first name, is not among the usual sources of surnames either; and it is not geographical despite its form. And what about Lower Burke Street where Culverton Smith resided? There is indeed a Burke Street, a little curved side-street in Canning Town just beyond the East India Dock Road today; but earlier this was the area of the East India Docks and a cluster of houses called Halleville, the original Canning Town lying on the other side of the Barking Road. Holmes had been, Mrs Hudson says, working on a case down at Rotherhithe, in an alley near the river. Her knowledge of the unsavoury East End — into which respectable people never ventured, and even the police only in force — was probably so vague that Rotherhithe, which is far along westward on the other side of Limehouse Reach and the Isle of Dogs, was as good a name as any for terra incognita. Rotherhithe or Canning Town, it does not matter; the area was unsavoury and a-swarm with foreign seamen, foreign cargoes and foreign diseases for aught anyone knew. Lower Burke Street is not on the present map, but then Burke Street is but half of the loop of side road, the other half being Cooper Street. It will do as well as any for Lower Burke Street, just as Dr Doyle did not mind blending the then York Place and Upper Baker Street into Baker Street in order to blur the location of No 221B. One small matter not involving a name may be appended. Among the prattling and babbling with which Holmes persuades Watson that he is indeed delirious is: "I cannot think why the whole bed of the ocean is not one solid mass of oysters ... Shall the world, then, be overrun by oysters? No, no, horrible!" But in Scribner's Magazine late in 1891, and cited in Review of Reviews in the same month, occurs the following: "... if it had been allowed to exercise its full power the oyster would have flooded the world years ago, and there would be no land in sight ..."' Horrible indeed! Dr Doyle had capacious notebooks and a retentive memory.

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37 A Maze, Amaze, a Mazarin "Then there is Lord Cantlemere —" "Ah!" "Sylvius is the name — Count Negretto Sylvius. Write it down, man, write it down!" The Mazarin Stone Passing over His Last Bow for the nonce, the next case chronologically to appear was The Mazarin Stone, although the order in the much later collection of The Case Book was quite different. This case offers the problems of a play recast into a short story. It offers also names which seem foreign, and names which are certainly coinages. Six of the eleven names in the case have not at this juncture been connected with specific antecedents, but the remainder are particularly interesting in their origins. The implausibilities in the tale have been analysed and carped at by critics, but when its theatrical origins are considered it adheres well to dramatic necessities — it plays perhaps better than it reads. Whether the names in the case were determined to any extent by that origin in dramatic form should be investigated. Count Negretto Sylvius, the "heavy" in the case, is apparently intended to be a foreigner; yet he does not sound or act "foreign" in the narrative version, which is suspicious. Is the count one of those cosmopolitan crooks of no nationality and every passport, or is the name an assumed cover for a native English swindler? Sylvius is a Latin equivalent of the French name Dubois, of the English name Woods. Negretto is also a surname, and like Castalotte & Zamba in The Red Circle is reminiscent of Negretti & Zambra the London instrument makers. The echo may be intentional; the count had an airgun, a fine instrument of its kind. But Negretto is also a diminutive of negro, "black"; the two names together become "little black wood." In 1921, the year in which The Mazarin Stone appeared, Algernon Blackwood published The Bright Messenger and Wolves of God. Known for tales of the weird and supernatural even as was Doyle, Blackwood had been a farmer in Canada, a hotelier in Toronto, a newspaperman in New York. Wolves of God was favourably reviewed in the New York Times, the Times Literary Supplement, and elsewhere in December (after The Mazarin Stone had appeared) but The Bright Messenger faced mixed reviews — from the Nation and Athenaeum as late as January 1922, from the New York Tribune the preceding September — and it is not clear whether Doyle's work or Blackwood's actually appeared

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first. The Nation called Blackwood's book "a message so confused and a language so redundant, florid and hectic that they make us very well content with a bluntness of perception which is unable to be penetrated by them."' The Tribune said Blackwood "suffered philosophy to usurp the art of story telling ... an elaborate parade of interminable disquisitions."2 Perhaps a train of thought which led to Count Sylvius started with Major Wood. Doyle's secretary (known to the family as "Uncle Woody" and immediately providing the idea of a diminutive) and with Doyle's love of words and knowledge of Latin. Algernon Blackwood would be a sitting target for such a disguised name. But there are English names which do not sound "English" and there is no necessary presumption that the count was foreign because of the name. An example of such an English name was the Sartorius family; three sons of Sir George Rose Sartorius had equally distinguished Army careers. Two gained vcs and major-generalship; the eldest, Col George, was a noted sportsman, a hunter of tiger and lion, who shot the largest buffalo ever bagged. He may have been in Doyle's mind when he limned Col Moran as well (Chapter 22). Inspector Youghal is presumably Irish, for it is a placename in Cork and Tipperary, but the surname is not to be found, at least in the Northern Ireland, London, and New York telephone directories. One wonders at the use of such an unusual name in a dramatic work, and possible pronunciation problems. The only other "onstage" characters in The Mazarin Stone — the Inspector being only a mention in dialogue — Sam Merton and Lord Cantlemere, are mere cardboard. Merton, name of the oldest Oxford college, occurs fourteen times as a personal name in the iglo London directory, and further investigation may be profitable. Cantlemere is another coined title, an effective one since the inclusion of the geographic -mere gives it the effect of placenames which form so many noble titles. Ikey Sanders does not appear, but his name is common with sixty-seven trade entries and nineteen private residents in the Post Office list. The effect is intended to be Jewish, but why? Mrs Harold and the Blymer estate — how were they connected? — have not been unearthed. Van Seddar, who is evidently the Amsterdam diamondcutter's runner, is another coinage; at least there is no such name in Amsterdam nor in bibliographies. Compare the Dutch-sounding names in The Valley of Fear (Chapter 46). There remain the mentions of several interesting names. Old Baron Dowson, who was hanged, is probably not intended to be reminiscent of Doyle's old friend in Southsea, the spiritualist General Drayson, as someone has suggested, though this may have been a starting

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point for the name. Several Dowsons were cricketers: Edward Maurice Dowson (1880-1933), a former Harrow and Cambridge captain, son of Edward Dowson an old Surrey cricketer, who had played at Lord's against Eton at the age of fifteen in 1895 and who toured America, the West Indies, Australia, and New Zealand in 1goo-3. His father Edward Dowson, one of the oldest of Surrey cricketers — and Doyle would know them all — was born in Camberwell in 1838, died in Surbiton in 1922, and had played strongly for Surrey as long ago as 1860-7. Aubrey Osler Dowson played at Rugby in 1892-3, played rugby for Oxford (1896) and England (1899), and engaged in field sports at Cambridge 1895-7. But another Dawson is more likely to have been hanged: Mary Emily Dowson was a writer on religion under the pseudonym of William Scott Palmer; and William Palmer (1824-56) was the notorious poisoner, one of those medical men whom Holmes declared (erroneously) were "at the head of their profession" and who was indeed hanged. Any number of other Dowsons were prominent: Joseph, who invented gasproducing apparatus; Ernest the poet; John the orientalist; Sir Oscar who comes closest to being a baron; but Mary Emily and the cricketers are much more likely. Tavernier the sculptor in wax does not appear in directories of that profession, and the 1910 Post Office London Directory has no Taverniers though it lists a hundred and fifteen sculptors and nine waxfigure makers. There was however Eric Aumonier, who went in for exterior panels for office buildings and other sculptural effects; and there was William Aumonier & Son, of New Inn Yard, Tottenham Court Road. The connection between "tavern" and "inn" is obvious, while Doyle had a younger brother Innes. Among wax-figure makers, the eye is caught by the French Bust Company, of Lower Seymour Street and Goodge Street (which is off the Tottenham Court Road), and by Pierre Imans of Paris, represented by F.J. Valentin of Great Titchfield Street. This seems to be a typical Doylean three-part disguise; the names Tavernier and Aumonier cannot be related directly, save that both are "termes vieillis" according to Littre's dictionary (ie, obsolete) and an "almoner" is not a "tavernkeeper." The airgun was made for Count Sylvius in "old Straubenzee's workshop in the Minories." Sir Arthur had an airgun — whether it was made by von Herder, or Straubenzee, is not now clear. But the maker of the Count's airgun was real enough. He was Maj-Gen Sir Casimir Cartwright Van Straubenzee, 1867-1956, who had been Inspector-General of the Royal Artillery 1917-18, having earlier been an instructor in the School of Gunnery 0 gog-12) and chief instructor (1914-15), and a former

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professor at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario. Not only was he an expert on firearms, he was a cricketer; and in Bedford's Annals of the Free Foresters he is indexed under "Straubenzee" without the Van. The Straubenzees were indeed a famous Army family. Moreover, Turner Straubenzee, Esq, was involved in an adultery trial in 1783 with a Mrs E. Hankey, whence perhaps comes "hanky-panky" whose origin is unknown to the Oxford English Dictionary. Sir Casimir upon retirement after the first World War returned to the quiet university town of Kingston, where an earlier Van Straubenzee had been a garrison officer, and only in the 197os did the last of his immediate family die, whereupon the property was sold. The location of old Stralibenzee's workshop has been discussed in Chapter 20; the principal London manufacturer of airguns was Martin Pulvermann & Co of No 26, Minories. Miss Minnie Warrender, whose complete life history was in Holmes's notebook, was a real friend of the Doyle family, who has left her own complete life history. Lady Ethel Maud Warrender (187o-1945) was the daughter of the eighth earl of Shaftesbury, and married Sir George Warrender in 1894. Vice-Admiral Sir George John Scott Warrender (186o-1917) was, among other things, the commander of HM Yacht. Lady Ethel Maud was six feet one inch tall, a rather simple lady of the Old School, and very close to royalty having been a Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Mary. An energetic worker in World War 1, in the Girl Guides, involved with the project for the Queen's Doll's House to which Doyle among others contributed an original Holmesian miniature book, she was a firm believer in Mattei's system of medicine and in the AntiVaccination League. In all, a highly suitable target for a mention fond and amused, rather than sly. With The Mazarin Stone late in 1921, after a four-year lapse, the saga of Sherlock Holmes entered its last phase, the last dozen adventures. Even then they came slowly, the last half-dozen together. The Mazarin Stone showed a different pattern in its name, but the familiar distribution was resumed, if not in the next one, Thor Bridge, then in The Creeping Man in mid-1923. Holmes did not age, save perhaps in His Last Bow; even in the 1g2os, it was always 1895 in Baker Street.

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38 Thor Bridge Still a Problem "You have heard of Neil Gibson, the Gold King?" "Thor Mere it is called." "Mr. Marlow Bates was a stranger to both of us." Thor Bridge The Problem of Thor Bridge stands over waters deeper than even Holmes thought, and while once more foreign names present some difficulty, and a couple of commonplace names have not been identified, Batory's use' of the Conan Doyle syndrome in analysing the case makes it worthwhile to record those names which have been elicited. Batory has shown that the elements described by Rosenberg are present in Thor Bridge: a dark place, written message, death of a person or many people, unexpected reversal of sex roles, violence. He points out a direct hint or warning of allegory: the name of the police officer, Sergeant Coventry. In concentrating on the derivation of the names in the case, the problem may be approached from a different point of view, and some items considered which reinforce Batory's analysis, though at one or two points varying from his conclusions. J. Neil Gibson, the Gold King, American ex-Senator, is surely John Gibson, Ms, cm (Edinburgh 1879) who had graduated two years before Arthur Conan Doyle received his medical degrees, yet who was two years later in taking the MD. Gibson was one of five Gold Medalists in Medicine in 1887. By 18go he was in New South Wales. "Mr. Marlow Bates was a stranger to both of us," Dr Watson recounts when Bates is introduced at 221B Baker Street. Batory derives Marlow from the pseudonym of the English-born actress Sarah Frances Frost whose stage name was Julia Marlow. Almost incidentally the earlier occurrence of her first name Sarah in The Cardboard Box, and Rosenberg's relation of the Cushing sisters to the French actress sisters, may be noted (Chapter 17) as well as that original of Annie Fraser in Lady Frances Carfax who claimed to be "Mrs. Frost." Regrettably Batory says nothing about Bates. But there was another American, Arlo Bates, 1850-1918, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and writer of novels. The National Union Catalog lists sixteen of his works; nine of his novels are in the British Library, but only The Puritans, published in 1899 by Constable, appeared in an English edition. The Puritans is a novel of conflict in Boston between the call of High Church, and the calls of love,

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material possessions, spiritualism, etc, to two men. Arthur Conan Doyle would have reacted strongly to that work, and Thor Bridge reflects something of similar conflicting calls. Bates's other works range from Berries of the Brier (1886) and Boston Mother Goose, to The Business Meeting, a 1905 one-act play, The Diary of a Saint (1902), and Lad's Love (1887). While it is unlikely that Doyle knew Bates personally, his omnivorous reading may well have devoured The Puritans. The improbability of Gibson's American background, which is superfluous to the plot of Thor Bridge — his wealth could easily have been accounted for in other ways, as could his Amazonian adventures — is compensated by a good rendition of Gibson's free American mannerisms of speech, but the clues are placed to emphasize the American derivations. There was it is true James C. Bates, physician and surgeon of 5, Church Road in Norwood, a little over a mile from Doyle's South Norwood residence of 1891, but the coincidence in Bates's name is much closer with the novelist; and Arlo is an unusual first name. Batory attributes the policeman's name also to the Doyle syndrome: "Conan Doyle chose this name as part of his allegorizing ... Miracle plays or mystery plays ... are also known as 'coventry plays'."' However, the rank is also significant; and the name Coventry is indeed a legitimate surname, for the 1910 directory has a dozen of the name, as well as the earl of Coventry for whom it is both surname and title. Three Coventrys were notable cricketers. Col the Hon Charles John Coventry, cs, 18671929, an old Etonian, had played for Worcestershire and had visited South Africa with Major Warton's team in 1888-9. The Hon Henry Thomas Coventry, third son of the ninth earl, had been at Eton 18867. The ninth earl himself, George William Coventry, 1838-1930, loved cricket and he too had played for Worcestershire; he had been president of the Marylebone Cricket Club in 1859 at the age of 21. Another significant name is the Hon Reginald William Coventry, barrister of Paper Buildings, Temple; an old term for a barrister-at-law of a certain rank was Serjeant. Sergeant Coventry represents the law not only in the literal sense of the police, but in the sense of the Law of England concerning itself with the deep passions of the human heart. As Prestige points out in the issue of the Sherlock Holmes Journal which also holds Batory's article,2 Doyle had concerned himself with the problem of divorce reform since early in the new century. His own marriage and sense of duty had for years involved him in tremendous inner conflict, and as in The BrucePartington Plans he uses the name of Westbury, the Chancellor responsible for the Divorce Act of 1857, he here uses another legal name with a double meaning. It is also possible that the emphasis upon Miss Dunbar's

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silence after being accused of the crime, coupled with mention of her counsel, is a hint of a third English use of the name. "Beyond this should say nothing, as her lawyer had advised her to reserve her defence." To "send to Coventry" is a punishment meted out to petty offenders by their colleagues who refuse to speak to the offender. Here it is reversed and the presumed offender will say nothing. Still another name of the sort is that apparently careless mention of Mr James Phillimore, "who, stepping back into his own house to get his umbrella, was never more seen in this world." Placed by Watson among "unfinished tales," the idea has too often been used in Sherlockian pastiche and in science-fiction. The name Phillimore, by the way, is also in Doyle's early novel The Firm of Girdlestone, written 1884-6 and published 18go. Phillimore like Coventry was a well-known family; there were an admiral, a Radical politician, a QC, and a solicitor. Sir Robert Joseph Phillimore (1810-85) was one of five sons of Joseph Phillimore. The one who engages particular attention is Sir Walter, later Lord Phillimore (1845-1929). He is mentioned as a counsel in Divorce Court in 1887, and he became a very well-known justice. Mr Justice Phillimore is described by Kingston as stern and pale-faced, the very embodiment of austere decorum ... The judge, typical of the conventional county family; a man whose life had been sheltered from the day he had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth; well known from his horror of those laws which help to loosen the bonds of matrimony; in brief, a man who knew nothing of the world which lies beyond the public school, university and Society.3 This is confirmed by Shew who says that Phillimore viewed with mingled incredulity and disgust the distasteful ways in which men and women were inclined to behave outside the somewhat rarefied circles in which he himself moved ... [Hie was never required to concern himself with such mundane matters as are involved in the mere process of earning a living, and this lent to him a certain air of remoteness from the ordinary, and no doubt sometimes sordid, commerce of life. When he was first appointed a judge of the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court he had had no experience of criminal cases, and much of the evidence to which he was now compelled to listen plainly shocked him to the core; anything, for instance, which seemed to imply a loose standard of sexual morality was sure to arouse in him feelings little short of horror.4 Explanations of the disappearance of Mr James Phillimore now become

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easier; an allegory that Phillimore, J. (as the legal reference would be) was entirely contained within his own house, or knew nothing of the world; perhaps even an expression of a wish that Mr Justice Phillimore, or at least the attitude which he represented toward the dissolution of matrimony, would disappear from public life. Yet once again it is clear that casual references are never irrelevant in the Holmes stories, though the intent may vary from a hidden joke to the sharpest of barbs.5 Under these circumstances, unless further documentation is to come, we must lay aside Klinefelter's assertion that the Phillimore case was a case from real life which had happened in America where Doyle heard of it while on one of his lecture tours. Although requested to apply the methods of Sherlock Holmes, he refused ...s No doubt there were missing persons in the United States; no doubt Doyle heard of some; but equally, there is no doubt that the central incident, the suicide-disguised-as-murder in Thor Bridge derives from another source, and the Phillimore reference is English and bears directly on the central theme. Maria Pinto, the maiden name of the deceased Mrs Gibson, appears as likely to be Italian as South American. Amelia Pinto was a well-known opera singer born in Palermo in 1878, who in 18gg appeared at Brescia in La Gioconda, then in Tosca at Lucca and in Tristan e Isotta in Milan.? Another passing reference is to another Italian name, Isadora Persano. This too fits the Conan Doyle syndrome, for argument has raged about the significance of the apparently feminine first name. The surname is that of an Italian admiral, the Conte Carlo Pellione di Persano (18o6-83). The New York Times rends it into Charles comte Pelion de Persano while The Times calls him Admiral Persono. Beyond establishing the surname there is no discernible connection between the admiral and Thor Mere; or is it to suggest the deep waters? Mr Joyce Cummings, the rising barrister, is explained by Batory as a double reference: to James Joyce and his Ulysses published in 1922, and to the American romantic novelist Maria Susanna Cummins (182766). Batory could also have pointed out the use of the first name Maria for the dead woman. As with Isadora Persano, the sexual ambiguity of the first name is important, and Batory neglects this. The problem with Batory's theory is that Thor Bridge was in the February 1922 Strand Magazine and could not have been written later than the end of 1921. But Ulysses appeared in Paris in the spring of 1922, and was first reviewed in the New York Times on 28 May — while Doyle was in New York, where he had arrived on to April for a lecture tour. In the same issue of the paper

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was another review: of E.E. Cummings's The Enormous Room, which stemmed from his World War experience. If this is pure coincidence, that Joyce and Cummings should be mentioned simultaneously, while Doyle was in New York, and that he should use the name Joyce Cummings three months previously, it is extraordinary. E.E. Cummings, to be sure, had written as early as 1915, and Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man had appeared in 1916 when Doyle was immensely occupied with other things. There could be other possibilities. For instance, Robert Conwy Joyce received the medical baccalaureates when Doyle received the MD, and went into practice in Wales. But the 1922 tour was not at all Doyle's first to the United States, and it must be concluded that the Americanism in Thor Bridge, and also the possibility of American sources for names, were deliberate. Grace Dunbar like too many Holmesian female figures has so far kept her own counsel. Ferguson, the secretary to Gibson who is only mentioned in passing by Marlow Bates, has the same name as another shadowy figure in The Engineer's Thumb, and the name would be repeated later in The Sussex Vampire and Three Gables. No less than three James Fergusons received Edinburgh medical degrees, James M. in 1881 along with Doyle, James E. and James H. both in 1884, while a Robert Ferguson and Robert M. Fergusson received the MA in 1882 and 1881 respectively. Much more likely is the fact that Ferguson & Ferguson were motor engineers (garage mechanics, we should say now) in Church Road, Crowborough, and Sir Arthur by this stage was a motoring enthusiast. Finally, Cox and Co the bankers, the first name mentioned in Thor Bridge, the location of that famous tin dispatch-box with Dr Watson's name upon the lid, was of course a real bank — now absorbed into one of the great national banking firms.

39 A Remarkable Collection of V's "Faithfully yours, Morrison, Morrison and Dodd, per E.J.C." "Matilda Briggs was not the name of a young woman, Watson." "Cheeseman's, Lamberley. Where is Lamberley, Watson?" The Sussex Vampire

From the viewpoint of the onomatologist, The Sussex Vampire is a frustratingly tantalizing case. There is only one significant character name,

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Ferguson; the other names involved are mere allusions. The crop of entries beginning with v in the "great index volume" rivals that mentioned in The Empty House under M, and has occasioned some amazing speculation on the part of American Irregular commentators, with a dearth of substantial results. Unfortunately, concentrated study of the v's still leaves some unexplained. Ferguson has been discussed in Thor Bridge (Chapter 38) which was the next-previous-but-one case although two years earlier; the name would recur again in Three Gables. While it came most probably from the Crowborough motor engineers, no such proximate source for the other half of the canonical firm, Ferguson & Muirhead, appears at the moment. John Muirhead lived at 5, Alexandra Road in Norwood, but without some additional link it is chancy to attribute a 1924 use of the name to the early South Norwood period of residence. Medical possibilities are Morrison of the firm of machinery assessors, and Harvey which occurs as the name of one of the old houses in Sussex. Morrison, Morrison, and Dodd seem strangely out of place in the case. Niver has suggested that they had something to do with the giant "bat" (vampire bat) of Sumatra, but what that had to do with the assessment of machinery is not clear either. The name appears to be inserted purely as the stolid British workaday world, even as Watson was the stolid British foil for Holmes. And who was "E.J.C."? The name Morrison has occurred previously in The Crooked Man and The Reigate Squires, two consecutive 1893 cases, with no clear origin evident. Harvey is a much easier case. Two Charles Harveys were graduated from Edinburgh in medicine in consecutive years, 1887 and 1888, and John Harvey had received the medical first degrees in the year of Doyle's doctorate, 1885. More likely is Thomas Paxley Harvey, 1861-1923, well known as a cricketer from Mitcham, Surrey. He had captained the Surrey Second Eleven, and was a strong bowler for Mitcham against the Surrey Colts in 1889. His 1923 death makes a strong presumption for the use of the name in this case, published in January 1924. The names of the old houses, or rather of the old families from whom the houses took names are interesting. Cheeseman is a Sussex name known as early as the fourteenth century, and also found in Somerset. Seventeen were in the 19 to London directory, and as many in the 1903 Sussex directory though in many cases the spelling is Cheesman. One who attracts Holmesian attention is Reginald H. Cheeseman whose address was Southborne House, Southborne, Emsworth, Sussex. Southborne is part of Eastbourne, but another Emsworth in Hampshire near Havant, not far from Portsmouth, has been declared by Prestige to be

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connected with The Blanched Soldier. Lamberley however is a disguised placename. Lamberden is near Cranbrook, Kent, and Lamberhurst is just over six miles from Tunbridge Wells, at the Sussex edge of Kent. There were no Cheesemans in Lamberhurst, nor in the Cranbrook area either. Neither Carriton's nor Odley's are to be found in the Sussex directory, nor are those names to be found anywhere: more Doylean coinages with precisely the right sound. Sir Frederick Carrington (18441913) had been a Boer War general, but that name is not a satisfactory explanation for Carriton. Those barely mentioned cases over which Holmes reminisces in The Sussex Vampire begin with Matilda Briggs, a ship. Edgar W. Smith undoubtedly hit upon the right explanation when he pointed out that one of the persons on the Mary Celeste, that ship whose strange fate has never been explained, was the captain's daughter, Sophia Matilda Briggs.' Doyle wrote about this 1872 mystery in his early "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement," and Brodie points out that the name occurs also in Thackeray's Vanity Fair.' As that novel appeared in 1848 it is not necessarily a source alternative to the Mary Celeste tragedy; who is to say where Captain and Mrs Briggs thought of a name for their daughter? Clarke discussing the canonical ships says, "The Matilda Briggs was indeed owned by the Oriental Trading Company of Shanghai."s If so, he knows something which Lloyd's Register of Shipping does not. The closest there registered is the Matilda Brooks, a wooden schooner, E.H. Jones master, out of New York. The Matilda Buck was stranded in December 1889. A Liverpool screw ketch was called the Brigg, but neither a brig nor a Briggs. Mutrux makes much. of Doyle's use of Poe, and there is no doubt that Doyle's changing "Mary Celeste" to the now much more widely known if inaccurate "Marie Celeste" is a direct copy of Poe's alteration of "Mary Rogers" to "Marie Roget"; but this is no reason to suspect that Matilda Briggs was altered from something else. The v's cause some problems. "Vanderbilt and the yeggmann" has been fancifully explained by Sherlockian prosodists, or attributed to some New York experience of Sherlock Holmes. Alfred G. Vanderbilt did have a Park Lane mansion in London, and a New York trip would not have been necessary, but another Vanderbilt is more likely to have been involved. Nicholls relates that in the Farrow's Bank case involving Horatio Bottomley, whom we have met before, It was not known at the time, of course, but the only money Bottomley possessed was the funds of the Victory Bond Clubs [of the first World War]. The haphazard way money was lent is illustrated all too tragically in recalling the day when a Frederick

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Washington Vanderbilt walked into the bank for a modest loan of £5000. Posing as a member of the family from America and worth over four million pounds, he was temporarily short of £5000, for the use of which he would deposit some coal mine shares. Of course the bank would accommodate him, only too pleased. When the time came for Mr. Vanderbilt to redeem his trumpery shares he could not be found — and never was.4 Much as the Vanderbilts (Cornelius, William, and Alfred) were cordially disliked in England for sundry activities, a `yeggman," who was originally a bank burglar, seems much more likely with the name Vanderbilt and the Farrow's Bank fraud. Victor Lynch the forger is among the canonically mentioned but seldom met forgers: Arthur H. Staunton, for instance, and Archie Stamford. No such Victor Lynch can be turned up, though the Lynches include (besides the Judge) some interesting persons: Christopher Lynch who was a collector like Nathan Garrideb; Hannah Lynch, a novelist in the 'eighties and 'nineties whose Defeated, a Tale, had been in Beeton's Christmas Annual for 1885; and Emma M. Murdoch who wrote detective fiction (such as it then was) in the 'eighties and 'nineties under the pen name of Lawrence L. Lynch. But a prominent Irishman who was certainly within Doyle's ken — but not a personal acquaintance — was Arthur Alfred Lynch. Lynch had been in Paris at the end of the century with the intention of taking up French citizenship. Upon the outbreak of the Boer War he raised and commanded the Irish Brigade in the Transvaal, and became a naturalized burgher of the Transvaal. He had the gall to return to Britain after the war, and was quite naturally arrested and tried for high treason. He was condemned to death, but the sentence was commuted to penal servitude for life. Lynch was released on licence after one year in prison, and later was pardoned. In this case Lynch appears to have been the Victor. One other Lynch whose possible identification with the case equally requires a portmantizing of details was Peter Lynch, who had been admitted to the Edinburgh medical colleges (LRCP and Lacs) in 1885 and had then gone abroad — to Victoria, Australia. Vigor, the Hammersmith wonder, has been identified as all kinds of people and even as a mechanical horse.5 Though the name is uncommon, London had half a dozen Vigors including Charles, a painter, John Alfred, a tailor, and a firm of painting and plumbing contractors, and several, all Army types, are in Who's Who for 1925. None however have anything to do with Hammersmith. The most vigorous Hammersmith character of the time appears to have been Sir William Bull (the Right Hon Sir William James Bull, first baronet) who was MP for Hammersmith

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1900-29 and is described as "colourful,"6 while The Times speaks of his "charming and lovable personality" and his "genial presence." While it seems possible that Sir William and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle could have been acquainted, there is no definite knowledge of this nor of any application to Sir William of the phrase "the Hammersmith wonder." Nor can any direct indication of "Vittoria, the circus belle" be found, save that Vittoria can be a surname as well as a forename. A Canon Vincenzo Vittoria flourished about 1703, and Tomas Luis de Vittoria was a prominent sixteenth-century Spanish musician. Whether this is intentionally included as part of the Conan Doyle syndrome, which has as one element a surprise reversal of a sex role or identification, is another problem for Batory who has previously analysed Thor Bridge as well as The Sussex Vampire. Further identification of Mrs Mason the nurse, the only other surname in the case, seems no more possible than does Mason the platelayer in The Bruce-Partington Plans, or Mason of Bradford in A Study in Scarlet. The maid Dolores, one of those obscure servants without surnames, seems intended only to indicate the Peruvian background of Mrs Ferguson, and that not very clearly — no more clearly than Watson's guess in Wisteria Lodge that the initial "D." stood for Dolores. The title of the case, by the way, is a veiled allusion to the infanticide theme of the Abergavenny murder (Chapter 24).

40 Alias Three Forgers "Garrideb, N.," he read, "136 Little Ryder Street, w." "John Garrideb, Counsellor at law, Moorville, Kansas, U.S.A." "Howard Garrideb. Constructor of Agricultural Machinery." The Three Garridebs

Garrideb is a Doylean invention, a very clever one, and what a pity that Alexander Hamilton Garrideb — or for that matter Ezekiah Hopkins of The Red-Headed League — is not still around to offer a reward to whoever shall find, not necessarily three, but even one. Having said that, there remain a number of names and aliases and an intriguing plot. Despite grumblings that devices have been reused — the luring of an innocent away on a wild-goose chase is essential to The Red-Headed League

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and The Stockbroker's Clerk; in The Retired Colourman the villain is lured away — the plot as an entity involves such other devices and twists as make it a lively case. The two criminals — "Killer" Evans who appears, and Rodger Prescott who does not, being dead — and their aliases provide a nice group of names, and the Edinburgh influence is strong among them. David Griffith Evans had received the ms, cm from Edinburgh in 1883 and the doctorate in 1888; he would have been a student before Doyle was graduated. He was in practice in the Edgware Road, just off which is Little Ryder Street according to Watson, and he wrote much on the use of strophanthus. Herbert L. Evans received the medical degrees in 1887. Robert Evans was admitted to the LRCP (Edinburgh) in 1885, though he had studied at King's College, while Percy Charles Evans had studied at the University of Edinburgh but did not receive the licentiates until 188g. They practised in Homerton and Tavistock Square respectively, both far from the scene of The Three Garridebs. Little Ryder Street is not by name in the Marble Arch-Paddington area, though Ryder Street and Ryder Yard are just off St James's Street far from Marble Arch, and others of the name are scattered afar. Possible involvement of this street name with James Ryder, the criminal in The Blue Carbuncle, must be probed. "Killer Evans" was actually an alias; James Winter, a far more prosaic and apparently less "American" name, was the gentleman. Now "Dr. James Winter" appears in Doyle's "Behind the Times" in Round the Red Lamp (1894), as Schutz notes,' and the best guess is that this refers to James Winter, MA (Edinburgh 1884) — probably not to James Winter who was a beer retailer in the Horseferry Road, Greenwich. Arthur Graham Winter was a medical man (Nis, ss London) who resided at Whorlton, Beacon Road, Crowborough, and this Dr Winter may well have put Doyle in mind of that earlier Dr Winter he had chronicled, so the reuse of the name, which is purely incidental in the case as the villain is called "Killer Evans" to the end, was quite natural. The singular thing appeared in the following month, February 1925, for in The Illustrious Client the flame-like Kitty Winter, fully as tough and quick to action as "Killer" Evans, is the most fascinating character. Another alias of the quick-drawing American was Morecroft, a name nearly as elusive as Mycroft; there is only one in the 1910 directory, a road contractor in Acton, and no reason is apparent for the name. The other forger, the late, and by Evans little lamented, Roger Prescott is also elusive. It was not an overly common name; fewer than twenty were in the directory, and only Francis James Prescott of Jasper Road,

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Norwood, comes anywhere near a link with Doyle. The alias Waldron, used by Prescott, has been mentioned in connection with The Priory School, for Derwent H. Waldron was an 1879 Edinburgh medical graduate and the names Saltire (in The Priory School) and Derwent both occur in Doyle's Stark Munro Letters. This, like Round the Red Lamp, was one of his early volumes of medical reminiscences-in-disguise, and the reuse of names from both clearly points to a medical undercurrent in The Three Garridebs. Garrideb's housekeeper, Mrs Saunders, as well; for her name recurs the following year in The Blanched Soldier as Sir James Saunders the dermatologist. The closest source for this name is Cecil Walter Saunders who lived at Errismore, Eridge Road, Crowborough; but the directory is full of Saunderses. The maid Saunders in The Dancing Men was commented upon in Chapter 22. Matthew B. Saunders is another Edinburgh medical graduate, of 1888. Not exactly an alias but equally imaginary is Doctor Lysander Starr of Topeka whom Holmes invented on the spur of the moment but whom Sherlockians have been identifying ever since, chiefly as Dr Leander Starr Jameson of Rhodesia. "Harker" mentions Doyle's reminiscence in Memories and Adventures of being awakened in the Bloemfontein hospital during the Boer War by "the swing-step of The British Grenadiers and knowing this meant that the Guards were moving up ..."' The words of the Guards' march mention "Hector and Lysander, and such heroes as these." Since Dr Watson dates the case specifically as "the end of June 1902, shortly after the conclusion of the South African War," Doyle's thoughts were probably running on the War even as he wrote the case. Chapter 12 has noted that Col Lysander Stark with his proclivity for midnight butchery was probably not named for Jameson, despite the Sherlockian tendency to lump the Lysanders, Starr and Stark, together — unless Doyle in going back over his earlier medical writings for names also lifted one from a Holmes case. It stands out too clearly for that. Then there is the mention of Holloway and Steele, Nathan Garrideb's house-agents in the Edgware Road close by. There is an embarrassing number of possibilities. Holloway Brothers Ltd were awarded the Tweed Bridge contract late in 1924. John Steel] was an 1883 Edinburgh medical fledgling, but by 1924 he was in Australia. Henry H. Steele lived in St Julian's Farm Road in West Norwood, an address we have met before, while Frederick Steele (1847-1915) had been a Middlesex cricketer in the 187os. And near Crowborough was Steel Cross, where lived Albert Pike whose name turns up in Three Gables, two years later, in geographic combination as Langdale Pike. But the most catching possibilities are

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two firms: Holloway & Longfield, motor sheet metal works in Sovereign Mews, Cambridge Street; and Holloway Castings Ltd, brassfounders in the Holloway Road. Doyle has already been mentioned as an enthusiastic motorist and it is quite likely that he encountered one firm or the other in that connection. But still — who will find us a Garrideb, even one?

41 A Few Illustrious Names, and Others "I have found out who our client is," I cried ... "It is a loyal friend and a chivalrous gentleman," said Holmes. The Illustrious Client One fascinating facet of The Illustrious Client is that the Client is never identified to the reader. That identity is a perennial topic of Irregular implication. From the standpoint of these studies the matter is irrelevant; without a name this research cannot commence. But the dozen other names in the case are enough to excite some discussion. Two have already been unearthed by that fine Holmesian bibliographer James Bliss Austin, who has pointed out that Damery and (de) Merville are French placenames from the 1918 campaigns, and that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who had before this case was written already completed his History of the Great War, had visited the area only a month after the fighting.' It must be added that there is also a Damery in Gloucestershire, in Thornbury district; but the magnificent collocation of the two French names heavily weights the probability. After Colonel Sir James Damery, and the de Mervilles father and daughter, the central figure in the case is the despicable Baron Gruner. The name Gruner had been prominent in 1922, for in that year The Times reported an attack upon Dr Grüner, deputy governor of the Tirol, and a lawsuit brought by Miss Evelyn Hamilton Gruner, a musician. She alleged that Morgan and others had conspired to induce her to buy a motion-picture theatre at an exorbitant price. She won her case. The New York Times reported the arrival in the United States of Mr and Mrs Richard Gruner, after a romance resulting from a rescue on the Jungfrau in Switzerland. But the figure most likely to have been the original of the Baron was a German explorer of Africa, Hans Gruner. He had been

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an Imperial German official in Togo, had explored the Niger, and written anthropological and geographical articles. In The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax we had made the acquaintance of another German colonial official and explorer, Dr Carl Peters, who was also captured as a canonical villain, "Holy" Peters. The explorer Gruner seems much preferable to Professor Doktor Geheimregierungstrat Hans Gruner, of the Institut für Mineralogie, Geologie and Bodenkunde at the Hochschule in Berlin, a learned and impressive German, but not nearly sinister enough. Moving to lesser names in The Illustrious Client, the alias chosen for Dr Watson by Holmes was Dr Hill Barton, complete with visiting card and address in Half Moon Street, in fashionable Mayfair. There is a reason for everything in the saga of Sherlock Holmes, but it nevertheless gave one a considerable surprise, in Exeter in 1977, to notice a very latetwentieth-century bus bearing the destination sign "Hill Barton." The Central Library in Exeter kindly provided the explanation: Hill Barton farm still stands on Hill Barton Road just north of the Exmouth branch line of railway just outside the city. Hill Barton was known in 1933; it is literally a farmstead on a hill. Several other geographically derived names keep it company in the Holmes stories: Athelney Jones, Langdale Pike, and Heath Newton. Among placenames, another possibility is Barton-on-Sea in the New Forest, where the Doyle family were wont to swim. Nonetheless Dr Hill Barton is not quite of the same kind as Inspector Barton in The Man With the Twisted Lip (Chapter 1o), though the Barton-on-Sea possibility would not have applied to that earlier case. Other Doylean personal names do come from the Barton-on-Sea area; for instance, Hordle John in The White Company, for Hordle is a hamlet, and Chapter 18 has noted that Holmhurst, a house two miles from Barton-on-Sea, resembles Holdhurst. However, there is also a personal name very close to Watson's alias; and bearing in mind the multiple antecedents, the skilful blending, of many items in Doyle's writing, it must be taken as at least contributory to the idea of such a personal name. John Hill Burton, 1809-81, was a historiographer of Scotland, and with his work Doyle would be well acquainted. Tracy notes that "the use of the obscure placename was safe with an Austrian, who was unlikely to recognize it," but equally the question of the process by which the obscure placename was adopted into Doyle's manuscript is important, and in this process John Hill Burton, who did not bear the title of Doctor, bears a part. The helpful sub-librarian of the London Library, Lomax, deserves special mention in this study (as well as being the Irregular investiture

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of a learned librarian of today). A sub-librarian in English parlance is the deputy head, in fact the active operating head of a library. The London Library is still a private subscription library of great eminence. It was then one of the few major libraries where a member could ask the staff a question such as Watson's and receive the immediate, thorough assistance he did. Lomax was christened for Montagu LomaxSmith, who was equally known as Dr Montague Lomax. He had studied at Bart's and in Edinburgh, and had been registered LRCP (Edinburgh) and MRCS (England) in 1883; he was in practice in Gloucester Street in equally fashionable Belgravia. Another former Bartholomeian in the case is the famous surgeon, Sir Leslie Oakshott who must have been a friend or admirer of Holmes to have undertaken to attend him on a relatively minor matter. He is a compound, the surname coming from Walter Field Oakeshott, LRCP (London 1889), MRCS. This is an unusual name, only five spelled with the e, and two without, being in the 1903 directory. The forename, a little less certain, was apparently one of two Edinburgh graduates. William Murray Leslie, an 1883 alumnus, was surgeon to "x" Division of the Metropolitan Police, and to the Great Eastern Railway, as well as having been house surgeon in the Lock Wards, Edinburgh Infirmary. We have previously met gentlemen in the Canon who were police surgeons in other Divisions, which seems to place him a nose ahead of George Leslie who was in practice in Falkirk, Stirlingshire. On the other hand, George Leslie had graduated with Honours and was gold medallist in Arthur Conan Doyle's graduating year, 1881, and Doyle was unlikely to forget him. That remarkable dredger in the gutters of society, Shinwell Johnson, known as Porky for physical reasons rather than for his affinity for the activity later to be known as muckraking, has been pointed out by Prestige as obviously intended to refer to "a well-known political agitator whose activities involved him in a spell of imprisonment"s and who in fact by that time had become parliamentary secretary for the Mines Department, but who would be much more prominent after the Second World War and be made a peer in 1970, namely Emanuel Shinwe11.4 As this is the only obvious Shinwell it may indeed be so, but Shinwell is not enough — there is also the surname. While the name of "Shahmwell Joldan, retired postmaster of Ladakh" appears in an article on "The Chief Lama of Himis" in Nineteenth Century (not the same lama visited by Holmes), that name is a little too obscure. There was however a prominent American whose full name was William Eugene Johnson, who was a standing source of amusement on both sides of the Atlantic, for he was a Pro-

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hibitionist of the most ardent sort, a professional Prohibitionist in fact, and he was universally known as "Pussyfoot" Johnson. A headline in The Times on 18 November 1919 proclaimed "Mr. 'Pussyfoot' Johnson's Sight Impaired" — this incident had happened in a student "rag" at one of his lectures. Johnson, a Democrat and a banker, was to go on to be in World War 11 the chairman of a draft board at an advanced age. The combination of the Radical Scot and the American Prohibitionist is irresistible as a name for Holmes's "blithe" informant. "Porky" appears to be parallel to "Pussyfoot," and compare also the sobriquet "pie de porco" (pig's foot) applied to Luigi Mileti, a source of Ricoletti mentioned in The Musgrave Ritual. One minor name in The Illustrious Client is a trifle obscure. "LeBrun, the French agent" could have been one of several London residents; or Albert LeBrun, who in 1924 had been bruited as a possible candidate for the French presidency. A dozen prominent LeBruns are listed in French biographical sources. But in Julia Pardoe's work on Louis XIV, there is an engraving of "LeBrun at the court of Louis XIV" — and Sir Arthur had a copy of this book. This was Charles LeBrun, 1619-9o, historical painter who "for nearly forty years (1647-89) exercised a despotic influence on French art and artists, being usually considered the founder of the French school of painting."6 He would have been as central to gossip as was Shinwell Johnson; small wonder that "LeBrun, the French agent" was beaten by Apaches. The singular recurrence of one name from the immediately preceding case, The Three Garridebs, was remarked upon in Chapter 4o. James Winter has the alias Killer Evans. Here we have Kitty Winter. It is a little too much to hark back to an 1881 story in Chambers's Journal which revolves around "Kate Winter" — especially as the story is even flatter cardboard than is usual in such fiction.? Yet the name was repeated, and it is unlike Conan Doyle to repeat a name carelessly. Two names in the case are real persons undisguised. Sir George Lewis was the second baronet, and a solicitor, who resided at 21, Montague Square. Wainwright is the other, mentioned in the same breath with Charlie Peace. The name is misspelled — it was Thomas Griffiths Wainewright (1794-1852), art critic and poisoner, or as Jones puts it, a dandy who took up painting and writing. "General Wainwright" appears in the earlier Stark Munro Letters but has nothing to do with Wainewright the poisoner. He was probably named for either Samuel Wainwright the clerical author, or Edward Wainwright the Yorkshire cricketer; perhaps even, since the letters were medical reminiscences, for Benjamin

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Wainwright who had been graduated from Edinburgh a year before Arthur Doyle. Kelvin Jones makes an astute observation about the name: It is most probable that Holmes, in recalling this affair, confused T.G. Wainewright with the more recent Henry Griffiths Wainwright (1875). Wainwright's case received sensational coverage in the popular press of the period ...e More likely, Doyle deliberately misspelled Wainewright's name in order to emphasize the association with crime, while retaining the allusion to art which is obviously the earlier case. Charlie Peace the other criminal needs no explanation, but must be one of the very few who appear twice in the Canon — once under his own name, once as his alias "George Parker" (Chapter 2o). One other name appears: the Hammerford will case; but it is not entirely certain that this is a personal name. No name of that form can be found as either placename or surname, though there once was a Hannaford will case.9 But why would Holmes be involved with a will? Was it possibly a forgery?

42 The Three-Gabled Fable "... aren't you Steve Dixie, the bruiser?" "Dear me! Are you the mother of Douglas Maberley?" "Langdale Pike was his human book of reference upon all matters of social scandal." The Three Gables

The Adventure of the Three Gables commences the final cycle of Sherlock Holmes's cases: six tales which after a gap of more than eighteen months were to appear between October 1926 and April 1927. The pattern of names continues to the last, and in this case are echoes of medical acquaintances and persons in the neighbourhood of Conan Doyle's residence, or names in the public eye. There are also more difficulties in identifying names; fourteen in the final six cases have not been found, five are so common that their identification is unlikely, and six are Doyle's inventions — making an average of four name puzzles per case. The name which has been the largest puzzle for past critics has been that "strange, languid creature" Langdale Pike. Despite the obvious answer by James Montgomery in 1953 that the name comes from the

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Langdale Pikes, two peaks in the Lake District,' there is more to the matter. One is not inclined to consider Mrs Pike who resided at ti, St Julian's Farm Road in West Norwood, though others in that road have also matched canonical names. Though there were no Langdales in the London Post Office suburban directory, three physicians of the name may be seen: two Henry Langdales and a Harry Langdale, one in Warrington near Manchester, one a naval surgeon, but the third, Harry Marmaduke Langdale, in Uckfield, Sussex, only seven miles from Crowborough. Also, Albert Pike was a farmer at Hourne Farm, Steel Cross, Crowborough; and the name Steele is also in The Three Gables. But the naval surgeon named Henry Langdale is also important, for sooner or later he would have at the least called at Portsmouth. And in Portsmouth, or more exactly in Elm Grove, Southsea, at Yarborough Villa, resided William Royston Pike, MRCS, i.sA, sometime medical officer of health for Southsea. Elm Grove, we need no reminding, was also the address of Dr A. Conan Doyle. Mr Pike (a surgeon) moved in 1887 or 1888 to The Elm Trees, St Edward's Road, Southsea; Dr Doyle was undoubtedly a little glad that Mr Pike's patients would no longer brush unheeding past No 1, Bush Villas. Once again a train of thought can be suggested: Langdale + Pike + placename produces a canonical name. Such progression from the names of neighbours to the landmark in the Lake District should make for a second look at another name in the case. Barney Stockdale, leader of the gang which included that outlandish figure Steve Dixie, could have been named for half a dozen Stockdales: Frank who received the CBE in June 1925; David who became a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge; Thomas, who died in 1926; Robert Thomas who was a tobacconist in Stepney; William who lived in Upper Norwood; or Doctors E.M. or G.V., the former in Liverpool, the latter in Enham Place, Hampshire. But the train of thought which led from Pike the surgeon and Pike the farmer to the Langdale Pikes would surely also think of those names common in the Lake District, ending in -dale. If there are in the Lake District Matterdale, Patterdale, Cawdale, Sleddale to name but a few, why not Stockdale? Indeed the inhabitants of the area are known as Dalesmen. One group or firm appears in the case, Haines Johnson, Auctioneers and Valuers, for some reason appropriated from two medical gentlemen, William Robert Hall Haim and Charles Johnson, whose surgeries were a few rods apart at Nos 134 and 83 Askew Road, Shepherd's Bush, respectively. It seems unlikely to have been John Finch Haines, MD, of Dartmouth Park Hill, despite Hains's different spelling, for he had no nearby Johnson and no connection with Doyle.

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With the remaining names there is less certainty. Isadora Klein, one of the few female villains, bears a not uncommon name. In addition to thirty Kleins in trade half-a-dozen private residents in the 19 to directory included several Misses Klein, and in 1924 there are still a Miss Klein and a Mrs Klein in the London directory. Esther Klein was in trouble with the police on a charge of promoting a lottery in 1926, but unless she had a prior record she can be discounted for The Times carried her name on 26 October, after The Three Gables had appeared. Young Perkins who was killed outside the Holborn Bar could have been Mr Cyril Harcourt Perkins, whose death was reported in 1924, or Mr Harry Perkins, ditto, or a Perkyns who was killed in a 1924 motor race. Doyle was an avid follower of motor racing, had done it himself in more vigorous days. George C.S. Perkins was in Conan Doyle's medical class at Edinburgh, while Lt Col John Charles Campbell Perkins was a cricketer who had served in the Boer War, and Joseph John Perkins was assistant physician and pathologist to the City of London Hospital for Diseases of the Chest, and had consulting rooms in Harley Street. Jocelyn Henry Temple Perkins was a writer, whose works included titles on the coronation, on Westminster Abbey, and other best sellers. But all these are only guesses. Spencer John, the leader of a dubious gang, could have been a Sir Spencer John who flourished about 1834, but who (like Sir Hamilton Gull Murray of Portsmouth in the 188os) cannot be traced further. While there was a poet named Edmund John, 1883-1917, the coupling of his name with, say, Edmund Spenser to make the new name sounds unlikely. A John Spence had been at Edinburgh and was graduated in medicine the year after Doyle, but the variation is still puzzling; and the Durham colliery surgeon John Spencer has no apparent connection with Doyle. Mortimer Maberley, and his family, remind one of two Boer War veterans, Col Charles Evan Maberly, 1854-1920, and Lt-Col James Mortimer who was mentioned in The Hound; but the spelling of Maberley should be noted for most of the name used Maberly. There are Maberley Roads in Upper Norwood and in Elmers End, Beckenham, about equidistant from Tennison Road in South Norwood; in the former lived the Rev Thomas Dixon, who may have lent his name to Jeremy Dixon in The Missing Three-Quarter, and there were a couple of Maberleys in London. Steve Dixie the bruiser was not necessarily named for the American Deep South, for Sir Alexander Dixie, the eleventh baronet, died in 1924 and was succeeded by Sir George Douglas Dixie. No Stevens or Stephens are to be found in this family. And the casual mention of Captain Ferguson, the previous occupant of Three Gables, is the fourth appearance of the name in the Canon. It would be too chancy to settle upon Capt Charles

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Robert Kennett Ferguson of Victoria Street, even if the Harley Street surgeon Robert James Ferguson seems likely as an original of "Big Bob" Ferguson in The Sussex Vampire. Nor can Sutro the lawyer be found.

43 Something of the Final Five "He is a hard nail, is Colonel Emsworth." The Blanched Soldier "She is the daughter of old Tom Bellamy, who owns all the boats and bathing-cots at Fulworth." The Lion's Mane "Josiah Amberley. He says he was junior partner of Brickfall and Amberley ..." The Retired Colourman "Mrs. Merrilow does not object to tobacco." The Veiled Lodger "My friend, Merivale, of the Yard, asked me to look into the case." Shoscombe Old Place Although nearly half the names in the final five Holmesian cases remain to be studied, some notes may be put down regarding these cases which appeared in the winter and spring of 1926-7. Despite grumbles from sundry critics about the Case Book, these last cases represent Conan Doyle still able to change pace and style, tone and tenor; and while the first two represent Sherlock Holmes's first-person relation of the case, thus necessarily lacking the Holmes-Watson interplay which brings the reader closest to the story, and while the first, The Blanched Soldier, smacks rather much of Norbury and The Yellow Face, as well as having a near deus ex machina in its happy ending, the characters are still distinct in each and the crisp touch in personal names is as sure as ever. Indeed, a coined surname is found in each of five cases, three in Shoscombe Old Place alone, and others range from common to exotic. Two names in The Blanched Soldier have been pointed out by Prestige.' James M. Dodd bears the name of the Lewisham solicitors, James and Charles Dodd, while the Emsworths bear the name of a village in the Portsmouth area. Prestige has omitted to note that Dodd is a relatively common name, for the 1910 London directory counts thirty-two in trade and twenty-two private residents, including James Dodd, a cycle maker in Bow, and two Jameses whose surname is Dodds with an s. The solicitors cannot be accepted as the sole source without additional links to Doyle. Col Emsworth, Prestige shows in particular, has the characteristics of Sir Anthony Home, vc, sharing these with Grinlesby Roylott as well.

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"Baldy" Simpson's name needs further study. The third Simpson in the saga, the others having been in Silver Blaze and The Crooked Man, he could be any of two hundred Simpsons save for that nickname. The reason for it should be found. Whether he was any of five Simpsons who received medical degrees from Edinburgh in the decade 1878-87 could only be guessed. Mr Kent, the surgeon who attended the ailing Godfrey Emsworth, might be Osborne Charles Kent of Uffington Road in West Norwood, or Mr George Kent, lover of boxing circa i811, mentioned in Pierce Egan's Boxiana: this too is only a guess. The duke of Greyminster is a special problem, an invented title, not even a placename, and at the moment there are no clues to it. Despite its late date, the case draws upon Doyle's knowledge of the Boer War; the battle of Diamond Hill occupies Chapter xxvi of his The Great Boer War. But Buffelsspruit is nowhere in that vicinity, some fifteen miles east of Pretoria, but is a tributary creek of the Sand River thirty-five miles north and west of Pretoria. Emsworth's horse indeed galloped a good distance before nightfall. But along the Eastern railway line from Pretoria, not two miles from the battleground, is a place called Hatherley — a coincidence to be sure, but reminiscent of the much earlier Engineer's Thumb. Only two names in the Lion's Mane are clear so far. Fitzroy McPherson must have been named for the Rev Ewen George Fitzroy MacPherson, who had been chaplain to the forces in Portsmouth 1892-4, was in Natal 1899-1goo, and served with distinction in the South African War; in the First World war he was assistant chaplain-general in the Western Command. Blount, one of the students at the school, seems to be C.H.B. Blount, who had been captain of the Harrow cricket team and later a member of MCC, I Zingari, and the Free Foresters — clubs well known to Doyle — who became Air Vice-Marshal Blount, cB, Mc. William Bellamy is too common a name to identify. Though fewer than twenty Bellamys were in the 19 to directory four of them were William: a fishmonger, a pork butcher, a solicitor, and a land and estate agent. Inspector Bardle has an unusual spelling — Bardell is more common, though a Bardle is to be found in Homerton. Anderson occurred in two cases in successive months, The Blanched Soldier and The Lion's Mane, and cannot be identified. Ian Murdoch of The Lion's Mane follows James Murdoch of The Valley of Fear twelve years earlier. Marder suggests the name was that of W.L. Murdoch, an Australian cricketer whose career spanned 188°— 19(4; and there were two James Murdochs in 19 London: James Semple Murdoch of Alexandra Road, and Walter James Murdoch of

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Hilldrop Road — but the connection with the canonical Murdochs is not evident. Sudbury, another student, though his name is uncommon indeed, cannot be found, and Harold Stackhurst is to be found nowhere. His name was another coinage, one of those which sounds so right that it is startling to find it invented. The first problem in The Retired Colourman is Josiah Amberley himself. The obvious and almost only candidate is the second Viscount Amberley, John Francis Stanley Russell, 1865-1931, elder brother of Bertrand Russell. He was an electrical contractor and alderman, who was later to join the Labour government; but his connection with The Retired Colourman is most probable from his marital troubles. He had an American divorce, and a Reno remarriage, at the time when Reno was notorious for being a quickie divorce mill. Tried by the Lords for bigamy, he was sentenced to three months' imprisonment, but in 1911 was pardoned. Divorced for the second time, this time by his wife, in 1916, he married Mary Annette, widow of count von Arnim, who had herself had an extremely unhappy marriage and who is much better known as "Elizabeth of the German Garden" from her first book. The first Viscount Amberley, John Russell, 1842-76, "held advanced views on religious matters"2 but while this may have led to the second viscount's later difficulties, it is not he whose name Doyle uses. Amberley is of course a placename, not properly a surname. There are several: Amberleys in Herefordshire and West Sussex, and Amberley Court near Stroud, Gloucestershire,which at the time of The Retired Colourman was the seat of Col Vaughan Randolph Hine-Haycock, who seems innocent of any connection with the case; while there are no less than eleven London streets bearing the name Amberley. That in Enfield intersects Porlock Road (cf The Valley of Fear, in the next chapter) while the Amberley Grove in Croydon is off Morland Road (compare Sir John Morland in The Hound, Chapter 21) — probably both coincidences. A second name in the case has attracted much speculation: the mention by Holmes that "Carina sings tonight at the Albert Hall." Drazen in an unpublished paper has hit upon the Venezuelan pianist and singer Maria Teresa Carreno, 1853-1917, who was better known for the former talent but is known to have sung in Les Huguenots in 1872 — the opera in which Holmes heard the de Reszkes sing.3 However, it is not necessary to reach for a related name; there was a Carina by that name — fictional to be sure, but Carina was the title of a comic opera in two acts written by Edward Litt Laman Blanchard and C. Bridgman, with music by Sophia Julia Woolf. It "played with immense success at the Opera Comique Theatre" according to the title-page; the vocal score was published ap-

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Sherlock Holmes

parently in 1888. Blanchard, who died in 1888, wrote dramas, farces, burlesques, and pantomimes, had been the editor of Chambers's Journal, and the dramatic critic of the Daily Telegraph until his death. Woolf had been educated at the Royal Academy of Music and was the wife of John Isaacson. Whether Carina had been revived in the twentieth century — by which time it must have been rather dated — or whether this reference is a conscious effort to backdate The Retired Colourman, albeit peculiarly phrased, is not clear. It is most unlikely that a comic opera would be produced at the Albert Hall, a concert platform, and the phrasing is a stumbling-block certainly intended to confuse the reference. The professionals in the case, Inspector MacKinnon and Barker, Holmes's "hated rival" (obviously said in a bantering tone), appear to have medical antecedents. Frank I. MacKinnon was an 1883 Edinburgh medical graduate, though Herbert L. Barker did not graduate until 1887. A Canon Barker in the 1920S has not been pinned down; he was not Frederick Barker, an Australian bishop who died in 1882. Speaking of clergymen, the "two Coptic patriarchs," whose case was coming to a head the day The Retired Colourman came to Holmes's attention, were the matter of the apparent murders of two successive patriarchs of Egypt, in 1861 and 1870, "at the instigation, if not by order, of the Government."5 The matter is too tangled to unravel here since names in the Canon, not unnamed Copts, are the matter in hand; and while the first unfortunate patriarch was named Cyril, it is not at all clear that there was any connection with that Cyril, over whose name Holmes exclaimed, in The Solitary Cyclist, or Cyril Overton in The Missing Three-Quarter. J.C. Elman, the clergyman whose name was forged to a telegram, is not in Crockford any more than is Little Purlington. Dr Ray Ernest likewise is not to be found. Both are uncommon names, only four of the former and ten of the latter being in the 1910 directory. Amberley's partner, Mr Brickfall who appears in the case in name only, is cut by Doyle from whole cloth. The Veiled Lodger is another case the origins of which can be traced in a complicated pattern. Plot elements are worth noting briefly as they bear upon the name of the unfortunate protagonist Eugenia Ronder. In Blackwood's Magazine in 1888 appears one element: an instalment of Axel Munthe's "Diary of an Idle Doctor" entitled "Menagerie."6 This melancholy study of (in part) a lion-tamer includes a plea for the lion to escape. A second element is also in Blackwood's, a short story by A.M. Scott-Moncrieff, "The Lady in the Blue Veil," the story of a courageous lady who in nursing a smallpox victim deliberately exposes herself to

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the risk, and becomes hideously disfigured. One quotation shows the parallel with The Veiled Lodger: "From this ruin a pair of the bluest eyes I have ever seen met mine for a moment."7 A third element is found in two places. In 1904 there was in Notes & Queries a discussion of "The vågnatch, a tiger-claw weapon,"8 a set of steel claws, not quite a dagger, which originated in India and ended in the Victoria and Albert Museum. A similar weapon appears in one chapter of a pallid imitation of the Sherlock Holmes stories, the "Cleek of Scotland Yard" adventures by T.W. Hanshew, written about the beginning of the First World War.9 It is not too surprising, then, to suggest that the source of Eugenia Ronder's name was Mme Henriette Knip Ronner, a Belgian member of the Royal Institution of Painters in Water Colour, who specialized in paintings of cats. Her finest cat pictures, and a favourite subject, were said to be cats attacked by dogs. Mme Ronner died in 1909; her daughter, Emma Ronner, born in 1857, shared her talent. Constable Edmunds was, like many minor characters in the stories, one of two persons of that surname: Walter Edmunds, or William M. Edmunds. Walter Edmunds was a graduate of Cambridge and St Thomas's Hospital, 1877, who was surgeon to Tottenham Hospital, a member of the Ophthalmological Society, and whose consulting-rooms were at 2, Devonshire Place — the precise address where Conan Doyle had set up his own short-lived shingle as an eye specialist. William M. Edmunds was a farmer at The Beeches, Station Road, Crowborough, near Doyle. The minor characters attached to the circus, Leonardo and Jimmy Griggs, have so far eluded capture. There is no reason to consider William Alfred Griggs, LRCP, MRCS, of Brighton, who studied at Bart's and was admitted in 1883 to practice; nor does Griggs Green, in the Petersfield district of Hampshire, have any obvious connection, though some play on the word "grig" (a lively person; clown?) seems to be intended. Sanger and Wombwell, who are also mentioned, were real showmen, the outstanding names of the time; but it is worthy of note that George Sanger was murdered by Herbert Cooper with a hatchet at Park Farm, Eastroad, Finchley, Middlesex, on 28 November 1911. Here is another possibly contributory plot element: the idea not merely of a tiger-claw weapon, but of deliberate murder in a circus. The one remaining name is Mrs Merrilow, the lodging-house keeper who brought the case to Holmes's attention. (What would Holmes have done without the Wan-ens, and the Merrilows, and the Paddington station porters, to bring him cases?) The name sounds something like Merridew of abominable memory, in The Empty House, but more significantly an echo occurs

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Sherlock Holmes

two months after The Veiled Lodger when Inspector (probably) Merivale of the Yard has sought Holmes's assistance in the St Pancras case, as related in Shoscombe Old Place. Merrilow is yet another invention by Doyle, an illustration of the care he used in limning the most incidental sketches. In the final Holmes case to be published, The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place which appeared in April 1927, the central focus is Sir Robert Norberton and his widowed sister Lady Beatrice Falder. Both names are coinages: the first by Doyle, the second apparently by John Galsworthy. In the 1910 drama Justice by Galsworthy appears a character named William Falder. It appears to be an alteration of Calder, a wellknown name, though Faulder is to be found — John Faulder, 1803-53, was a science lecturer in Bristol who invented a system of rational spelling, while a Miss Faulder lived in Leinster Square and two others of the name were also in 1903 London. There are quite a number of Calders, including Augustus Barclay Calder, a physician; Sir William Moir Calder, an Anatolian scholar in Manchester who in 1904 had written The Possibility of a Federal Union of the English-Speaking Peoples; Sir James Charles Calder, a civil servant and not related to William; and H. Calder, a Hampshire cricketer. But the immediate plot element for the case seems to have arisen in the kidnapping in New York of Mrs William Calder, wife of a former American Senator, in mid-October 1926. Three women returning from the theatre in a car were stopped by robbers who drove them into Prospect Park, relieved them of their jewellery and forced them from the car. The incident of stopping a carriage containing (the putative) Lady Beatrice Falder seems to come from this. "My friend Merivale, of the Yard" — the only policeman Holmes ever called friend and (barring reference to Charlie Peace) perhaps the only person other than Watson whom he named "friend" — was Herman Charles Merivale, 1839-1906, a retired barrister and author, for ten years editor of the Annual Register, whose Historical Studies was among Sir Arthur's books. This contained among other things a section on "Precursors of the French Revolution" — in which Doyle was deeply interested. It is true that Sir Henry Duke had been created Baron Merrivale in 1925, and the new Lord Merrivale was vocal upon matters including the shipping industry, Admiralty court procedure and the Justice Bill. His title probably came from Merrivale, on the western edge of Dartmoor. The Very Rev Charles Merivale, dean of Ely, had received an honorary LL D from the University of Edinburgh in 1884, and there were also Reginald Merivale, a barrister, and Bernard Merivale the dramatist, but Herman Charles Merivale is more closely linked to Doyle. Stephens, the butler who assists John Mason the trainer in ferreting

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out the mystery before Mason reports it to Holmes, could have been named for another 1884 Edinburgh graduate, Harold F.D. Stephens who received the Ms, CM. This name is difficult because it is so common. The London suburban directory alone for 1908 has over eighty. But it is most likely that he was named for John Stephens, 1807-87, valet to Sir Robert Peel and later chief constable of Newcastle. The reference is a delicious "in joke": the valet/butler turning policeman/detective, in both reality and the Holmes case. Regrettably Sandy Bain the jockey is not so easily identified. There are too many! To name five: Alexander Bain, professor of logic and English literature at Aberdeen, author among many other books of Logic, Deductive and Inductive (1870), a book which must surely have appealed to Sherlock Holmes. Alexander William Bain & Co were bookbinders in the Cambridge Road, while another (?) Alexander William Bain was a tutor in Sicilian Avenue. Alexander Bain lived in Brockley, while another of the name (1810-77) was an inventor of telegraphic apparatus. Holmes always preferred to telegraph. Josiah Barnes the publican is a little easier. Marder identifies him as Sidney F. Barnes, a professional cricketer who after playing for Lancashire and Staffordshire had gone to Australia, and was active (so says Marder) from 1895 to 1935, an extraordinarily long time since he was born in 1876. Sam Brewer the moneylender has one of those "Henry Bakerish" undistinguished names, one would think, yet no Samuel Brewers were in the 1903 London directory though nearly seventy Brewers are in the 1910 directory. This inclines one to favour as an antecedent Charles Samuel Brewer, who studied medicine at Liverpool Royal Infirmary, was granted the LRCP and LRCS (Edinburgh) in 1882, and set up in practice in Birkenhead; yet no link is evident here. The remaining names are also cold trails. John Mason the horse-trainer was one of hundreds of Masons, and the name has been elusive ever since Mason (of Bradford) was mentioned in A Study in Scarlet. Of five John Masons in the 1850 Medical Directory only John Robert Mason studied at Edinburgh, taking the LRCP, LRCS (Edinburgh) in 1888. Eleven John Masons in the 1910 directory include three physicians and surgeons, two of them graduates of Edinburgh. The profession of John Mason, horse trainer, suggests the possible humorous use of a physician's name ("horse doctor") as does "Morgan the poisoner" in The Empty House, but there are altogether too many candidates. The Norletts also bear a coined name and repeat the quasiphenomenon of two nearly similar surnames (cf `Norberton') in one case,

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as has been remarked in The Bruce-Partington Plans with West nd Westbury, in The Cardboard Box with Aldridge and Algar, in Char Augustus Milverton with Miles and Milverton, in The Hound with Mo land and Mortimer, in The Second Stain with Bellinger and Belminster, 'n The Six Napoleons with Harding and Harker, in The Valley of Fear with Manders, Mansel, and Manson. Norberton can be found no more tha Norlett, though Leverion, Milverton, Somerton are verifiable names. Doyle was clever in his coinages.

44 Into the Valley, with Fear "Who then is Porlock?" "Porlock, Watson, is a nom-de-plume, a mere identification mar "I said just now that I knew Birdy Edwards ... I need not tell yo that he is not here under that name." The Valley of Fear Onomatologically The Valley of Fear is the most complex of e novels about Sherlock Holmes, with seventy-eight names involved. Some account can be given of sources for all but some ten of these, plus five names which appear to be coined. The familiar sources are a ain to be seen: thirty medical names more than half of which are "possi e" rather than proven antecedents; five neighbours or persons nearby Co an Doyle; ten sporting persons; four historical or literary figures, four in he public eye, two military. Five names are so common that a definite a tecedent is unlikely to be found. In order to keep this mass of mater al to reasonable compass, I have provided an extensive table of na es, which follows below, and which omits (where there is a most probab e source) some alternative possibilities. First, however, the "Problem of Porlock" (so styled by ne of the many cogitations upon the shadowy, urgent figure') must be c nsidered. A new route for an indubitable link between Coleridge's "pc son from Porlock" and The Valley of Fear can now be demonstrated, by y of that strange device by which the Scowrers identified their own: t e brand, "a curious brown design, a triangle inside a circle." For it, w go back to Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, in which have already be n seen a number of plot ideas which become transmuted into canonical incidents especially in later cases such as The Veiled Lodger. An anony us piece

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in Blackwood's for September 1889, the purported record of "artistic conversations," somehow gets onto the topic of "the symbol called the Seal of Solomon, which is the triangle inscribed in the circle."' This traditional magical symbol represented "the Divine Spirit humanized, or God in the World, or Man." (Another form of the Trinity symbol is three interlinked circles with a triangle each side of which bisects one circle.) Why in the world would the Scowrers use such a symbol, especially as a brand? Because the representation of the Trinity, three interlinked circles which may be triply-linked, or chain-linked, was in the latter form used as a symbol by the Independent Order of Foresters. In The Valley of Fear the parent secret society, one innocent enough in its beginnings, is found as the "Ancient" or "Eminent" Order of Freemen and is patterned on the Ancient Order of Hibernians; but the Ancient Order of Foresters used the three-link chain as its symbol. But the artistic conversation then goes on in Blackwood's and one of the conversationalists remarks, "... but I can never think of that `man from Porlock' with patience ..." Clearly this article gave rise to both the Scowrers' brand, and the nom-de-plume. Which came first, chicken or egg? Porlock or Moriarty? Porlock had to wait until 1914; Moriarty saw print in 1893. It must be mentioned that Sir Frederick Pollock, MA, LL D, was a resident at Hindhead, where the Doyles lived from 1897 to 1907; and that in the Borough of Southwark, a long stone's throw directly south of Guy's Hospital, is Porlock Street. Any doctor familiar with Guy's would have encountered it. Porlock Road in Enfield debouches into Amberley Road (Chapter 43). Other than Coleridge's visitor from the West Country Porlock, these London Porlocks must be assumed to be possible sources. But the combination of the Scowrers' design and the name of Coleridge's unwelcome distraction is much more powerful. Medical Sources Andrews (Scowrer): 1 ?James Andrews, LRCS Edinburgh 1881 (studied at University and Anderson's College, Glasgow); 2 actual name of a Molly Maguire.3 Carter (Scowrer): i ?William Robinson Carter, Ma, cm Edinburgh 1884, late surgeon ss Irrawaddy, from Rastrick, Yorks; 2 H. Carter, Australian cricketer, 1902-22. "Tiger" Cormac (Scowrer):l Harry Dove Cormac, Parkside Asylum, Macclesfield, MB, Ms Madras 1901, and late assistant medical officer Wiltshire County Asylum, Devizes; 2 Sir John Rose Cor-

2 30

Sherlo k Holmes mack, 1815-82, physician to Royal Infirmary, Edinbu gh, medical author; 3 ?Sir William MacCormac, much decor ted army surgeon. Crabbe (murdered): Alexander Elmslie Crabbe, L'.CP, LRCS Edinburgh 1898, physician and surgeon, Brockley. John Douglas: i John Josiah Douglas, from 22 Drumm. nd Place, Edinburgh, MB, cm Edinburgh 1889, MD, physician an. surgeon, 42 Central Hill, Norwood; 2 John William Henry Ty er Douglas, b 1882, Essex cricketer 1903-11, Mcc team touring Australia 1911-12 (captain), and South Africa 1913-14; 3 Joh Douglas, afterward bishop of Salisbury, systematically exposed L uder the forger, 1750 (Chapter 22); 4 ?James Douglas, pro-H.me Rule speaker at 1912 London meeting attended by Doyle (Nordon 105). "Birdy Edwards": Bogdan Edward Iastrzebski Edward , MB, CM (Hons) Edinburgh 1884; Brighouse, Yorks; cf Charles ugustus Edwards LRCP, LRCS Edinburgh 1886 (Chapter 28); probably not significant that the only McPartland (real name of the Pinkerton man) in 1908 London is Mrs McPartland at 102, ee Road, Blackheath, with William Edwards at No go, Mrs Ed ards No 92 Gower (Scowrer): Sir William Richard Gowers, 1845-1.15, physician, neurologist, University College Hospital William Hales (mine owner): 1 Sir William Hale-Whi e, 18571949, consultant, editor of Guy's Hospital Reports and Quarterly Journal of Medicine, author; 2 William Hales, born 1:36, connected with boxing. Hargrave (alias of Ted Baldwin): ?Herbert John Harg ave, surgeon, Bishopsgate (only 12 Hargraves in London). Hunt (policeman): ?Harry R. Hunt, MB, cm Edinburgh 887. Billy James (killed): 1 John Haddy James, 1788-1869 assistant surgeon at Battle of Waterloo (Doyle was well versed on poleonic Wars) surgeon to Devon and Exeter Hospital; 2 Rob rt James, 1705-76, physician friend of Dr Samuel Johnson; 3 Go er James, victim of the Molly Maguires. Lee (mine owner): ?Charles N. Lee, MB, CM Edinburgh 884. Max Linder & Co (mine): Theodor Linde, MB, cm Edinbu gh 1878, MD (Commendation) 188o; Ross, Herefordshire (En lish pronunciation Linder/Linde identical). Alec MacDonald (Inspector): Alexander Macdonald, MB, CM Edin-

Into the Valley, with Fear

23 1

burgh 1888; Alexander G. M'Donald 1884; four of the name in 19 to directory. Manders (Scowrer): Horace Manders, FRCS (England) 1878; 126 Harley St, medical officer 12th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry, Boer War, inventor of Flying Hospital and Ambulance car, late Lt-Col ist Volunteer Battalion Royal Berkshire Regt (Doyle was an active Volunteer). Mansel (Scowrer): 1 Arthur Rodney Mansell, 278, Portland Rd, South Norwood, FRCP LRCS Edinburgh igoo; 2 Charles John Linskill Mansel, MB, cm Edinburgh 1889; 3 Victor M. Mansell, writer on cricket, staff of Sportsman. Manson (ironworks): Sir Patrick Manson, KCMG, 21, Queen Anne St, medical adviser Colonial Office and Crown Agents, lecturer on tropical diseases (Watson practised in Queen Anne St, 1902). Menzies (engineer, killed): Henry Menzies, 1867-1935, MB, BC Cantab 1894; cricketer, Cambridge, Free Foresters and Middlesex. Morris (Fred and his brother); ?Thomas Morris, MB, CM Edinburgh 1886; Robert O. Morris, MA Edinburgh 1886; four Frederick Morrises in 1 g 1 o directory. Neal (outfitter): Frederick A. Neal, MB, cm Edinburgh 1885 (year of Doyle's Mn), late clinical assistant Ophthalmic Dept Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh; cf Alfred J. Neale, MD 1885; John H. Neale, MB, cm 1883; Breward Neal, supt Wandsworth Infirmary. Nicholson (family): 1 Benjamin Hugh Nicholson, MB, cm Edinburgh 1884, prominent surgeon, Capt 1st Eastern General Hospital RAMC; 2 David Nicolson, MRCP Edinburgh 1881, Lord Chancellor's Visitor in Lunacy, Medical Adviser to the Home Secretary in Criminal Lunacy cases, late medical supt Broadmoor Asylum, writer on criminal lunacy. Evans Pott (Scowrer): Percival Pott, 1714-88, St Bartholomew's Hospital, teacher of John Hunter, famous for Pott's fracture of the foot. Andrew Rae (mine owner): John Rae, 1813-93, Arctic explorer, Edinburgh graduate 1833. Mike Scanlan (miner): 1 Joseph Scanlan, MB, CM Glasgow 1885, late assistant to Lecturer on Ophthalmology, Anderson's College, and clinical assistant, Glasgow Eye Infirmary; 2 Martin Scanlon, a Molly Maguire. James H. Scott (Bodymaster, Chicago): 1 ?James Scott, MB, cm Edinburgh 1880; five James Scotts graduated from Edinburgh;

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232

ten in 1910 London; 2 H.J.H. Scott, Australian cric eter 180088. Jacob and Ettie Shafter: ?Charles Merrill Schafter, Cowgate Dispensary, Edinburgh, Ms, CH ED Edinburgh 1909. James Stanger (editor): Christopher Stanger, 175 1834, MD Edinburgh 1783, physician Foundling Hospital, ondon (cf Chapter 29); several contemporary Stangers in the provinces; Stanger Road, South Norwood. Chester Wilcox: Ernest Wilcox, Ms, cm Edinburgh 18: 2 MD 1884. Charlie Williams (killed): i Charles Williams, journal .t, war correspondent, contributed "Diary of the War" to Mo ing Leader, Irish, went to usA; filibustering expedition to Nicara : a, Evening Standard 1859, Egyptian campaign 1888, Daily Chro idle, wrote on Army reform, Gordon campaign, South Afric. n War (all Doyle's interests), eg, Hushed Up: A Case for Inqui into Some Suppressed Facts Concerning the Conduct of the War in . outh Africa (1902); 2 Charles Williams, LRCP, author of Spiritualism and Insanity (1909), "an essay describing the disastrous co sequences to the Mental Health which are apt to result from . pursuit of the study of Spiritualism" (subtitle); 3 ?Charles L. illiams, Ms, cm Edinburgh 1886; Charles R. 1878; ten others o the name in 1910 directory. Bartholomew Wilson (Freeman): Andrew Wilson, i 18-92, MD Edinburgh 1749, philosopher and medical writer. J.W. Windle (Scowrer): ?Jabez Davenport Windle, Mu, Southall, Middlesex, Medical Officer of Health, Southall-Nor ood Urban District Council, and police surgeon "x" Division. Within the preceding list of thirty, some surprising grou p ings exist: 1 eminent historical figures in the medical world: Gower, J mes, Pott, Rae, Stanger, Wilson; all well known, some of them writers, i ne famous in a period in which Doyle was well versed, and three of them Edinburgh graduates; 2 seventeen Edinburgh graduates of Doyle's o n period; 3 military surgeons, contemporary medical authors and lect rers; and, 4 alienists and ophthalmologists. Neighbours and Acquaintances Blaker (foreman): Cecil Renshaw Blaker, Vicar of Tu ner's Hill, Crawley, Sussex (in the East Grinstead district, nea Doyle); cf Cecil Barker, also in the case.

Into the Valley, with Fear

2 33

Hyam (murdered): Harry William Higham, "Mon Alri" [sic; Mon Abri?], Goldsmith's Avenue, Crowborough; cf Hyam(s) (Chapter 21). Lander (Scowrer): ?James Lander-Stock, 36, The Avenue, Norwood; cf other canonical names in same road; rare name. White Mason (detective): White and Mason, solicitors, East Grinstead.h Sportsmen Ted Baldwin (Scowrer): 1 Edward Baldwin, boxer, born Waterford, 6ft Sin, fought three times for Championship, and shot in usw 1875; 2 Edward Baldwin, "Whiteheaded Bob," boxer, 1803-31; nine other Edwin/Edward Baldwins in 1899-1900 directories. (Location of Baldwin, in the Isle of Man, four miles from Douglas, may have nothing to do with the case.) Cecil Barker: 1 Edward C. Barker, 1869-1922, Hon Treas and Sec, Thames Ditton Cricket Club, one of the oldest clubs in Surrey; 2 Kenneth Edgar Mylne Barker, d 1938, aged 6o, cricketer, Uppingham School (rival of Doyle's Stonyhurst), Cambridge, London County; 3 Cecil Renshaw Blaker, vicar (see Blaker, above). Simon Bird (killed): 1 ?Morice Carlos Bird, 1888-1933, cricketer Harrow, Surrey, Mcc (tour of South Africa 1909-1o, 1913-14); 2 ?Percy John Bird, d 1942, occasionally played for Hampshire, member of Mcc; 3 ?Albert Bird, 1868-1928, cricketer Warwickshire and Worcestershire; 4 ?Lt Wilfrid Stanley Bird, 1883-1915, cricketer Eastbourne School, Malvern College, Oxford, the Gentlemen at Lord's 1908 and 1912, occasionally for Middlesex, member Mcc; 5 ?Lt-Col Austin Carlos Bird, Indian Army, played for Mcc against Hampshire at Lord's 1914; 6 William Bird, Ma, cm Edinburgh 1883; LRCS Edinburgh 1881. Carter (Scowrer): see under "Medical": ?H. Carter, Australian cricketer. John Douglas: see under "Medical": J.W.H.T. Douglas, cricketer Essex and Mcc (South African tour 1913-14). Jenkins (murdered): 1 ?Capt Edgar K. Jenkins, well-known regimental cricketer, 1891-1916; 2 ?William Henry Phillips Jenkins, 1842-1916, well-known Free Forester. Jack Knox (mine owner): ?N.A. Knox, Surrey cricketer 1904-1o; three John Knoxes in 1910 London, including a doctor. Manse! (Scowrer): see under "Medical": Victor M. Mansell, writer on cricket.

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234

Menzies: see under "Medical": Dr Henry Menzies, cri.keter. James Murdoch ?W.L. Murdoch, Australian cricketer 88o—igo4. Murphy (Chicago) 1 John Patrick Murphy, KC, mem.er Surrey County Cricket Club, great lover of the game, d 1907. nd resided in College Road, Norwood; 2 ?William Murp y, Ms, cm Edinburgh 1885 (with Doyle), Fittleworth, Sussex (ab • ut 13 miles from Hindhead where Doyle lived). Historical and Literary Hugo de Capus: Intended to be reminiscent of Hugh C pet (Latin Hugo Caputi), name of several French kings ioth- ith centuries, named for the Cape or mantle of St Martin de Tours. No English knight of the name. Sir Charles Chandos: The only Chandos knights in Sh w, Knights of England, are 14th century. Sir John Chandos is a c aracter in Sir Nigel; name evidently from Doyle's historical rea ing. Egan (Scowrer): Pierce Egan the Elder, 1772-1849, wri er on boxing, one of Doyle's sources for Rodney Stone; 8 Ega s in 19 to London. Bodymaster McGinty: One leader of 1892 strike at omestead mills of Carnegie Steel was M'Luckie (Prestige say names of Scowrer leaders were changed in manuscript); no Mc intys (but one McGinity) in 1899 London directory or 1910 Med. I Directory; cf George McLuckie, Finsbury Park Road (1894). Williams: see "Medical." Firms, Public Figures, and the Peerage Josiah D. Dunn: ?Sir William Dunn, bart, b 1833, sen '.r partner Dunn & Co of London, Durban, and Port Elizabeth, . pent most of his life in South Africa; after returning to Engl: nd, made Hon Consul-General for the Orange Free State. Hyam: see "Neighbours and Acquaintances": Hyam, t. ilors. Mrs MacNamara (boarding-house keeper): Among 16 listings in 1910 directory are Eric Danvers MacNamara, MD, and John McNamara, MD; among six trade listings in 1914 is Sidney B. McNamara, dining rooms, 62, Wardour St, Soho. Capt Teddy Marvin (police): ?From the case of Charl s Marvin, Foreign Office clerk who leaked information to the G,obe (1878), which suggested plot of Naval Treaty. No male Marv' s in 1913 directory.

Into the Valley, with Fear

2 35

Walker Bros (mine): Walker Bros, mine fans and machinery, Queen Victoria St and Wigan. Nine Walkers graduated in medicine from Edinburgh 1878-88. Military Milman (murdered): Lt-Gen Sir George Bryan Milman, 1822-1915, Major HM Tower of London 1870-1909, listed his recreations as "all athletic games," Royal Humane Society gold medal for saving five officers from upset boat by swimming, 1848; Sir Alfred Milner mentioned in Memories and Adventures; cf Godfrey Milner, The Empty House. Jack McMurdo: Gen Sir W.M.S. McMurdo, xcs, Col Cheshire Regt, Hon Col Engineering and Railway Volunteer Staff Corps; boxer McMurdo, The Sign of Four. A few of these Fearful names need specific comments in addition. The presence of two Reillys, a Scowrer and a lawyer, in The Valley of Fear must surely be one of Doyle's few oversights. If medical antecedents be considered, of only fifteen Reillys (not counting variant spellings) in the 1 g 10 directory there were three physicians of the name in the London area: Frederick Bradshaw Reilly in Victoria Park Road, Lewis St John Reilly of Tooting Broadway, and Percy George Reilly of Mile End. A retired Surgeon Major, Charles William Reilly of Sandhurst, had received the Edinburgh licentiates the year after Doyle's MD. No connection with Doyle is otherwise evident for any of them. Herman Strauss is a mine owner; the 1910 listings include sixteen Strausses in trade and nineteen private residents, the latter including Hermann Strauss of Grove End Road, but again, no link to Doyle is obvious. Arthur Willaby is a Scowrer whose surname cannot be found, though two clergymen named Willacy are in Crockford's 1g10 volume. Austin does point out that the manuscript originally had the name Haggerty which was changed to Willaby. "There may have been some reason to change the last of these, because one of those actually murdered by the Molly Maguires was a William Hagerry."5 Notice the problem with the Willoughby Smiths (Chapter 29); perhaps this name was originally in Doyle's mind and was avoided. An additional category in The Valley of Fear was first studied closely by Brennan.6 Some of the names in the Valley come directly from that original Valley of the Shenandoah, original participants in the struggle of the Molly Maguires and the Pinkertons. Brennan points out the Bodymaster of the Molly Maguires in the Shenandoah Valley, Michael "Muff"

236

Sherlock Holmes

Lawler, whose name appears as a Scowrer in the Doyle tale. Andrews is the name of another Scowrer, and Brennan calls him "right out of Mollie history."John Kehoe was the man behind Molly Magu re atrocities and has given his nickname "Black Jack" to Boss McGinty i The Valley of Fear. Thomas Sanger, a mine manager, bears a name cl sely resembling editor Stanger in the novel. Gomer James was a victim o f the Molly Maguires, and "little Billy James" a victim of the Scowrers; while Mike Scanlan was a Scowrer and Martin Scanlon a Molly Magui 7 Tracy derives both Staphouse and Stendal from Ste house. Mrs T.B.H. (Fanny) Stenhouse was the author of "Tell It All": e Story of a Life's Experience in Mormonism (1875). Canon Doyle's own co y, an 188o London edition, is illustrated in Tracy's monograph.8 Anothe Stenhouse tends to reinforce this theory: Daniel Stenhouse attende the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, and received the licentia es in 1878, going into practice in Nottinghamshire. James Wilson Sten ouse, very likely the son or nephew of Daniel, in his turn attended th university and medical school in Edinburgh, graduating in 1893 an setting up practice in Old Trafford, Manchester. Staphouse is a definit invention, though too early in the century to be of medical derivation as in Staphylococcus), but the spelling Stendal has been located althoug much less expected than Stendhal. Some small nagging question lingers to whether Stendal is in the Valley instance derived from Stenhouse, wh the actual spelling is a verified surname. Five names not located in any listing appear to be Doy e coinages: Staphouse, above, Carnaway, Sturmash, and two Dutch-soun ing names, Van Deher and Van Shorst. Perhaps these last were to sug est a Pennsylvania "Dutch" (ie German) origin of the local population; hey resemble Van Jansen "in Utrecht" in A Study in Scarlet, and Van S dar in The Mazarin Stone. Carnaway, Austin notes,9 was a change from "Stedman" in the manuscript. Thirteen other names remain unident ted as yet: Allen, Ames, Atwood, Harraway, Higgins, Hones, Larbey, Pinto, Shuman, Strauss, Swindon, Todman, Willaby. Murphy occurs in The Crooked Man and The Hound; Pinto would be used again later in Thor Bridge (Chapter 38); Swindon is best known as a placename, but no possible reason for using the city name in this case leaps out. Hales and acDonald, MacNamara, Strauss, all of which have been commented upon, and Evans (used four other times, only once with a forename) a e names so common that no specific identification is likely. Nonetheless, early fourfifths of the surnames in The Valley of Fear have been given r cognizable probabilities or clear identifications — a higher percentage an for the sixty tales as a whole.

The Noble Bachelors, and Benedicts

237

One non-personal name must be noticed: the ss Palmyra in which the Douglases started for Africa. The Times for 28 May 1890 records a fire aboard the ss Palmyra lying at the Fresh Wharf, Thames-street, struck by a spark from a shovel and extinguished without much damage. But by 1913-14 no steamers or ocean sailing vessels named Palmyra are in Lloyd's Register of Shipping. The Register for 18go—g 1 had listed several; by 1899 the two steam Palmyras had gone, though there were two sailing vessels of the name. Palmyra was also the former home of the Mormons in New York State about 1830. The canonical steamship may well be more an echo of the Mormons than of past ships, though the American vessel of the name in 1802 discovered an island in the Pacific which was also so christened, and towns successively farther west in the USA were also styled Palmyra. The troubled ancient city of Palmyra in Syria sounds like a classical forebear of the Valley of Fear, and it is said of Alexander's attack upon it, "... he was compelled to leave without accomplishing his object."'° This too sounds like the frustrated flight of Jack Douglas.

45 The Noble Bachelors, and Benedicts "And from a noble client?" "One of the highest in England." The Noble Bachelor

The peculiar problem of the canonical peerage has not yet been solved, but as Mr Sherlock Holmes's involvement with that distinguished House was such an important part of his later career, it seems well to chronicle its so-far-known dimensions. Holmes was always reticent, and Dr Watson being the soul of discretion has amiably confused the matter to such an extent that the full implications may never be known. It is nonetheless clear that twenty-three British peers are named in the sixty tales, not to mention eleven members of the foreign nobilities. This excludes, of course, those members of royal houses for whom Holmes rendered services; and in such august company mere knights, as not holding hereditary rank, must give place. Goodrich's list in his "Guide" is far longer — ninety-three names — under the heading of "Peerage, royalty & knighthood"; it actually contains one Privy Councillor and his lady, and a couple of courtesy Honourables who may be presumed to be younger children of noble families, but its ranks are also swollen by historical personages.

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Sher ock Holmes

The British peerages represented in Holmes's cases h. e been remarked upon in previous chapters, but a summary listin: may show something about them. Since British titles, especially thos. of ancient standing, are usually placenames (though personal names ar more frequently found in recent creations) some notes of gazetteer ntries, and indication of invented, coined, or disguised titles, have been appended. Perhaps these comments may encourage others to investigat the musty corridors of nobility, to clarify the acquaintanceship abou which Dr Watson was careful not to suggest more than was discreet. Abergavenny (Priory School) A 1711/12 child-murd; r by Lady Abergavenny is documented; historical earldom (to n, Wales). Backwater, Lord (Noble Bachelor, Silver Blaze) Sir Mic ael HicksBeach (hamlet and stream, Forfarshire). Balmoral, duke of (Noble Bachelor, Silver Blaze) and Lo d Balmoral (Empty House) Not the barony of Balmore, extinct 18 6. ?Edward v11, then Prince of Wales (seat; HM the Queen's inc II •nito when travelling was "Countess of Balmoral"). Bellinger, Lord (Second Stain) Several peerages begin w th Bel-, eg, Bellinguard, Bellinter. Fourth earl of Belmore, 183- —1913, was a historian of Ireland (surname of a fruiterer in So thsea, circa 1886). Belminster, Duke of (Second Stain) Not Belmisthorpe, R tland. Why case (ina name so similar to the preceding in the sa vented). Beverley, Baron (Priory School) Earldom; George Pe cy, second earl, became duke of Northumberland 1865 (subo dinate title of duke of Holdernesse). Blackwater, earl of (Priory School) Seat of Francis Co pton, near Minstead, Hants, well known to Doyle; many other p aces (placename). Blackwell, Lady Eva (Milverton) Also given as Brackwe 1; daughter of a noble family but unlikely to be a peeress in he own right. Not Baron Blackburn, 1813-96, or Lord Blackburn, 186 4-1944 (well-known surname). Cantlemere, Lord (Mazarin Stone) Not Canterbury; cf C mbermere' (invented). Carfax, Lady Frances (Disappearance of ...) Was she a L. dy (but not peeress) in her own right? From Carfax, street i Horsham, Sussex;2 also a proper name. Carston, earl of (Priory School) Not from "The Grea Carington

The Noble Bachelors, and Benedicts

239

Imposture"3 (subordinate title of duke of Holdernesse) (placename). Dovercourt, earl of (Milverton) Dover was a dukedom 1708-78, a barony 1831—gg; Doverdale a barony created 1917; a barony of Dovercourt created 1954 (parish in Harwich, Essex, location of a spa). Dowson, Baron (Mazarin Stone) ?Mary Emily Dowson, writer on religion under pseudonym William Scott Palmer; cf William Palmer, poisoner, 1824-56, who like Baron Dowson was hanged. Flowers, Lord (Second Stain) Cf Flowers Barrow, camp, Dorset; and Cyril Flower, Baron Battersea. Greyminster, duke of (Blanched Soldier) Not from peerage of Greystoke, extinct 1569 (invented). Harringby, Lord (Wisteria Lodge) Cf Harringay, district in North London; earldom of Harrington (held by the Stanhopes); Harington (extinct?); Haringworth (family of Zouche) (invented). Holdernesse, duke of (Priory School) Earldom of Holderness was extinct 1778; Sutton of Holdernesse is a barony (a surname and a district, East Riding of Yorkshire). Holdhurst, Lord (Navy Treaty) Cf Holdenhurst, Hants; and Holmhurst, house near Highcliffe, Hants, about 2 miles from Bartonon-Sea where Doyle family used to swim; another Holmhurst is east of Hastings, Sussex (invented). Leverstoke, Lord (Priory School) John Baring, Baron Revelstoke, was a bachelor, hence possible butt of a "son" joke. Cf Leverstock Green, village, Herts (invented). Lomond, duke of (Three Gables) (placename) Cf Lomond Hills, Scotland, as well as the Loch. Edward Douglas Loch, Baron Loch of Drylaw, b 1873, was in the Sudan and Boer War. Maynooth, earl of (Empty House) Irish placename, County Kildare, site of Catholic college. Irish peerages are not all recognized in England. Merrow, Lord (Second Stain) "Merrow Downs Scheme" 1903-4: Lord Onslow proposed close management of a tract of common land near Guildford; he had been Undersecretary for the Colonies and Governor of New Zealand. Morcar, countess of (Blue Carbuncle) Julia S. Pardoe wrote Lord Morcar of Hereward (1829); Morcar loved Agatha, daughter of William the Conqueror; cf Milverton's housemaid (Chapter 28) (historical name).

240

Sherlock Holmes

Mount-James, Lord (Missing Three-Quarter) Not Charles Blount, Baron Mountjoy, earl of Devonshire 1603-6. Cf Earl Mountcharles. Rufton, earl of (Lady Frances Caifax) Cf Rufford Abbey, seat of Lord Savile, in Notts; Rufford Hall, Lancs. St Simon, Lord Robert (Noble Bachelor) St Simon Ward in Southsea. Doyle refers to "St. Simon's Memoirs" but these are unidentified (courtesy title). Saltire, Arthur, Lord (Priory School) "Lord Saltire" in Doyle's Stark Munro Letters, whose son is James Derwent. Arms of the barony of Derwent of Hackness are based on a saltire sable (heraldic term). Arthur is the young son of a duke but his name is not one of the duke's subordinate titles; is it the family name? "Lord" Saltire is a courtesy title only. Singleford, Lord (Silver Blaze) (invented) Not Swansea of Singleton; nor Singleton, village in Sussex, though they may contribute. Southerton, Lord (Copper Beeches) (surname and placename) Hamlet on northwest edge of Dartmoor. Not the earl of Southesk. Whittington, Lady Alicia (Noble Bachelor) Cf John de Whittington circa 1296, who was not a peer, nor was Dick, later Lord Mayor of London; also placename in nine counties. Cf Lady Frances Carfax's title. For the sake of completeness the foreign nobility may be scanned as well. Among them are one or two little problems, for among the old British nobility are many names harking back especially to Norman French. It is therefore chancy to say that the Countess d'Albert is probably French — she may well be the wife of a British earl. Baron Maupertuis is almost certainly continental, but there are British barons. Barring the sundry royalties, Bohemian, Scandinavian, and Dutch, and references to dead sovereigns of England and a few legitimate turn-of-the-century British peers, the following are left. The following list summarizes discussions in other chapters: Colonna, prince of (Six Napoleons) Two identifiable Italian princes of Colonna born 1848 and 1855. D'Albert, Countess (Milverton) Two sisters of two dukes de Luynes, bearing the family name d'Albert. (de) Brinvilliers, Marchioness (Study in Scarlet) Marie Madeleine d'Aubray, marquise de Brinvilliers, b 163o, executed 1676 for murder by poison. Grafenstein, count von and zu (His Last Bow) Ernst Günther, duke (Graf) of Schleswig-Holstein-Augustenburg, whose seat was the

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241

castle of Grafenstein; 1863-1921; much quoted in The Times on German affairs. Gruner, Baron Adelbert (Illustrious Client) Hans Gruner, African explorer, or Dr Grüner, deputy governor of the Tirol. Maupertuis, Baron (Reigate Squires) Also "Maupertins" in the Strand, probably a misprint; for a French geometer. Montalva, marquess of (Wisteria Lodge) Alias; possibly British despite the sound; several Spanish writers with similar names. Von Herling, Baron (His Last Bow) ?Simon Herling, German grammarian. Von Kramm, Count (Scandal in Bohemia) One of several scions of the Familie Cramm, all too young or already married at the time. Von Saxe-Meningen, Clotilde (Scandal in Bohemia) Marie, b 1853, unmarried daughter of Georg it, prince of Saxe-Meiningen. Count Zeppelin, the Sultan of Turkey, and other such personages can for our purposes be ignored as they take no part in the events of the stories. The capital V occurs for all three of the Germans and is a typical English-language gaffe. An aristocratic German uses a small v just as the British peer is the duke of Someplace; and he is alphabetized by the surname itself and not by the preposition (S for Someplace, not o for "of"; K for Kramm, not v for "von". There are German names with a capital V for "Von", but .not nobility, and in the Canon are several presumably Dutch names in "Van" which is the same thing, except that the Dutch consider the prefix to be part of the name.

46 A Surplus in Surplices "I have been ordained," cried the old rascal. "And also unfrocked." "Once a clergyman, always a clergyman." "I think not." The Solitary Cyclist

Having looked at a restricted population of medical men as a group source of names in the Sherlock Holmes saga, it is natural to ask whether certain other groups could serve equally well as such sources. Two such defined groups are the Bar and the clergy, which as learned professions have distinct parallels with medicine. For this purpose, Crockford's Clerical

242

Sherlock Holmes

Directory (1921-22) was examined for possible matches with our list of characters. Clergymen being rather long-lived, Crockford for that late date in the publishing span of the stories still includes many who were active even at the beginning of canonical history, in the late 'eighties, though for a more thorough search it would be necessary to examine earlier issues as well. The immediate aim, however, is to find the number of matches in a defined group; it would be hard to estimate the total names in a file of Crockford without very extensive labour. Of some 35,300 individuals in Crockford's 1921-22 volume, 322 surnames (0.9 percent of the clergy) matched 44 percent of the surnames of canonical characters. Actually there are far fewer than 35,30o separate surnames in Crockford — an estimate is 15,150, though an accurate count is somewhat tedious; but as group totals can be compared, the total of separate surnames may be disregarded. In the 322 matches are forty-seven full matches of forename plus surname, or 0.13 percent of Crockford names (Table 3). Thirty-two of these are common surnames, whereas six are rare (defined as ten or fewer occurrences in the 1910 Post Office London Directory), six uncommon (ten to twenty-five occurrences), and six with frequencies twenty-six to forty-nine, or undetermined. Twenty of these forty-seven are major characters in the Canon, of whom thirteen have common names and four rare names. This compares with an arbitrary count of eighty-nine major character surnames in the Canon (Chapter 3) of which twentythree are common and at least fifty rare. Here is the first obvious lack of fit. Of the forty-seven full name matches, only ten in Crockford (using only the information there given) have a possible or probable link with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle — chiefly from proximity of pastoral charge or similar post to the known residence or activities of Doyle — whereas thirtyseven cases range from "no connection evident" or "unlikely" to "abroad" (chiefly Empire postings) and "too late." The most probable of the full matches, the identification of Charlie Williams in The Valley of Fear with Charles Dale Williams who was curate of St Jude, Southsea, 1882-8, is complicated by a dozen other Charles Williamses, mostly medical, some of whom were Edinburgh graduates, and some who were writers of items likely to have caught Doyle's interest. The other nine full-name matches are rather nihil obstat than positive identification. The first conclusion would at once thus be that this is coincidence. The first names in these forty-seven full matches are not illuminating: eighteen Johns, ten Jameses, four Henrys, three Williams, two Charleses, eight names once each, and two with first initials only. The

2 43

A Surplus in Surplices

Table 3: Full Canonical Names (Forename plus Surname) in Crockford's Clerical Directory 1921-22 CHARACTER

MAJOR CASE

FREQUENCY CONNECTION WITH DOYLE**

James Armitage * Henry Baker * Cecil Barker John Clay *

Glor Blue Vall RedH

common common common common

John Clayton J. Davenport

Houn Gree

James Dodd John Douglas John Eccles Robert Ferguson John Ferrier Philip Green John Harden Charles Hardy John Hardy Joseph Harrison * John Holder William James John James

Blan Vall Wist Suss Stud Lady Soli Seco Em fit Nava Sign Vall Last

common not uncommon common common uncommon common rare common uncommon common common common uncommon common common

William Kirwan * John Knox James Lancaster

Reig Vall Bloc

John Mason James McCarthy * John Mitton James Moriarty * Fred Morris William Morris Cyril Morton John Openshaw * * Henry Peters John Rance

Shos Bosc Seco Fina Vall RedH Soli Five Lady Stud

unlikely none (3) unlikely possible (middle name Harden; see below) unlikely unlikely but possible (3)

none evident none evident (4) abroad; unlikely unlikely (4) abroad unlikely unlikely unlikely (4) too late (3) none evident (2) unlikely unlikely (6) 1 Forces chaplain; otherwise none evident (12) rare too late uncommon too late not none evident uncommon common none evident (4) common too late rare abroad rare possible, RN chaplain common possible; none evident common unlikely (7) common too late (2) rare too late common unlikely uncommon abroad

Sherlock Holmes

2 44

Table 3, continued CHARACTER

MAJOR CASE FREQUENCY CONNECTION WITH DOYLE**

John Robinson * James Ryder James H. Scott James Smith Henry Staunton

Blue Blue Vall Soli Miss

Herbert Stevens John Turner James Walter John Warner John Watson H. Watson Arthur West Charles Williams James Williams Henry Wood

Nora, Bosc Bruc Wist

* * * *

*

Sign Bruc Vall Wirt Croo

common 2 possible (15) uncommon none evident common possible (6) 2 possible (8) common rare unlikely (see: Stanton, Chapter 30) common none evident (2) common 2 possible (5) common abroad 1 possible (4) common common too late (5) common none evident common abroad common 1 possible (16) common unlikely (10) common unlikely (2)

**Numbers in parentheses in last column indicate a number of identical names in Crockford.

half-dozen leading names are in exactly the same ranks as the distribution of canonical forenames. Including the full-name matches there are 322 surname matches between the Canon and Crockford. About eighteen percent of these can however be discarded as impossible, usually as being "too late," giving a net of about 262 matches. Unfortunately none of the Crockford matches can be taken as absolutely positive — not even the Rev Charles Cyrill Angell, Doyle's brother-in-law, for despite the family's acquaintance with him, he was only a schoolboy in 1891, when Hosmer Angel appeared in A Case of Identity. The distribution of hits between "rare" and "common" names in Crockford is also remarkable compared to our list of characters. In the Canon 47.4 percent of surnames are rare, only 19.5 percent common; in the Crockford hits, 39.3 percent are common and only 19.2 percent rare. It would be expected that, from a purely random pair of lists, hits on common names would be more frequent. Crockford

A Surplus in Surplices

2 45

Table 4: Canonical Names Found in Crockford and Edinburgh Lists CROCKFORD 1921-22

EDINBURGH 1859-88

EDINBURGH 1878-88

HOLMES CANON

Individuals in list

35,300*

6055*

1850*

798

Surnames in list

15,150*

3450*

900*

606

Full match (forename + surname)

47 (0.13%)

7 (0.12%)

5 (.27%)

Full match common surnames

32

6

4

Major characters, full match

20

4

2

Major characters, cornmon surnames

13

3

1

Major characters, rare surnames

4

0

0

Links with Doyle (full matches)

10?

7

5

Surname matches, gross 322 Surname matches, net, less impossibilities

262 (0.7%)

113 (1.9%)

105 (5.7%)

Surname matches, common names (freq. 50+ )

113

53

50

122 (20%)

Surname matches, rare names (freq. 0-10)

67

21

17

297 (49%)

120

110

3.5

12.2

Total matches of 262 surname, net Total surname matches, 1.7 as percentage of list * Estimated

hits do not adequately account on a purely random basis for canonical names, for the rare names are seriously underrepresented. If links with

246

Sherlock Holmes

Table 5: Canonical Surnames Found in Published Directories P.O. CROCKLONDON FORD DIRECTORY 1921-22 1910

EDINBURGH EDINBURGH HOLMES 1878-88 1859-88 CANON

Individuals

275,000*

35,300*

6055*

1850*

798

Surnames

124,000*

15,150*

3450*

900*

606

Surname match, net

402

262

120

110

Surname match, percent

0.32

1.7

3.5

12.2

Ratio of list size (individuals)

454*

58.3

10

3

1

Ratio of list size (surnames)

205*

25

5.7

1.5

1

Increment of matches

80

142

10

110

Productivity, percent

0.06

0.4

0.4

12.2

* Estimated Doyle could be demonstrated often enough, it could be said that Doyle had used clergymen of his acquaintance as a source of names. Otherwise it would be necessary — if the hits were in sufficient agreement with the kinds of names in the canonical list — to show that Doyle dipped into Crockford for surnames, rather than naming his characters directly for individual originals. The same could be done for any similar directory such as the Medical Directory. If the occurrence of a hit from a given body of names were purely random, the number of hits should depend upon the size of the list. Table 4 shows that this does not happen. While there are 262 (net) surname matches with approximately 15,15o surnames in Crockford, or 1.7 percent, the 345o surnames in the Edinburgh list yield Ito matches or 3.5 percent; and of these, i 10 are from the eleven years 1878-88, or 12.2 percent of the goo surnames from those years. Clearly this distribution is not random. As Doyle's connection with those eleven years at Edinburgh is known, some causal connection exists.

A Surplus in Surplices

2 47

Yet a hundred and forty surnames from the Canon are found in Crockford but not at Edinburgh. A brief mathematical excursion is necessary at this point to examine the phenomena of such searches. This is found in the Bradford-Zipf distribution, originally discovered by S.C. Bradford and stated in his brief book Documentation (1948), which dealt primarily with the recovery of relevant items in a search through a body of literature citations in periodicals. Its applicability to many other such searches was shown in the work of Zipf. It says, in effect, that if a large number of sources of possibly relevant items are searched, the productivity of those sources will vary. Equal increments of relevant items will be found in successive bodies of material, the sizes of those bodies increasing exponentially as their productivity is successively lower. Bradford thereby identified a "core" or nucleus of highly productive sources, and a "fringe" of meagrely productive sources, whose size could be mathematically expressed. Table 5 compares the 1910 London directory, Crockford, and the Edinburgh list as successively smaller source bodies in which surname matches with the Canon have been found. The productivity of these bodies of varying sizes is not uniform; the largest haystack yields the fewest needles which have not already been found in smaller haystacks. The Edinburgh list for 1878-88 alone yields 110 surnames, nearly a fifth of all canonical surnames and 12.2 percent of the names in the Edinburgh list for those years. Trebling the size of haystack to the whole Edinburgh list of 6,055 persons yields only an additional ten surnames, and the overall productivity has now dropped to 3.5 percent. Crockford among its 35,300 listings, among which are about 15,150 surnames, yields an additional 142 matches not found at Edinburgh, but from a list 17 times the size of the 1878-88 Edinburgh list; the productivity of Crockford is only 0.4 percent. Now look at the London directories. Owen has estimated the commercial section of the 1891 Kelly's London Directory to contain 137,632 listings,' from which it may be estimated that the commercial and "court" (private residents) listings together hold of the order of 275,000 names or 124,000 surnames, with a large probable error. From that list, 8 times the size of Crockford, or rather from the 19 10 directory which is even larger, only 8o names are retrieved which cannot be found in the smaller sources. The productivity of this large list is away down to 0.06 percent. Clearly this is a "fringe" list; equally clearly, no overall connection with Doyle could be established, unless it were known that he had a copy of the directory and used it as an immediate source of names for his characters. The numbers of individual listings in these successively larger source

248

Sherlock Holmes

bodies are in the proportions 3:10:58.3:454, compared to the 6o6 surnames in the Canon as 1. This sequence suggests some exponential relationship of size, resembling x:x2:x3:x4. In fact the exponents of this sequence are 3':321:397:35'6. Now the Bradford-Zipf distribution states that equal increments of relevant items may be retrieved from successive increments of sources exponentially larger in sequence. But the increments of relevant items (names) here found were not equal : 110, to, 142, 8o — though with the exception of the Edinburgh 1859-88 value they are of the same order of magnitude. This is because the increments of source material are not exactly even powers (exponents) larger in sequence. Crockford is 58.3 times the size of the Canon, not 27 times (33 7, not 33 or 27). A source 27 times larger than the Canon, g times larger than the "core" Edinburgh years, should yield just over a hundred names; a source 81 times larger (34) still another hundred items. So Crockford has yielded close to the theoretically expected number of surnames: 142. Now why is the yield from the London directory so low? Possibly because the estimate of 275,000 listings, which itself may be inaccurate by too,000, represents far fewer than 124,000 surnames – perhaps only 50,00o. If that were the case, the list would be almost exactly 34 times the size of the canonical list; but it should then produce over a hundred names. The masking effect of the Crockford list, which is 33 7 times the size of the Canon, hides the London yield. If Crockford were only 33 times the Canon, it would have yielded only about t 10 names, and the additional increment would be seen attributed to the London list, making that just about t to names. So the Bradford-Zipf distribution adequately accounts for the number of names found in the various directories, and also clearly points out the "core" Edinburgh years 1878-88 as a primary source for canonical names despite the large numbers found elsewhere, a number of characters quite out of proportion to the number of alumni of the Scottish medical school. It will not do to suggest Edinburgh graduates, or any other single group, as a sole or chief source of canonical names, for reasons which are obvious when the search is mathematically described as above. Had we however added to Edinburgh graduates the surname matches among licentiates of the Edinburgh Royal Colleges of Physicians and of Surgeons – licentiates not necessarily Edinburgh University students – and other medical men, there are 165 names, not 120 - but still only 46 rare names. The proportion still does not adequately match the Canon. The drawback to Marder's claim to have identified two hundred cricketing names in the Canon now becomes obvious: any body of English names of suitable size should give a hundred or a couple of hundred surname

A Surplus in Surplices

2 49

matches with the Canon. But since Doyle was known to have been at Edinburgh in certain years; known to have been a cricketer and allround sportsman; known to be a doctor, and so on, certain bodies of names will have a heightened probability. Proof for individual names must still be found if at all possible. The incompleteness of the London directory, or any other single source, must also be considered. Owen has shown that it lists only fourteen Henry Bakers, whereas there should be "some hundreds" — over 26o to be exact. In the second place, questions of the legitimacy of lists, or names in the list, begin to arise. In saying 6o6 surnames are identifiable in the Canon, and comparing these to English or Scottish lists, are biases built in? Should names which have been found nowhere, and which apparently must have been invented, be excluded? Should foreign names be excluded? Yet the Edinburgh list contains Sikh names, and the London directories many foreign names. Further, only living persons are in the current directories — only dead persons in the great national biographical directories — but it is quite clear that Conan Doyle used historical names and names from widely scattered sources. We are doing quite well to find as many surnames as we have. In the same way, other major lists of names can be compared with the Canon and matches found, without necessarily proving causal relationship. Some link with Doyle must be found in sufficient cases that causality can be inferred in adequately similar cases. Links with Doyle have not been evident in many instances among the Crockford names. It must be concluded that the canonical names are typical English names, not that they were necessarily all, or even mostly, taken from specific individuals. The fact that Dr John Ferrier lives just a long stone's throw away from Dr Doyle cannot prove that John Ferrier in A Study in Scarlet is named for the Norwood medico — A Study in Scarlet was written five years before Doyle moved to South Norwood — but the inference is also extremely strong that Dr Ferrier in The Naval Treaty was so named. As a further test of the application of the Bradford-Zipf distribution to this problem, the "Official Directory for 1903 ... of persons holding situations under the Crown," pages 1-84 of the 1903 Post Office London Directory, contains about 18,400 individuals, ie, is 23 times the list of the list of canonical characters. The expected gross yield of name matches should be about 11ox where 3" = 23, or 2.856 times 110, or 314 names. The actual gross yield is 293 name matches (2.66 times 110) and the net yield of "Official Directory" names not in the Edinburgh list is 123. This compares with the prediction, above, that a list 27 times the size of the canonical list should produce about 110 matches.

250

Sherlock Holmes

Similarly, the Medical Directory for 1913 contains 41,587 names, or 68.625 times the size of the canonical list, or 39.85; it would be expected that this list would yield 110 times 33.85 or 424 matches with canonical names — but not necessarily 424 identifications of canonical characters. The Bradford-Zipf distribution is purely statistical; it says nothing about individual cases or causality; it predicts only that one must in effect search progressively larger haystacks. It does suggest that to locate about 500 of the 6o6 surnames among canonical characters, a population of some millions would have to be combed. It also enables confirmation that a small but productive source, like the Edinburgh list, should be carefully studied to find causal links. As to the clergymen in Crockford: Doyle after all had been raised a Roman Catholic, though he struck away from that creed at University age and remained a slightly amused onlooker. Crockford's directory of Anglican clergy would be an inadequate source — even leaving out of consideration the Scottish Presbyterian tradition. Surname-only matches between the Canon and Crockford have not all been examined for a link with Doyle, but are likely to yield results similar to the full-name matches, of which only a fifth have even a possibility of a link. In most cases the surnames are so common that only the impossible can be eliminated; whatever remains, however improbable, is in this case so plentiful as to be open to vast conjecture. Also, other and more probable matches must be taken into account. Dr Hill Barton in The Illustrious Client for instance is more likely derived from John Hill Burton the Scottish historiographer, and/or Hill Barton, Exeter, than from a Barton surname match in Crockford. The number of Crockford matches for which an alternative, more probable match is not available is small. William Hales is at least as likely to stem from Sir William Hale-White, prominent medical editor, as from the Rev James Tooke Hales who served in the Boer War — unless the latter should be specifically mentioned in Doyle's history of that war.

251

47 Such Nice Neighbours "I have just been in to see if I can be of any assistance to our new neighbours." The Yellow Face "In the first place, have you heard of any strangers being seen in your neighbourhood?" The Dancing Men "What is the opinion of the neighbours about this man ... and his wife?" The Retired Colourman Among the hundreds who hurry through the scenes of sixty tales, some briefly and some at length, and perhaps next in importance only to the medical men from Edinburgh and elsewhere, whose names are embedded in the accounts, may be found neighbours who must have passed in and out of Conan Doyle's activities. He was a man of immense enthusiasm and curiosity as well as energy.' His extremely broad interests gave him contact with many more people than, lacking his own papers, we can now identify. Some, such as sporting figures, military personages, peers, and public figures, may be identified through appropriate guides and the knowledge that Doyle too was present at such a time and place. But a very important group, not always obvious, is formed of persons in Doyle's immediate vicinity, whether of residence, office, or activity. Many such have been mentioned in specific chapters, but let us glance at them as a group. The first are to be found in Southsea, in the days of early practice and early marriage. Many of Doyle's earlier experiences, in Edinburgh and elsewhere, aboard ship, in apprenticeship, are clearly delineated in non-Holmesian writings and need not concern us. Occasionally figures from that earlier period loom out of the literary mist and appear in the saga of Sherlock Holmes — perhaps the seamen in Black Peter and The "Gloria Scott" among them — but other than the names from Edinburgh few can be clearly attributed. The neighbours, however, can be independently traced, once Dr Doyle has settled into No i, Bush Villas, and screwed his brass plate to the front gate. Not always is the neighbour the most likely source of a name; often the stronger claimant is elsewhere. Not always is the neighbour's name used while Doyle is still nearby — though seldom could it be suggested that this was a precautionary measure. Occasionally confirmation is elsewhere in Doyle's writings that the neighbour is indeed the sought original —

OCCUPANT

William Royston Pike,

Mrs Sawyer (Stud)

Mrs Sawyer

Alfred Jackson, ret'd

Dr Lysander Maybury, police surgeon

Col Augustus S. Murray

Edward M. Bellinger, fruiterer

Froddington Road, 49

Granada Road, "Woodford" (cf below, Sussex Road)

Hampshire Terrace, 9

Nightingale Road, 6 Cromwell Houses

Palmerston Road, 101 (south of Elm Grove)

MD

high good; cf below high; cf above, Johnston

Col Lysander Stark (Engr) Murray, orderly (Stud) Lord Bellinger (Seco)

alternatives MD

Dr Jackson (Croo)

possible

high

Sgt Tuson (Stoc)

Col (later Gen Sir) Henry Brasnell Tuson

Eastney Road, Eastney Barracks

high; alternative (fruiterer patient?)

Robert E. Johnston, fruiterer

Caversham Road, 59 (thirteenth turning north of Elm Grove)

Elder Johnston (Stud)

William Rance

Belmont Street, 12 (first street north of Elm Grove)

good

James Cowper

"Sunnyside" John Rance (Stud)

alternative below

PROBABILITY

Edinburgh alternative

Langdale Pike (3 Gab)

CHARACTER AND CASE

Cowper, Mormon (Stud)

MRCS

"Yarborough Villa"

MD

A. Conan Doyle,

"Bush Villas," No I

1. Southsea, Portsmouth and Vicinity (1886-Spring 1891) Elm Grove:

DISTRICT, STREET, HOUSE

Table 6: Neighbours

cf below Edinburgh; and above

Halliday (Stud) Mrs McGregor (Stud) Mrs Sawyer (Stud) Halliday (Stud) Do!sky (Stud)

David Halliday, general dealer

James McGregor, surgeon

Mrs Sophia Sawyer, dressmaker

Peter Halliday

Rev Robert W.R. Dolling

Commercial Road, 24

Commercial Road, 353

Kingston Road, 104

Manor Road, 7

St Agatha's Church

Milton House, Waverley Grove

Portsea: Halliday (Stud)

alternatives (below)

Mrs McGregor (Stud)

Mrs McGregor

Worthing Road, 15

Rev Andrew Halliday (Presbyterian)

good; cf above

Murray, orderly (Stud)

Sir Hamilton Gull Murray

Sussex Road, Sussex House'

alternatives (above)

high

alternatives, above

possible; cf above

high

Charpentiers (Stud)

Ernest G. Charpentier

St Peter's Grove, 4 (second door north of Elm Grove)

Landport:

unlikely; cf above

Elder Johnston (Stud)

Edward Johnston

St James's Road, 110

possible; alternative

Samson of New Orleans (Stud)

Mrs Sampson

St Andrew's Road, 33 (runs north from Elm Grove)

cf Hynes Hynes (Wist)

Emanuel Emanuel, alderman

Portsmouth

MD

Walter Edmunds,

Gen Sir Henry Evelyn Wood

Devonshire Place, 2

Devonshire Place, 23

Alexandra Road, 5

John Muirhead

3 South Norwood and Area (Summer 1891-5) Norwood:

MD

2 Devonshire Place Montague Place (1891) Devonshire Place, 2 Thomas Bennett,

(Suss)

Ferguson & Muirhead

Henry Wood (Croo)

unlikely; below

alternatives

alternatives

Constable Edmunds (Veil)

MD alternatives

not clear

high

very high

alternatives

alternatives

PROBABILITY

Trevor Bennett (Cree)

Cheeseman's (Suss)

Emsworth: Southborne House

Reginald H. Cheeseman

Col Emsworth (Blan)

Prof Moriarty (Fina)

Rev James H. Moriarty (Chaplain, RN)

Emsworth, Hants (placename)

James Lancaster (Blac)

James Lancaster, buried (news)

Rees Rees (in news item)

CHARACTER AND CASE

OCCUPANT

DISTRICT, STREET, HOUSE

Table 6: Neighbours — Continued

N vt rP

Percy Phelps (Nava) Lord Bellinger (Seco) Algar (Card) I nsp Montgomery (Card) Lander (Vall) Dawson, (Silt')

Surg-Gen Sir W. Guyer Hunter

Peyton Phelps

J.H. Bellinghurst

Robert Algar

Gen Sir Alex. George Montgomery-Moore, KCB

Col Ross Murray

James Lander-Stock

James Dawson

William P. Henderson

Thomas Dixon,

Peter Mercer

Mrs Stewart

Frank H. Middleton

Anerley Road, "Marnhull"

Anerley Road, 47

Auckland Road, 116

The Avenue, 19

The Avenue, 24

The Avenue, 26

The Avenue, 36

The Avenue, 38

The Avenue, 44

The Avenue

Beulah Hill, 19

Beulah Hill, 52

Beulah Hill, 80

DD

Ned Hunter (Sily)

Col Peyton Phelps

Alexandra Road, 69, "Milton"

alternatives

Middleton (Houn)

Mrs Stewart (Empt)

alternatives

Scottish alternatives

Edinburgh alternative

alternatives

Jeremy Dixon (Miss) Mercer (Cree, Glor)

Edinburgh alternatives

MD alternative

no alternative

alternatives

MD

high

better, above

alternatives

alternatives

alternatives below

alternatives below

alternatives

Henderson (Wisi)

Col Ross (Sily)

Percy Phelps (Nava)

Mrs Edward Milner

Alexandra Road, 25

Col Spence Munro (Copp) Godfrey Milner (Engrg)

William G. Spence

Alexandra Road, 10

alternatives

John Scott Eccles (Wist) John Scott Eccles (Wist) Annie Harrison (Nava)

Herbert Annesley Eccles, MD

William Soltan Eccles

Miss Harrison

Mrs Porter

John Patrick Murphy,

Church Road, 104

Church Road, 140

Colby Road, 35

Colby Road, 36

College Road, "Lowood"

Steiner, spy (Last)

Ferdinand Steiner

Mrs Cusac

Mrs Cusack-Smith

Robert M.L. Spence

George S. Coram

Farquhar Road, 45

Foxhill, 4 Carlton Villas

Foxhill, 20

Gipsy Hill, 99

Gipsy Hill, 103

Prof Coram (Gold)

Col Spence Munro (Copp)

Catherine Cusack (Blue)

Catherine Cusack (Blue)

Miss Burnet (Wist)

James and Mrs Burnett

Dulwich Wood Park, 8

Godfrey Milner (Empt)

MRCS

Samuel George Milner,

Murphy (Croo, Houn, Vall)

Mrs Porter (Devi)

Dulwich Wood, "Hillside"

KC

alternatives

Robert Carruthers (Soli)

Samuel William Carruthers, MB, CM

Central Hill, 44

high

alternatives below

alternatives below

high

alternatives

alternatives

high; alternatives

numerous

alternatives

alternatives

high

John Hector McFarlane (Novo)

J.H. MacFarlane

Central Hill, 19

alternatives

MD

Joseph Harrison (Nava)

Edward Harrison

PROBABILITY

Central Hill, 4

CHARACTER AND CASE

OCCUPANT

DISTRICT, STREET, HOUSE

Table 6: Neighbours — Continued

a~

to Co

Theophilus Johnnson (Noun) Capt Calhoun (Five)

William Tyas Harden

Mrs Pringle

Francis James Prescott

Russell Hill

E.J. Spence

Thomas Johnson, builder

Mrs Calhoun

Hamlet Road, 18

Highview Road, 12

Jasper Road, 40

Kingswood Road, 10

Lunham Road, 20

Oxford Road, 4

Palace Square, 7

better alternatives better alternatives alternatives

Robert Carruthers (Soli) Prof Coram (Gold) Godfrey Milner (Empt)

Thomas Oram

Mrs Milner

Whiteley Road, 47

Whitely Road, 59

better alternatives

Col Upwood (Noun)

Miss Usherwood

William Carruthers,

rare; possible

alternatives

alternatives

better alternatives

possible

possible

possible

alternatives

Ulverston Street, 5

Col Spence Munro (Copp)

Insp Hill (SixN)

Rodger Prescott (3Gar)

Mrs Pringle (Seco)

John Vincent Harden (Soli)

Blackwell/Brackwell (Chas)

alternatives

alternatives

Vermont Road, 14 FRS

MRCS

John Brockwell,

Gipsy Hill, "Parkside"

Lt Martin (Glor)

Arthur W. Martin

Gipsy Hill, 128

Harris, alias (Stoc)

Joseph Harris, cycle maker

Gipsy Hill, 122B (!)

Parker (Danc, Emja, Stoc)

Theophilus Johnson (Noun)

Theophilus Robert Bush Parker, MD

Robert Carruthers (Soli)

Werndee Road, 18

James Gurney Carruthers, MRCP (Edinburgh), police surgeon

Selhurst Road, 239

Hurlstone, house (Musq)

Theophilus Bryett Turner, MRCS

Martin de Galway Hurlstone

Selhurst Road, 173

alternatives

alternative

MD

alternative

MD alternative

MD

rare name; possible

MD

high

better alternatives

Insp Barton (Twis)

Warminster Road, 7

Mrs Barton

Saxon Road, 21

alternatives

Theophilus Johnson (Noun)

Maudsley (Blue)

Thomas Charles Johnson

Princess Road, 17

alternatives

highest

better alternatives

PROBABILITY

Col Ross (Silt')

Lawrence Lond Maudsley

John C. Ross

Porter Road, 9

Dr Ferrier (Nava)

Stanger Road, 24

MD

James Stanger, editor (Vall)

John Christian Ferrier,

Lawrence Rd, 2, "Homesdale""

Insp Barton (Twis)

CHARACTER AND CASE

Stanger Road

George Edward Barton

OCCUPANT

Holmesdale Rd, 1 Stanley Villas

South Norwood:

DISTRICT, STREET, HOUSE

Table 6: Neighbours — Continued

N W

Cn

alternatives, below

Mathews (Empt)

MD alternative

Adams (Gree) Richard Brunton (Mq)

Charles Edmund Adams, MRCS

Richard Henry Brunton

Gipsy Hill Road, 227

Gipsy Road, 3

alternatives MD

Ezekiah Hopkins (RedH)

alternatives

cf above

Percy R. Hopkins

J. Slater Spence

Chestnut Road, 35

West Norwood:

(address not given)

Henry John Mathews,

LRCS

St Aubyn's Road, 10 Col Spence Munro (Copp)

alternatives

Jeremy Dixon (Miss)

(cf

Thomas Dixon, above)

Maberley Road, 48 DD

rare spelling

Mortimer Maberley (3Gab)

Maberley Road

Barney Stockdale (3Gab)

William Stockdale

Central Hill, 64

alternative

MD

Jack Stapleton

Joseph Whitaker Stapleton, MRCS (retired)

Central Hill, "Rossye Lodge"

very high

very high

John Turner (Bosc)

John Sidney Turner,

Anerley Road, 81

MRCS

Edinburgh alternative

MacPhail, servant (Cree)

Miss MacPhail

Alexandra Road, 39

Upper Norwood:

Alfred John Gregory,

Knight's Hill Road, "The Bays"

sport alternative

Lord Flowers (Seco)

Robert Flowers

Wolfington Road, 83

Mrs/Miss Cushing

Mrs/Miss Cushing

147 Clarence Road, Lower Clapton

43 Grove Vale, East Dulwich

Cushing sisters (Card)

MD

Farquhar (Stoc)

James Arthur Farquhar

Wolfington Road, 41

Elsewhere in Surrey suburbs:

possible, dubious

Kent, surgeon (Glan)

Osborne Charles Kent

Uffington Road, 8

alternatives

alternatives MD

Martin (Danc, Glor)

Thurlby Road, 37

Horace Allon Martin

Harry Edward Hopkins

St Julian's Farm Road, 72

alternative above

alternatives

John Scott Eccles (Wise)

John Scott

Knight's Hill Road, 177 Ezekiah Hopkins (Redes)

alternatives, above

Mathews (Empt)

Rev William Stewart Mathews

Knight's Hill Road, 142

alternatives

MD

Henry Barton, Resident officer

Knight's Hill Road, Police Station

alternatives

Insp Gregory (Silt') alternatives

alternatives

Martin (Danc, Glor)

Harris, alias (Stoc)

PROBABILITY

CHARACTER AND CASE

Insp Barton (Twin)

John B. Harris,

Knight's Hill Road "Knight's Hill Lodge" MD

Mrs Martin

Harpenden Road, 66

MRCS

OCCUPANT

DISTRICT, STREET, HOUSE

Table 6: Neighbours — Continued

0 O

Willoughby Smith (Gold)

Laurence Willoughby Smith (b Norwood 1880)

Norwood (no address)

cf real Hyam (Noma) Hyam (Vall)

Henry William Higham

Goldsmith's Ave, "Mon Alri" [sic, Mon Abri?]

alternatives MD

Sir James Saunders (B lan)

alternative above

Cecil Walter Saunders

Edinburgh alternative

James Winter (3 Gar)

5 Crowborough (1907-1930) Arthur Graham Winter, Beacon Road, "Whorlton" MB, BS

Eridge Road, "Errismore"

alternative

Harding Bros (SixN)

Harding Bros, builders

Hindhead: Shottermill

Ferguson & Muirhead (Suss)

geographical alternatives

Fred Porlock (Vall)

Sir Frederick Pollock

Hindhead

Ferguson & Ferguson, motor engineers

very high

White Mason (Val)

White and Mason, solicitors

East Grinstead

Church Road

MD

Cecil Barker (Vall) Blaker (Vall)

alternative

alternatives

Rev Cecil Renshaw Blaker

4 Hindhead (1896-1906) Crawley: Turner's Hill

Cushing sisters (Card)

Mrs/Miss Cushing

53 Eglantine Road, Wandsworth

al

10

geographical alternative

Langdale Pike (3Gab)

Albert Pike, farmer

Steel Cross, Hourne Farm

alternative

MD

Const Edmunds (Veil)

William M. Edmunds, farmer

Station Road, "The Beeches"

PROBABILITY

CHARACTER AND CASE

OCCUPANT

DISTRICT, STREET, HOUSE

Table 6: Neighbours — Continued

Such Nice Neighbours

263

not by direct admission, but by mention of the individual in another connection. So Sir Anthony Home, vc, is sketched in his own person in the autobiography Memories and Adventures (1924) though his characteristics appear in The Speckled Band attached in some degree to Dr Grimesby Roylott, but also in 1926, two years after the autobiography, forty years after Roylott, in Col Emsworth (The Blanched Soldier) whose name also comes from the Southsea neighbourhood. It is most useful to display the neighbours geographically, grouped around the successive residences of the Doyles, commencing with Southsea and progressing through the Devonshire Place/Montague Square episode to South Norwood, Hindhead, and Crowborough. The Norwood area offers the most names; twenty-three cases were set down while Dr Doyle resided in Tennison Road. Hindhead and Devonshire Place yield the fewest, while the long Crowborough period offers only a halfdozen. By that time Doyle's activities and acquaintances had so broadened that it is almost a surprising exception to find a local name embedded in one of the later Holmes cases. The final column of this tabulation, like the similar column in Chapter 46, indicates whether the person identified is a highly likely or less likely original for the character named. This list, excluding five items known solely by repute without specific addresses, includes 121 addresses and persons who are possible sources for ninety-two canonical names. Of these eighteen are rated "high" or "very high" probability: Algar, Bellinger, Charpentier, Coram, Dolsky, Emsworth, Ferrier, Hurlstone, Johnston, Lysander, McFarlane, Moriarty, Murphy, Stapleton, Steiner, Turner, Tuson, White Mason. Note that nine of these names are rare, using the working definition which has been a touchstone, ie, frequency in the 1910 London directory; one name is very uncommon, two are rather uncommon, and only four are common names. This is a very different distribution from that of the name matches found in Crockford's Clerical Directory, for instance. Of the ninety-two names, twenty-six are rare; thirty-four are common names; twenty-nine are uncommon or infrequent, but not rare. Frequencies were not at hand for four. It still does not approach the distribution of the whole list of names, forty-seven percent rare, but the point can be made: that a noticeable number of infrequently found surnames in the Canon occur in Conan Doyle's own neighbourhood. The ten names from A Study in Scarlet found in the PortsmouthSouthsea area are notable. Only two of these are rare (Charpentier, and Dolsky which is apparently invented from Dolling), only two common (Johnston and Murray), while the remaining six are of that lukewarm

Sherlock Holmes

264

Table 7: Possible Neighbours, by Publication Period of Case SOUTHSEA (1886.91)

Stud-Scan (1886-91) RedH-Fina (1891-93) Houn-Seco (1901-4) Wist-Shos (1908-27)

MONTAGUE SQUARE 1891

SOUTH NORWOOD 1891-1895

1

37

HINDHEAD 1896-1906

CROWBOROUGH 1907-1930

16 4 2 5

2

34

1

17

4

6

"infrequent" category, occurring between eleven and forty-four times in the t g I o London directory. Only three of these characters, the Charpentiers and John Rance, rejoice in first names; the others are mere mentions. On the other hand sixteen of the thirty-three names in A Study in Scarlet are rare, only seven common. Eighty-three of the 118 persons suggested are not sole possibilities for the canonical names. A number of entries are cited chiefly for the sake of completeness. Twenty-five listings are in competition with medical possibilities (though seven so listed are themselves medicos), but it is notable that out of twenty-seven Portsmouth/Southsea listings, only three are themselves medical, and two of these are in competition with other medical possibilities. Eighty-two of the listings (not the same eighty-two) are from the Norwood area, if we cast as far afield as Wandsworth, Dulwich, and Clapton (which is probably not legitimate) for one trio, and we have no address for two persons. Remarkable in Norwood is the number of persons on a few particular streets: Alexandra Road, Anerley Road, The Avenue, Central Hill, Gipsy Hill, Knight's Hill, Beulah Hill. Several of these roads run through more than one of the districts separated, as listed in the directories, into Norwood, South, Upper, and West Norwood. It can scarcely be coincidence that seven canonical surnames may be found within twenty-five house numbers in The Avenue; four within thirty house numbers in Gipsy Hill; five in Knight's Hill Road including the remarkable appearance of a policeman (rank not stated) named Barton, as a source for Inspector Barton. Two road names may be remarked upon. Stanger Road in South Norwood may very well have been named for the medical Stanger of Foundling Hospital fame,9 in which case that medical original for the

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editor in The Valley of Fear is to be preferred. Maberley Road in Upper Norwood is one of very few examples of that spelling, most persons of the name omitting the second "e" (Maberly). Thomas Dixon, DD, who resided in that road, was in The Avenue in a different year. Table 7 cannot be divided more finely (say by date of publication of each case) since there is no means of knowing when within a period of residence Conan Doyle may have noted a particular name; but it does indicate that names were not necessarily used at the time they were first noted. Doyle (to repeat) had a long memory and copious notebooks. Names from the Norwood area are particularly persistent. But as Hindhead and Crowborough were far smaller than the expanding London suburbs, it might well not have been politic for him to use names liberally from his near neighbourhoods.

48 A Few of the Signs "Hum! I have no recollection of the name." The Sign of Four

Barely a third of the twenty-nine names in The Sign of Four, shared by three dozen characters, have proved amenable to searches which in the case of A Study in Scarlet resolved two-thirds of its twenty-nine names. Similar problems have arisen with five of the early short stories, and two (His Last Bow and The Creeping Man) from the later period. One matter has already been well argued pro and con by several writers: the Indic names in the case. As to your Sikh names, to paraphrase Holmes, that is the greatest mystery of all. That the problem lies with Arthur Conan Doyle is clear from The Mystery of Cloomber which predated The Sign of Four by a year, and in which Eastern races and religions are recklessly jumbled; but whether the explanation is the Johnsonian one,' or the effect is intended, as Davies and Dakin implied, to suggest the invincible ignorance of the lower-class white man (Small) or narrowly educated professional man (Watson) in India, cannot now be known. The two Indic names in the case which do not depend upon Small's rendition are Lal Chowdar, Major Sholto's servant, and Lal Rao, Bartholomew Sholto's butler. This latter name actually consists of two surnames, both probably Punjabi or Bengali, though Lal can also be a first or middle name.2 The nearest suggestion of an origin for Doyle's

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use of such a name is Nanda K. (probably Kumari) Ray, who received the Edinburgh medical degrees in 1878; Prasanna K. Ray had received the n sc in 1876, before Doyle's time at Edinburgh. Quite possibly a Scot might confuse similar-sounding names like Rao and Ray, the latter rhyming with Fry rather than Hay, the former with now. Francois le Villard the French detective does not at the moment appear to take his name from Francisque le Villard, French comic writer who flourished about 1847, or from Francesco (Francois) Villardi, an Italian poet of 1781-1833. A pamphlet published in the year A Study in Scarlet was written may well have come to Dr Doyle's attention. This religio-political tract, The Persecutions in Tonga, as Narrated by Onlookers, and Now Taking Place, 1886 by E.E. Crosby, 74 pages, printed by William Clowes in London, described the persecution of the Wesleyan Methodist Church by the Hon and Rev Shirley W. Baker, Premier of Tonga and in effect despot of the country under the aged and ailing King George of Tonga. The contents need not immediately concern us save for a paragraph on page 7: 6 — Extract from a letter of the Vavan correspondent of the [Auckland] Evening Star, April loth, 1885. No doubt you will have received news by the Aurora from Tonga of the harsh and unnatural treatment the native adherents of the Wesleyan Church received at the funeral of the king's grandson. And while both "Rev. John Watsford" and "Dr. Watkin" are quoted on p 63, these do not appear to be one of the early parodies of canonical names. The Aurora was an Australian-registered ship, apparently engaged in the island trade. Of many Auroras in Lloyd's Register, two of them out of Dundee, Lloyd's Weekly Shipping Index shows them to be in general trade, not sealers or whalers such as Doyle might have encountered during his voyage in the Hope. But Aurora was an unlucky name. The Times on 21 October 188g, about the time when The Sign of Four was being written, reported the stranding of the French schooner Aurore. Two previous Auroras, one in about 18 and one in 187o, had been deliberately burnt in insurance frauds, and these were well-known cases.3 It seems quite possible that two names were struck upon with a single thrust: Tonga, not from a personal name at all, and Mordecai Smith's launch Aurora. The unhallowed dwarf might well have received his name from foreigners, his own Andamanese name not being recorded here.

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Several strong identifications are possible among the British names in the case. The first is Mrs Cecil Forrester for whom Holmes had unravelled some little domestic complication. Cokayne's Complete Peerage has a most illuminating entry: George Cecil Weld, 3d Baron Forester of Willey Park (1807-86): m. 8 Nov. 62, Mary Anne, widow of David Ochterloney Dyce Sombre and dau. of Edw. Jervis, 2nd Viscount St Vincent d. s.p. 14 Feb. 86. His widow d. 1895. [A note adds here: She was separated from her first husband, who, if Lady Cardigan's Recollections are to be believed, had tried to smother her.] The Weld-Foresters were a well-known cricketing family, which is an argument that Doyle would have known of them. A Robert A.P. Forrester was in medicine at Edinburgh (1880) which is a reason for thinking that Doyle intentionally changed the spelling when using the name. The name Cecil, by the way, appears in every generation of the Weld-Foresters. Almost certainly Jonathan Small's name was put into Doyle's mind by John Small, 1828-86, who had been the librarian of Edinburgh University and of the Edinburgh College of Physicians, had edited works on Scottish history, and had published biographical and historical works. Bengis has suggested the similarity of the name to that of Long John Silver in Treasure Island: John/Jonathan Long/Smal1.4 This may well be, but it is very likely that the librarian's name started the christening. One name where the Edinburgh connection is only tentative is the mention of Dr Somerton. This rare name appears only once in the 1910 London directory, not at all in the Medical Directory; the closest suggestion is George A. van Someren who received the Edinburgh MB, cm in 1882. Another figure faintly seen is Lieut Bromley Brown; and it is impossible to trace a Brown among the hundreds. Indeed, ten Browns graduated in medicine from Edinburgh while Doyle was there. The first name — or as Tracy gives it, the first part of a compound surnames — is a little easier. Henry Urgent Bromley was admitted to the Edinburgh LRCP in 1882, and by 18go was practising in Braintree, Essex, one of only three of that name in the Medical Directory. It would be again tentative to find the original of Mrs Bernstone, Bartholomew Sholto's housekeeper, in Meyer Joseph Bernstein, who was two years ahead of Doyle in medicine at Edinburgh and by 18go was in the directory as "late Hon. District Medical Officer, Liverpool Ladies' Charity and Lying-In Hospital." Bernstone is a very scarce name; the difficulty is that the transposition Bernstein/Bernstone does not seem to be a usual one — would Doyle

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have made it? Certainly the name cannot be traced back to Byrnstan, Birnstan, or Beornstan, bishop of Winchester (died 933). With Broderick & Nelson's timber yard at Nine Elms we have the odd situation of pinpointing it on the map, but being unable to account for the name. The Ordnance Survey 25-inch-to-the-mile map for the period shows a "timber shed" on the North (actually Northwest) side of Wandsworth Road, at the south side of the London & South Western Railway goods yard, north of Pascal Street. Oddly, neither Kelly's London Directory nor Kelly's London Suburban Directory, which meet at about Number 86, Wandsworth Road, lists this "timber shed." Whether or not it was actually part of the LSWR goods yard, rather than being a separate commercial establishment, it meets the canonical description of the route being "along Wandsworth Road and into Nine Elms." If you said "Nine Elms" you usually meant the railway goods yard. The only other timber yard nearby is in Bond Street north of Miles Street — William Bloore, mahogany merchant, who would not have been dipping his wares into creosote, whereas railway ties (sleepers) are frequently creosoted. It may also be added that Thomas Nelson was graduated in medicine from the University of Edinburgh in 188o, the year before Doyle; but Brodericks are rather scarce. Sherman, the old bird-stuffer from whom Watson obtained Toby, the dog who led them the merry chase to the timber-yard, is likely to have been named for Tom Sherman, 1827-1911, whose obituary called him "one of the oldest of professional cricketers." Born in Mitcham, Surrey, he played for Surrey until 187o and afterward coached at public schools — and this is when Doyle, as captain of the Stonyhurst eleven, would have been likely to encounter him first. Tom Sherman came from a cricketing family. Old Sherman's shop, down by the river, is harder to find. Of the many "dealers in birds and live animals" in the London directory, only John Clark, at 45, Albert Embankment between Glasshouse Street and Vauxhall Walk, is anywhere near in the right place, and he is not in a "lane" in the "lower quarter of Lambeth." None of those listed as "bird-stuffers" will do at all. Stephen Molineaux is at 86, Newburn Street, Lambeth, in the 1881 directory but not in 1889, so despite his address reasonably corresponding to "down near the water's edge" he may be too late on the scene. Nor is Newburn Street consistent with Watson's cab-ride to return Toby after taking Miss Morstan home, for it is not far from Wandsworth Road and Nine Elms Lane. But then, we do not expect consistency from a lovelorn Watson. That corpulent Yarder, Athelney Jones, despite Marder's suggestion of E. Jones the Australian cricketer, is generally agreed to have been

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L.A. Atherley-Jones, MP, whose pomposity appears to be a good picture of the Yard man. The first name has nicely been altered to the placename Athelney, in Somerset. Jonathan Small in relating the tale of the Agra treasure mentions "what came of the Indian mutiny," dropping the names of "Wilson," "Sir Colin," "Nana Sahib" and "Colonel Greathead." These are bits of genuine history; and they suggest that an origin of the name of McMurdo, the boxer-doorkeeper at Pondicherry Lodge, may be Sir William Montague Scott McMurdo, another general officer of a slightly later generation (181gØ), who was colonel of the Cheshire Regiment and honorary colonel of the Engineering and Railway Volunteer Staff Corps, according to the Army List of January 1893. No later or better candidate explains the recurrence of the name in The Valley of Fear as Jack Douglas's alias, though Captain Charles Edward McMurdo who had served in the Crimea, and left the service in 1873, died in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1903 as result of a gun accident — which rather sounds like Douglas, Baldwin, and the Manor of Birlstone. On the contrary it would be hard to match Dawson, the unfortunate plantation accountant to Mr Abelwhite, with any of half-a-dozen Dawsons who were contemporary officers, or several who were London physicians, and nothing suggests a link with either Dawson, Langley, Chevalier & Graves, chartered accountants and secretaries (ie, to the boards of companies) of Arundel Street, Strand, or Francis Manistre Dawson, accountant of Marchmont Street. Nor is there reason to identify John Holder, Small's company sergeant in the Third Buffs, with Mr (later Sir) John Charles Holder, 1838-1923, JP for Birmingham and Worcestershire, and philanthropist; for the name was common enough. Two tradesmen named John Holder were in the 18gg directory, even though the 1910 directory listed fewer than twenty Holders. The most notorious name problem in The Sign is Sholto. The immediate and almost only thought is the clan Douglas of Douglas, in which family the middle name Sholto recurs many times in the nineteenth century. Identifications of Thaddeus Sholto as Oscar Wilde or Swinburne, which have been made on good ground, are irrelevant to the problem of the surname itself. Here most importantly the multiple nature of so many of Doyle's references must be kept in mind. The name and the character may well come from several sources; or again, one may lead to the other but not be identical with it. The usual explanation, reached independently by Rosenberg and Roberts, is that Thaddeus is a caricature of Oscar Wilde, who was well known to Doyle through their lunch with Stoddart, publisher of Lippincott's Magazine, which resulted in both

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men writing novels for the firm, The Sign being Doyle's contribution. Wilde's intimate friend was Lord Alfred Douglas, whose father was the eighth marquess of Queensberry, John Sholto Douglas. Roberts is concisely relevant: Sholto's effeminacy is consistent with Lord Alfred's, but, more importantly, Sholto's father strongly resembled Lord Alfred's own father. In Doyle's tale, Major John Sholto is a distinctly disagreeable man who sired two sons and because of fear never ventured out in public without two strapping prize-fighters to act as bodyguards. In real life, John Sholto Douglas fathered several sons and the Queensberry Rules of boxing, and, like his fictional counterpart, seldom went out of doors without a pugilist or two at his side. In all ways, the personalities of Major John Sholto and his two sons are accurate reflections of John Sholto Douglas and his two sons.6 Roberts attempts to rationalize the usual objection that Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas did not meet until 1891, well after The Sign of Four was published, by positing that the novel really reflects the fact that Wilde knew Douglas before the end of 1889, ie, when The Sign was written. At least three doctors named Douglas bear the middle name Sholto, and have presumably some kinship with the clan Douglas of Douglas and the marquess and his sons. An alternative path, which does not presume upon the unrecorded earlier acquaintance of Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas, but which would still be compatible with Thaddeus Sholto as a caricature of Swinburne, independently of Wilde, and the name from the Douglases, now seems possible. James Sholto Cameron Douglas was an Oxonian who became a pathologist at the University of Birmingham, and Thomas Sholto Douglas was a Glaswegian practising in Greenock, while James Henry Sholto Douglas received the Edinburgh degrees in 1888 and went to British Guiana. For none of these is there ground for suspicion of an acquaintance with Conan Doyle, and in any case they are rather late for the Southsea period; but while the Edinburgh list of graduates indicates only middle initials, a William S. Douglas received the MA in 1886, and the question must be raised whether Conan Doyle may indeed have known a Sholto Douglas while in Edinburgh. One of the small but fascinating problems in The Sign of Four is a lady without a name. Holmes merely says, "One of the most winning women I ever knew was hanged for poisoning three little children for their insurance-money." Might this have been suggested by Mary Ann Cotton, who was executed in 1873 for poisoning nearly twenty people — including members of her own family? And a final thought about those

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Indic names. Bradley suggests that Dost Akbar was dubbed for Akbar coffee, a popularly advertised brand of the period.? Or was he suggested by Ali Akbar, Nazim al-Atibba, 1847-1902, the writer of a Farsi dictionary and a materia medica in Persian? Just the kind of thing to appeal to Doctor Doyle. A name which early in the publishing history of the Sign became somehow garbled is the minor mention of the indigo planter Mr. Abelwhite. So the name appeared in the February 1890 Lippincott's Magazine, and even in some of the 1890 American piracies of the Sign, but by the 1893 third British edition it had become Mr Abel White, and has so remained. The reference is irresistibly to Godfrey Ablewhite, in Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone — that original detective story involving mysterious Easterners seeking revenge on those who purloined their treasure. Whether Conan Doyle felt that the reminiscence was too obvious, and sanctioned the change, or whether like sundry others it has been the perpetuation of a compositor's aberration, may not matter. Another of those attributive names, like Goldini's restaurant in The Bruce-Partington Plans (which Holmes felt suitable for a rendezvous complete with dark-lantern, jemmy, and revolver), is Alison's rooms in which Holmes demonstrated his fistic prowess four years prior to the meeting at Pondicherry Lodge. Was this athletic club named after one of the five firms of Alisons in London, a wholesale stationer, a stockbroker, a wine merchant, engineers, and a chemist? Or why would the sweaty purlieus of such a place invade sedate Eaton Place where lived General Sir Archibald Alison, bart, Gcs, LL n? These were the only Alisons in 1903 London at least. As to Pondicherry Lodge itself, Williams has undoubtedly hit upon the correct genesis of that house name; though anyone who has strolled through the Victorian-era middle-class houses of any English town will be struck by the profusion of apparently incongruous house-names engraved upon their lintels. It is very likely that the good doctor, making his usual cursory check, picked up his handy Whitaker's Almanack. On page 386b of the 1887 edition there is a two-inch paragraph in the middle of the column on "The Andamans". And the paragraph just above it is headed "Pondicherry".8 The same is true of other annual editions of Whitaker's Almanack, where brief reports on the colonies were a regular feature. Whether Holmes and Watson had very properly laid in the new edition, as in The Valley of Fear, or the young and not too well-off Southsea doctor was making do with last year's, did not matter.

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49 Four Adventures, Fourteen Names "You've heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried. A Case of Identity "It is true that 'For Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card ..." The Blue Carbuncle "... a glance as to who our client is." The Noble Bachelor "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your ears." The Beryl Coronet

Four of the dozen Adventures of Sherlock Holmes have so far provided only sparse identifications. Of eight names in A Case of Identity only four sources have been tapped; of eleven in The Blue Carbuncle six possibilities; from eight in The Noble Bachelor four; and two clear possibilities among the five from The Beryl Coronet. Yet some of these sparse results are especially interesting in view of the sources found in other cases; and the matters unsolved are themselves worth note. A Case of Identity is dominated by that vacuous spinster Mary Sutherland; and despite the difference in feminine style she seems to have some kinship with Mrs Cecil Forrester of The Sign of Four. For her original, like that of Mrs Forrester, is a titled lady: Mary, duchess of Sutherland. Once again Cokayne's Complete Peerage is instructive. Mary Caroline Michell was the younger daughter of the Rev Richard Michell, DD, Principal of Hereford College, Oxford, and was born in 1848. She married Arthur Kindersley Blair, an officer in the fist Highland Infantry; and became a widow when he was found shot near Pitlochry, 4 October 1883. She married, secondly, George, third duke of Sutherland; and at the time of A Case of Identity (which appeared in September 1891) the remaining interesting events in her life are yet to come. Let us note also Miss Annie C. Sutherland who like many other English and Scottish medical students went to the Continent, and gained the MD from the Universite de Bruxelles,' as well as being admitted to the LRCP and LACS (Edinburgh). By 1908 she would be in practice near Clapham Common. It is not quite clear when she first set up in English practice so she may be reserved for further research; but the subject of Dr Doyle's attitude toward medical ladies — he was ever chivalrous to ladies in general — has not been specifically studied. But the Freudian implications of Doyle's text are clear: "coquettish Duchess of Devonshire hat" ... "Mary Sutherland." In remarrying soon

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after her husband's death in mysterious circumstances, Mary, duchess of Sutherland, would have been looked upon a little contemptuously, not to say suspiciously, by many persons of Victorian virtue — but not by Arthur Conan Doyle, it must be firmly stated: respect for all womanhood was his paramount virtue. Nor is A Case of Identity the last time Mary, duchess of Sutherland, is met in the Canon; for in The Mazarin Stone Holmes enumerates among other crimes the robbery in the train de luxe to the Riviera, which is an allusion to the theft of the duchess of Sutherland's jewels, from her train compartment, in 1898. A passing mention in the case is to Mr Hardy, foreman of the Sutherland plumbing firm in the Tottenham Court Road. (Perhaps by the time of The Red Circle Sutherland's had been bought out by Morton & Waylight, also in the Tottenham Court Road.) Singling out a source with such a common name is difficult; but in view of Mary Sutherland's probable origin, at a hazard it may be suggested that the name came from Lady Mary Anne Hardy, novelist and traveller, the daughter of Charles McDowell; Lady Hardy died in 1891. But in 1903 we find in the directory Henry Albert Hardy, plumber of 109, Southwark Bridge Road, and William Allan Hardy, gas engineer of Bale & Hardy, 181, Queen Victoria Street. Mary Sutherland's quondam foreman seems to have prospered, whichever he was. Mr James Windibank, the sly little stepfather, almost by default stems from Sir Francis Windebank, 1582-1646, the secretary of state to Charles 1. Windebank was engaged in various secret negotiations, for instance with papal agents, and was forced to flee to France in 1640 at Charles's fall. The spelling of the name with the middle "i" is unusual, though one or two Windebanks or Windybanks are in the 1891 directory. There is no immediate reason to identify him with William Henry Winder, assistant surgeon to H1v1 Prison, Millbank. That Windybank & Samuel, 11, Poultry, are parliamentary agents (and barristers) appears to have no connection with A Case of Identity. His near-namesake, Mr Windigate of the Alpha Inn in The Blue Carbuncle, has a name which was originally Windygate, now often debased to Wingate. But his name cannot be unearthed among 1891 publicans, least of all those of the Museum or Plough, despite the fact that both changed hands frequently according to Kelly's London Directory. Nor has any trace of Mr Windibank's alter ego, Hosmer Angel, appeared. Both parts of the name are surnames, but the occurrence of Nathan Hosmer and Harris Angel, both tailors, in the 1910 directory is pure coincidence. It was also pure coincidence that Arthur Conan Doyle's sister Dodo married a young clergyman named Charles Cyrill Angell,

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for that young man did not graduate from St John's College, Cambridge, until 1896 — he was a mere schoolboy when A Case of Identity was written. Goslin's suggestion, that the pseudonym was picked from Angel Court, which lay between Fenchurch Street and Leadenhall Street, Windibank's usual business-day habitat, is a useful alternative. Goslin notes that Angel Court was renamed Hartshorn Alley; but an Angel Court still exists off Throgmorton Street. It may be necessary to assume that Westhouse, half of Windibank's employers, was named for the place near Westmeath, Derbyshire, as only a 1977 example has appeared. Marbank, the other partner, who sounds like a placename (in Ontario there is a Marlbank), is neither a British placename nor a discoverable surname. The Dundas separation case offers the usual enigma of "unpublished" allusions. Probably it was not the Dundas succession problems of 1449 and 1758; and while there is an interesting statement in a letter from Maj-Gen Thomas Dundas in Barbados, 8 January 1794, "Frank Dundas is, as usual, violent," referring to Adj-Gen Col Francis Dundas,3 this was not in regard to either marital troubles or teeth. It does not appear possible to pin the separation upon any of the dozen Dundases in the London directory. Mrs Etherege, despite the ease with which Holmes found her husband, is not so easy to identify today, for her name is spelled in a way most unusual. Etheredges and Etheridges are mixed together in the 1891 directory, but the only identifiable Etherege is George the playwright ö an earlier age, who has nothing to do with a missing husband save perhaps in the plots of his plays. In The Blue Carbuncle the main problems are not with unusual names but with very common ones: Henry Baker and John Robinson. Both have been discussed in Chapter 6. While the point of the puzzle is ostensibly the identification of a particular Henry Baker among hundreds, as much as it is tracing the contents of the goose, the original of the hapless Henry is fairly obvious. George Henry Baker, landlord of the Kent Arms in Chatham, sometime boxer and Champion of England, lost his right eye in a fight in 1859. When he died in 1886 his death was headlined in the Portsmouth Evening Mail where Dr Doyle, boxer himself, would have seen it. Another Baker, Henry Morton Baker, had been an 1877 graduate of the University of Edinburgh medical school when Doyle had been there but a short time. John Robinson, the alias blurted out by James Ryder, the cringing criminal, is also a name thick in the lists, but once again Conan Doyle knew some of the name. John K. Robinson was a medical graduate of Edinburgh in 1887, and Doyle possessed a volume by John Robert Robinson, 185o-1g1o, a writer of

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biography and especially a biography of William Douglas, fourth duke of Queensberry. Recall that in The Sign of Four the Sholtos could only have come from those Douglases among whom was the eighth marquess of Queensberry, he of boxing rules fame. About James Ryder himself nothing is clear at present. The countess of Morcar, whose gem caused all the commotion, was mentioned in Chapter 45. Conan Doyle owned a copy of Julia Pardoe's Louis XIV and must have known her Lord Morcar of Hereward, an 1829 four-decker novel in which Agatha, daughter of William the Conqueror, is wooed by Morcar. The minor mention of Maudsley a criminal, may be pinned upon Henry Maudsley, 1835-1918, a well-known specialist in forensic medicine and mental disease at University College, London, who received an honorary Lt.n from the University of Edinburgh in 1884; although there was also Lawrence Long Maudsley, a solicitor who lived in Stanger Road, South Norwood, about half a mile from Doyle's residence in Tennison Road. This is a rare name; only two were in the 1899 directory. Catherine Cusack, the maid, more likely received her name for one of several ladies in the Norwood neighbourhood — Mrs M.C. Cusack, an upholsterer of Stoke Newington; a Mrs Cusac, and Mrs Cusack-Smith, both of Foxhill, Norwood — rather than for Mary Frances Clare Cusack, 183o—gg, a rather notorious lady known as the Nun of Kenmare, who was first Anglican then Roman Catholic, but seceded from Rome in 1888 and proceeded to write exposés of the Church of Rome. Yet in view of Doyle's slightly jaundiced view of Catholicism, the latter is certainly in the running. The Oakshotts in The Blue Carbuncle and The Illustrious Client may have a medical background, and have been discussed in Chapter 41 in connection with the latter case: again a police surgeon, or else an Edinburgh medical medallist. Other names in The Blue Carbuncle are too common to pin down — John Horner has many namesakes — or are too sparsely found to offer leads, like Breckenridge. Kimball's theory of the three Inspectors Bradstreet has previously been mentioned (Chapter lo). There is no reason why there should not have been three like-named inspectors at one time in the police — other names were so repeated — but to assume that there were is unnecessary. Of The Noble Bachelor and The Beryl Coronet there is regrettably little to say. Francis Hay Moulton's origins are clear. Francis, or Frances, Hay was involved in an Aberdeen slaying in 1616, documented by Chambers's Domestic Annals of Scotland which Doyle would have read. Francis Moulton, whose middle initial is variously given, was "a sort of go-between" for the Rev Henry Ward Beecher and Theodore Tilton in that notorious

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scandal of 1875, with which Doyle was familiar since he mentions Watson's portrait of Beecher in the famous thought-reading episode in The CardBoard Box. Morley comments, "Evidently the Francis Moultons were destined to all sorts of marital uncertainties."9 It is not necessary to involve John Fletcher Moulton, MP, Baron, Lord Justice, alpinist, traveller, booklover, FRS, mathematician, in the extraction of the name, even though he as a barrister had declined to defend the also notorious Mrs Maybrick of poisoning infamy. Lane's theory that Lord Backwater, who is mentioned in both The Noble Bachelor and Silver Blaze, is a punning reference to Sir Michael Hicks-Beach is the only suggestion in sight, and it seems to be right for the wrong reasons. Lane suggests that "any beach frequented by hicks would of necessity be a backwater."5 No doubt true, but he passes rather lightly over Sir Michael's post as Secretary of State for the Colonies; and Chapter 3o has already noted that Hicks-Beach would later be chairman of a Royal Commission on Ecclesiastical Discipline, among his many parliamentary and administrative duties. Comparison of Doyle's political views (though he was never a strongly political figure) with Hicks-Beach's anti-home rule stance and service as the Secretary of State for Ireland would suggest reasons why Hicks-Beach would be a target for the pun. For Aloysius Doran could be put forward Alban Henry Griffiths Doran, FRCS, gynecologist and author, though with no visible cogent reason. Doran was a scarce name in London. The American background of the Dorans, Hattie and Aloysius, is suggested by (Bart J.) Doran's Science of Self-Defense, a Manual for Beginners, a 124-page book on boxing published in Cincinnati in 1889, which would have been of some interest to Conan Doyle who was no beginning boxer; but it is much more likely that John Doran, 1807-78, was behind the American Dorans. This Irish writer was among other things editor of the Athenaeum, 1869-7o, and of Notes & Queries. Titles which bring him to our attention and to Doyle's would be London in the Jacobite Times (1887), and Adelaide of SØ Meiningen, a 56-page brochure which appeared as part of his Lives of the Queens of England of the House of Hanover (1855), there also being his Memoir of Queen Adelaide, Consort of King William IV (1861), and apparently reprinted editions of various of these essays as late as 1878. Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen puts us immediately in mind of Clotilde, of that same family, in A Scandal in Bohemia (Chapter 7). Lord Robert St Simon himself is probably named for St Simon Ward, a civil district in Southsea, though several London churches were named for that saint. Doyle in Through the Magic Door (page 205) says something about "St. Simon's Memoirs — those ... give ... a more com-

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prehensive and intimate view of ... the times of Queen Victoria," but it is not clear to what memoirs he refers. The arms of this St Simon are genuine enough, "Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable," a specimen of them having been identified in the Cambridge University Library, but to the puzzlement of the College of Arms.6 St Simon, whatever he called himself or Conan Doyle styled him, as a second son of a duke bore only a courtesy title of "Lord Robert" and (Holmes probably knew no better) was not "Lord St Simon." Lord Robert styles himself "St. Simon" at the end of his letter to Holmes because that was his surname, though rather bad form. His elder brother, not named in the case, would presumably be the earl, marquess or viscount of Something, likewise by courtesy. In view of the origin of Lord Saltire (Chapter 24) those arms require much further investigation. An incident to which no name is attached in the case is "the little problem of the Grosvenor Square furniture van." Since the case is dated 1888, the allusion is obviously to the audacious abduction in broad daylight of the household effects of Mr Wilson Barrett, the well-known theatre manager, who was just about to stage Hamlet. The affair was immediately satirized in Punch, but the name Barrett does not appear in the Canon until 1904 as a very minor mention in The Second Stain. Lucy Parr in The Beryl Coronet is a reminder of Louisa Parr, a Victorian minor novelist and widow of Dr George Charles Parr of 18, Upper Phillimore Place, Kensington, whose works include Adam and Eve (188o), Robin (1882), Loyalty George (1888) and Dumps (1891). Did her address prompt the much later reference in Thor Bridge to the disappearance of Mr James Phillimore? Not likely, for Mr Justice Phillimore (Chapter 38) explains him adequately. The despicable Sir George Burnwell had his origin in Lillo's The London Merchant (1731) in which the central figure is George Barnwell,7 by way of Edward Lytten Blanchard's Life of George Barnwell: or the London Apprentice of the Last Century (1830). The link between this heritage and the canonical character is reinforced by the coincidence of the mention — like James Phillimore, very much later — of Carina in The Retired Colourman. For the author of the light opera Carina was a different E.L. Blanchard, Edward Litt Laman Blanchard (Chapter 48). The operatic trifle had been staged late in 1888, and the Life and Reminiscences of its author appeared in 1891, the year before The Beryl Coronet. The similarity of names between the two writers would be likely to lead Conan Doyle to BarnwelUBurnwell. And in fact there was also a third E.L. Blanchard of the same era, a poet. Perhaps

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this, and not the brothers Knechtenhofer of Switzerland, comes closer to being the germ of the three brothers James Moriarty. The other names in the case — Prosper, Holder, Stevenson — are not clear of origin. Of three or more Alexander Holders in London a grocer in Shirland Road, an hotelier in the West India Dock Road, a beer retailer in the Globe Road, seedy neighbourhoods all — nothing links them to the Canon. The four Adventures contain four invented names: Windigate, which is only quasi-invented; Marbank; and Backwater and Balmoral, both noble titles, not strictly surnames, but fortunately explicable. McQuire, proprietor of the mining camp "near" (!) the Rockies, is genuine Irish though he sounds invented; one was in the 1910 London directory. Lady Alicia Whittington in The Noble Bachelor, alluded to but not seen, is another peerage puzzle. The Whittingtons of tradition, when they gained titles, did not use the family surname as title. With these titled ladies their relationship to the head of the family is always vague and imprecise. It may even be that she was a St Simon married to a Whittington, but she is not included as a sibling with Lord Eustace and Lady Clara. Lord Eustace was younger brother to the bridegroom, according to the newspaper account, and presumably "Lord Eustace St Simon" was meant, as well as Lady Clara St Simon, each younger child of the duke being styled with the courtesy title "Lord" or "Lady." That is, unless by some unexplained circumstance he had some minor peerage in his own right and was simply "Lord Eustace" — for a number of Eustaces had had peerages though of other titles, not to mention John Chetwode Eustace (1762?-1815) who became a priest, and Eustace, bishop of Ely (d 1215) and papal emissary to King John. Eustace at turn of century was a good Irish and Army name.

50 Who the Blazes—? "I suppose that you would know him when you saw him?" Silver Blaze Colonel Ross in fact did not recognize Silver Blaze in disguise; and there is a certain feeling of the kind in considering the names in the case. Some should be obvious but are not. One at any rate is genuine: John

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Weiss & Sons of Oxford Street and Manchester, manufacturers of surgical instruments, made the cataract knife which Straker used to lame the sheep. The absurdity of a Dartmoor horse-trainer having a cataract knife must be laid at Dr Doyle's door; that optimistic ophthalmologist must have had one lying on his Devonshire Place or South Norwood desk, perhaps used as .a letter-opener, since it was never exercised in its original function. Several groups of names appear, but whether the groupings can be considered genuine is another matter. There are doctors: Alfred John Gregory, of Knight's Hill, West Norwood; eleven Rosses who were Edinburgh medical graduates between 1878 and 1888; Alfred Stanhope Dawson who had attended the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh and was admitted LRCP, LRCS in 1878; half-a-dozen Hunters who passed through the Edinburgh medical school; and Surgeon-General Sir W. Guyer Hunter who lived in Norwood; all canonical names. There are cricketers: S.E. Gregory, Australian; Col Hugh Alexander Ross of the Gordon Highlanders; William Arthur Dawson, of Marlborough, Cambridge and Yorkshire; J. Hunter and J.T. Brown also of Yorkshire. There are other neighbours: in Norwood, Gregorys, Rosses, Dawsons. But Gregory, Ross, Dawson and Hunter are all common names. The Army Lists have half a dozen Colonels Ross. Something like Langdale Pike in The Three Gables, which is of a much later date, is Heath Newton, owner of The Negro in the Wessex Plate. Comparison with the placename Newton Heath is inevitable; but why should someone in the story bear the name of a Manchester suburb? Perhaps a nouveau riche Mancunian? Doyle's own Memories and Adventures mentions Lord Newton, as of 1916; but whether Doyle in South Norwood in 1892 knew Thomas Wodehouse Legh, who did not succeed to the title as second Baron Newton until 1898, or William John Legh, the first baron, 1828-98, is another question. Then one reflects that Newton Heath is about twenty-seven miles from Stonyhurst, also in Lancashire, a not impossible distance for an active young cyclist. There is the strange affair of Vernon Heath, the society photographer, discussed in Chapter 20 in regard to the "Molesey mystery," but the timing is not good, as Heath walked into the Thames on December 1 and Silver Blaze, which was in the December Strand, must have been in type, even on the streets, late in November. The stables offer puzzles of their own. Nowhere in Britain is there a name similar to King's Pyland, though Somerset has a Pyleigh and Hereford a King's Pyon; four or five Devon places boast the appellative King's. It would hardly be a pun upon the quaint title of Lady Errington's

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Cheshire seat, Puddington. The competitor establishment bears the name Mapleton in the Strand but in the book edition shortly afterward it had become Capleton. Three Mapletons had been medical graduates from Edinburgh, in 1873, 1874, and George H. in 1880 while Doyle was a student. There was even Percy Lefroy, whose full name was Percy Lefroy Mapleton, journalist, author of unsuccessful dramas, who shot and killed Frederick Isaac Gold, a retired London tradesman, in a railway train going through a tunnel, in 1881. Percy was the son of a Royal Navy commander. Other Mapletons included the Rev Reginald John, 18171892 — his death in the year this case appeared — but Capletons there are none. More of Doyle's inventions occur among Silver Blaze names: Lesurier, who sounds properly French but is not genuine; Singleford, equally proper British but never found. Backwater and Balmoral have been met before. Of fifteen names in the case six are rare, which is not significantly different from the Canon as a whole; eight are common and one, Straker, is infrequently met but not rare. But as Holmes remarked several times, the commonplace offers difficulties. Common names, a canonical minority, cause much greater trouble in the reconstruction of the canonical christening process. It seems as well for the record to append the lineage of the hero himself, Silver Blaze — neither the proper and British rendition, "the Isonomy stock," nor that American typesetter's fumble "Somomy," but the multiple origins of the name. The Derby winners in 1887 and 1883 respectively were Silvio and St Blaise.' Isonomy, by the way, won the Ascot Cup in 1879 and was a quadruple winner in 1880. Finally, a truthstranger-than-fiction item. The headline in The Times on 21 September 192o was "A dyed racehorse. The 'Silver Badge' case." Peter Christian Barrie and three others were indicted for conspiring to defraud bookmakers on the Malvern Selling Hurdle Race at Cheltenham in December 1919. Cyril Sharwood Lawley, one of the defendants, had bought Shining More, a mare which had actually won at Cheltenham on 10 November, and dyed her in London from bay to dark brown. She won with great ease, but the dye would not wash off afterward. What did Holmes say to Gregson in that bare room in Lauriston Gardens? "There is nothing new under the sun. It has all been done before."

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51 The Creeping Man and His Last Bow "You've heard of Presbury, of course, the famous Camford physiologist?"

The Creeping Man "Mr. Altamont of Chicago had no existence in fact." His Last Bow

Half the names in The Creeping Man and His Last Bow are European, seven German and one less clear of origin. One is a first name only, Heinrich, and can be disregarded; but some identification of the others is necessary to full appreciation of the cases. The American background in His Last Bow which "Altamont" sketches for himself is imaginary, but among the names in the case are some which have at least collateral American connections; while one at least in The Creeping Man which does not immediately show it may also be from a foreign source. Sherlock Holmes's American alias, Altamont, has long been known to be the middle name of Arthur Conan Doyle's father, Charles Altamont Doyle. Whether Conan Doyle's American visits gave him any acquaintance with the New York place name cannot be determined at present, but the most obvious connection must be taken as primary. The second prominent name in the case, "Mr" Von Bork as Holmes addresses him, also has an American connection according to Kennedy,' who identifies him with the German mercenary Major Johann August Heinrich Heros von Borcke, chief of staff to Confederate cavalry General J.E.B. Stuart in the War Between the States. Heros von Borcke's Memoirs, an autobiography reprinted in 1938, ends with a passage remarkably Watsonian: I myself am still an invalid. The ball which I carry in my lungs gives me frequent suffering, and has broken my once so robust health; but as every renewal of the pains reminds me of the past, they are alleviated and almost effaced by the pleasures, with which I revert to the time when I fought side by side with those brave men.' Major von Borcke is however not the only one of his name, nor yet even the only one of such a name to have an American connection. Edward Borck, 1834-1912, was an American physician and writer on surgery. A biography of the major is included in Deutsche unter fremden Fahnen, a braggadocio Nazi history of German heroes fighting in other people's wars, by his namesake Kurt Heros von Borcke, born 1883 and

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hence old enough to have been of some reputation by the time of His Last Bow. But there are others. Ferdinand Bork, born 1871, was a philologist, while Caspar Wilhelm von Bork was an eighteenth-century German scholar of Shakespeare. There were also titled personages, of whom Count Henning von Borcke, born 1897, was the current representative; earlier there had been Adrian Bernhard, Graf von Borck, 1668-1741, and Adrian Heinrich, 1715-88. It may also be noted that (according to Der grosse Brockhaus) "Bork" is German for a castrated male pig. Was this an intentional pun by Doyle? Three other American possibilities exist in the two cases. Steiner, one of Von Bork's agents whom Altamont reports to be in Portsmouth gaol, has a name which was prominent in Maryland as well as on the Continent. Among American Steiners were Lewis Henry, 1827-92, physician and librarian, and his son Bernard Christian, 1867-1926, teacher, librarian and historian. Edward Alfred Steiner, 1866-1956, was the author of Confession of a Hyphenated American (1916), Introducing the American Spirit (1915), On the Trail of the Immigrant (1906), Tolstoy the Man (1 goo) and many other works. He seems a prime American candidate as a source of the spy. There were plenty of other Steiners too, such as Rudolf, 1861-1925, the Hungarian founder of anthroposophy, a Nietzsche and Goethe scholar, and opponent of Annie Besant, founder of theosophy. One work of his which would be of particular interest to Doyle was Occult Science: an Outline (1913). Gustav Steiner, born 1878, was a contemporary Swiss historian; Isidor Steiner, 1848-1914, a physiologist, to name but two; and Ferdinand Steiner had lived at 45, Farquhar Road, Norwood, about 1908 — more than a mile north of Tennison Road where Doyle had earlier lived. Edward and Rudolf seem the most likely originals, but no definite choice can be made. Best-known bearer of the name of Professor Morphy, colleague of the Creeping Man, was probably Paul Charles Morphy, 1837-84, the American chess master. The Retired Colourman which calls chess "one mark of a scheming mind" was not written until three years later, and no conclusions can be drawn therefrom. Another Morphy would have been of more interest to Doyle: Michel Morphy, born 1863, who in 1899— 1900 produced Le commandant Marchand et ses compagnons d'armes a travers l'Afrique; histoire complete et anecdotique de la mission, a work about the Sudan campaigns and the Fashoda incident, in which Doyle had been deeply interested because of his earlier Egyptian stay. The subtitle of that work was Intrigues anglaises. Nordon comments that "the Doyles did not share the wave of francophobia which shook England for several months after

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the Fashoda affair" (page 83). The French Morphy beats the American in this instance. The academic principal character in the case bears a rare name of which few holders may be found. Herbert Henry Presbury lived in Dulwich circa 1908, and the obituary of a G.G. Presbury had been in the New York Times in 1883. Another American, B.F. Presbury, had written an 1859 novel about slavery, The Mustee; no copy is recorded in the catalogues of the British Library, and it cannot be guessed whether Conan Doyle might have read it. The remaining foreign names in The Creeping Man are those drug purveyors A. Dorak, and Lowenstein of Prague. There is a French name Dorac, though no one of the name seems relevant here; but Dorak is also the name of a district in Persia (Iran) later renamed Fellahiyeh, in what was known as Arabistan. Does Dorak perhaps come from the same inspiration as the apocryphal quotation from Hafiz which ends the much earlier Scandal in Bohemia? With Lowenstein the problem is, once more, a plethora of possibilities. Prager and Silverstein suggest the prototype of Lowenstein to have been Eugen Steinach, born 1861, pioneer Viennese endocrinologist, whose friend Dr Robert Lichtenstern was Vienna's leading neurological surgeon.3 There had been much scientific bickering between lgoo and 1926 regarding Steinach's work — but this is not a close fit to Lowenstein, which was a name not unknown in London where its holders ranged from a firm of pearl merchants to FISH Princess Lowenstein-Wertheim — perhaps half a dozen in the 1910 directory. On the Continent there were many. Rudolf Löwenstein, 1819-91, political author from Breslau, is but one; but at the turn of the century two dozen medical persons bore the name, from Albert through Sally to two Walters. Among them only Kurt (born 1883), who wrote a dissertation on the catatonic state, and Otto (born 1888), who wrote on clinical psychology and eye reflexes, can be noted. This last Otto, by the way, was also an American. He did not use the umlaut in his name, though the Europeans of the name all had the modified vowel (ö or oe). In His Last Bow three more foreigners are named. Baron Von Herling (who should have the aristocratic small v though Doyle gives him the plebeian capital) has a name unknown in London; its best known holder seems to have been Simon Heinrich Adolf Herling, 1780-1849, German grammarian and writer of texts, which suggests that Conan Doyle may have had a grammar text by him during his year at Feldkirch, before entering university. But there is also the possibility of another deliberate pun: for "herling" is a name, chiefly Scottish, for a young sea

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trout— a word which Doyle could well have picked up during his Edinburgh childhood. The other two names occur in that marvellous example of German syntax which comes from the mouth of Holmes: "It was I also who saved from murder, by the Nihilist Klopman, Count Von and Zu Grafenstein, who was your mother's eldest brother." It sounds like a textbook exercise. The name Klopman may be found, but none of its bearers have any immediate relevance here. It might be guessed that "Klopman" was a pun on the German klopfen, to knock or strike (cf the slang "hit man"), but neither in German nor in Danish, nor in the German dialects, is there a "klop/mann" construction. Grafenstein is more obvious. In English today it occurs as Gravenstein (pronounced "-steen"), a variety of apple; this comes from the traditional origin of the variety in the gardens of the duke of Augustenberg, at the Castle of Graefenstein in SchleswigHolstein. The current duke at the time of the First World War was Ernst Günther, 1863-1921, duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Augustenberg, who was much quoted in The Times in 1915 and 1916 on such topics as a proposed economic union of Austria-Hungary and Germany, and upon trade relations. It may be taken that this was the "Count" whom Holmes saved. Some members of the family of Schleswig-Holstein-Augustenberg, like other German nobility whose names are so familiar as not to need repeating, were residents of England and related to English royalty at the time; and by Act of Parliament early in 1917 these persons were stripped of their German titles. Duke Ernst Günther was not in England. The train of thought leading to the title "von and zu Grafenstein" is obvious, while the prefix is by analogy with another ruling family of a small principality, von and zu Liechtenstein. Four names, three of them in The Creeping Man, fall into the medical group. First is Trevor Bennett. Although this is an extremely common name, it has the most suggestive connection with Conan Doyle, for Thomas Bennett, MB, BS, Mn, had consulting rooms at 2, Devonshire Place — possibly the identical rooms once used by Doyle. Bennett obtained his first medical qualifications in 1914, and the MD in 192o, so that Doyle's acquaintance with him would have been not too long before the writing of these late cases. The only other Bennett for whom a possible connection with Doyle is visible would be Henry Bennett, who had obtained the Edinburgh licentiates in 1884 after studying in Dublin and the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh. As we have already seen that Doyle's neighbour in Montague Square, Sir George Lewis, appeared in The Illustrious Client, published two years after The Creeping Man, Thomas Bennett seems a reasonable source in this case.

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Two very minor characters in the case, coachman MacPhail and Holmes's aide Mercer who do not actually appear, could also have Edinburgh antecedents. Samuel Rowditch Macphail received the baccalaureates in 1878 and the MD (commended) in 1882, by 1890 being medical superintendent of the Derby Borough Asylum — the fourth or fifth alienist encountered among the medical men behind canonical names. Walter Mercer was in the same graduating class as Arthur Conan Doyle, but there was also a Peter Mercer at 19, Beulah Hill, Norwood (not a very probable antecedent), while Col Edward Gilbert Mercer served in the Boer War and the first World War, and lived until 1926. In the other case, the spy Hollis is mentioned. Elphinstone Hollis, who had received the medical degrees from Edinburgh in 1874, was granted the MD (commended) in 1880, while William Ainslie Hollis, MA, MD, FRCP, an ex-president of the British Medical Association, was consulting physician to the Royal Sussex County Hospital (etc, etc) and a resident of Hove — a prominent medical man likely to be known at least by name to Conan Doyle. Of Heinrich and Martha in His Last Bow it is not possible to say anything, beyond the general Sherlockian attitude that Martha was Mrs Hudson of Baker Street. There is no reason why not. The other name in the case, Jack James, another of the German's agents, is so common as to be unidentifiable — there were at least fifteen John Jameses in 1910 London.

52 What about the Others? "You once get the door shut behind him, and you can leave the rest with us." The Valley of Fear For once he dug in vain into that mine of information. The Missing ThreeQuarter

Bender and Bain, Bernstone and Broderick, Barnicot and Breckenridge; the largest group of canonical names by far, some one hundred and sixty-six, includes these. They are the names to which no substantial clues have so far turned up. This is not to abandon the search but to indicate that many sectors of the saga of Sherlock Holmes remain unexplored.

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First one should be given some description of this group, to see if it has any characteristics differing markedly from names which have been found, or from the whole of the canonical dramatis personae. Discounting reuse of surnames for unrelated characters, this group holds forty-one invented names, christened de novo by Doyle; sixty-four rare names, which occur fewer than ten times in the 1g10 Post Office London Directory; twenty-six common names occurring fifty or more times in the same directory; and twenty-seven of intermediate frequencies. Another twenty-nine are so very common, often several persons with identical forename and surname both, that identification is precarious or impossible. Excluding these last and the coinages, there are 117 names; fiftyfive percent of them are rare. Counting all, coinages and common alike, nearly sixty-six percent of the unlocated names are rare or invented. The whole list of names in the sixty stories contains 47.5 percent rare names (including coinages). The names not found, then, are more like the Canon as a whole than is any single group of sources examined, such as the names found among medical men. In all these source groups, much smaller proportions of rare names were located. The unlocated names occur throughout the forty-year cycle of tales. Only in A Scandal in Bohemia, The Three Students, and The Reigate Squires are the "unlocated" and "very common/unidentifiable" columns empty; even here, the "foreign" names include unlocated ones. Indeed, the foreign names, which have not been given in that count of 166, are special problems. Concentrated in twenty-three cases, absent (after A Scandal in Bohemia) from nineteen of the next twenty cases, the foreign names are then often found, to be absent from the final half-dozen cases written in 1926 and 1927. Studying them in detail requires much more work, for name frequencies in five languages must be considered — and of course the improbable gentlemen from India, whose names never came from out of the East. Thirty-one unlocated names are those of major characters, five being "very common." Nine are rare names and ten Doyle's creations. These major characters (not necessarily the same selected as "major" for the purposes of Chapter 3) are a larger segment of the total unlocated names, than were those ninety major names in Chapter 3 out of the canonical panorama of six hundred surnames: nearly twenty percent rather than fifteen percent. Sixty percent of the unlocated names occur without forenames: ninety-six, plus fifteen peers for whom only a title is given, but among these are only three major characters, Hudson, Beddington, and Presbury. It seems useful to give, almost without comment, a list of those

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surnames in the Sherlock Holmes cases which to this moment have not been located in any source of biographical information — not particularly as original sources of the canonical name, but simply that such a name has actually been that of a real person. The conclusion must be drawn, if the name cannot be located, that it was invented for the purpose by Conan Doyle. The resources of a major library have been thoroughly searched through all types of works: major national library catalogues including the largest work in the world, the Boo—volume National Union Catalog which contains some twelve million names; retrospective London and other city directories; modern British, European, and North American telephone directories; directories of professional associations; standard biographical dictionaries and annuals; peerages; university and sporting lists; periodical indexes. Nearly half the original "unlocated" list was finally discovered in these sources — not necessarily of Victorian time; but if any example may be found of a name, it must follow that an example of the name could at least theoretically have been known to Conan Doyle, and that he did not invent it. Any example which any reader can locate and document will be of much interest. Documentary proof — photocopies of directory entries, newspaper articles, etc — is most desirable so that it may be permanently verified and recorded. The correspondence must be exact. Examples of a number of these names are to be found with slightly different spellings. The question must be whether Doyle deliberately changed the spelling, or a different spelling already existed somewhere, as is frequently the case with even rather rare names (Maupertuis, Maupertius, for example). Table 8 gives the list of canonical names of which no example has been found anywhere — the presumed Doylean inventions — and a few notes on specific names in the list may be added. From unlocated personal names we may go on to an example of searching the list of Holmesian characters against other lists. Among the go,000 names in Bartholomew's Survey Gazetteer of the British Isles, eighth edition, there are 184 matches with canonical names, all surnames with the exceptions of Athelney and Langdale. The significance of such a number of matches, out of such a population, is discussed in an earlier chapter. At the moment it need only be noticed that among these 184 placenames are only ten for which no equivalent personal name can be found: Athelney, Damery, Dubuque, Elrige, Hebron, Langdale Pike, Morston, Roundhay, Westhouse, Youghal. Among all first names listed in Goodrich's "Guide" only ten could possibly be placenames: Athelney

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Table 8: Canonical Names Not Located in Any One Source Rucastle (Copp) Ainstree (Dyin) Horsom (Lady) Rufton (Lady) Lesurier (Silv) Backwater (Nobl, Silv) Leturier (Stud) Singleford (Silv) Belminster (Seco) Leverstoke (Prio) Stackhurst (Lion) Brackenstall (Abbe) Stangerson (Stud) Lomond (3Gab) Brackwell (Chas) Staphouse (Vall) Brickfall (Reti) Marbank (Iden) Merrilow (Veil) Steiler (Fina) Cantlemere (Maza) Morstan (Sign) Sturmash (Vall) Carnaway (Vall) Mount James (Miss) Tregennis (Devi) Carriton (Suss) Van Deher (Vall) Castalotte (RedC) Murcher (Stud) Van Seddar (Maza) Elrige (Danc) Noberton (Shos) Van Shorst (Vall) Fournaye (Seco) Norlett (Shos) Garrideb (3Gar) Odley (Suss) Venucci (SixN) Waylight (RedC) Gorgiano ((RedC) Oldmore (Noun) Westphail (Spec) Hammerford (Illu) Pattins (Blac) Roundhay (Devi) Windibank (Iden) Harringby (Wist) Roylott (Spec) Windigate (Blue) Holdhurst (Nava) Notes to Table 8 Backwater. Placename; used as title, may not be a personal name. Castalotte. Casteletti, Castellot, Castelotti, all found. Hammerford. May be a placename, but still appears to be invented. Horsom. Horson found. Leturier. Leturnier found. Lomond. Placename; an example of Lomond as pseudonym found. Morstan. A company with this name was found in modern New York, but this is very far ex post facto and may be a made up name, just as the surprising juxtaposition Gilchrist & Soames in London proved to be (The Three Students).

Odley. Odly found. Pattins. Pattin, Pattinson found. Roundhay. Placename. Roylott. Rylott found, and Doyle used that spelling in the play. Steiler. Steila, Steil, Seiler found. Sturmash. Sturmas found. Tangey. Tangye found. Westphail. Westphal found. Windibank. Windebank, Windybank found. (Jones), Bromley (Brown), Cathcart (Soames), Culverton (Smith), Fairdale (Hobbs), Grimesby (Roylott), Heath (Newton), Hill (Barton), Langdale Pike, and Thorneycroft (Huxtable). Of these only four are certainly placenames: Athelney, Heath Newton, Langdale Pike, and Hill Barton. Bromley, a name from both Kent and Poplar, London, is a probable fifth. Culverton and Fairdale ought to be, but are not, placenames in

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the British Isles. Grimesby is for some obscure Holmesian reason pronounced like the fishing port of Grimsby. Thorneycroft like Carstairs is also a personal name, and the Cheshire Thornycroft is not the source of Huxtable's name. In North America, places are commonly named after persons: first settlers, famous citizens, first owners. Britain on the other hand had placenames before its inhabitants had surnames; the British onomatological chicken certainly came before the personal egg. Conan Doyle's penchant for history carried with it a taste for early names, and placenames attached to personal cognomens, such as Hordle John, are easy to find. Does this carry into his detective fiction or his other "modern" (Victorian) works? To assume so would be risky; the only sure proof is the absence of any possible personal antecedent for a name. In numerous cases a high probability of a connection between a known person and a canonical name is still not a certainty; barring additional circumstances, the bare existence of a placename is no more proof than the bare existence of a real surname — unless either is the only possible source. In regard to persons, since we have no access to a full roll of the population, we depend on evident links. With regard to a few places there are at least suspicions of links or patterns. Thus in Sussex, four miles north of Arundel is Amberley, while four miles east of Arundel is Selden Lodge. It would be presumptuous to call this definite, The Retired Colourman and The Hound of the Baskervilles being twenty-five years apart; but if we have not trout in the milk, we have a slight whiff of fish in the breeze. Similarly, to note that Hurlstone Point is a crag on Porlock Bay, in Somerset, is at least suggestive. Youghal, in both County Cork and Tipperary, is not found as a personal name. Blessington should perhaps be added to the list, for it is another Irish placename, and while there was a peerage of that title it cannot be definitely placed as the surname of any person. However, Blessington, Dacre, Murillo, and Boone are street names in Lee, Kent, hard by The Cedars which is named in The Man with the Twisted Lip. Saxe-Coburg Place, Lauriston Gardens and Howe Street in Edinburgh are transplanted, and the rolling Italian Gorgiano may come from the Edinburgh district of Gorgie. Firbank and Caulfield addresses are used far from their Peckham origin, while Stanger is moved from Norwood to the Vermissa Valley. But most of these street names are those of persons, in any case; and if they are used for characters, the question once more becomes that of proximate or ultimate suggestion. It cannot be said that Doyle had a habit of naming characters with placenames. It can be said that he had a nice ear for an unusual name

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wherever he found it in his wide reading and travelling. He had a fine facility of invention and construction, and above all assimilation, in names as in plot elements. It cannot be concluded that those names not yet found have eluded discovery because they were of kinds different from those found. Come, Watson, the game of names is yet afoot!

53 The End of the Adventures "... it has been a pretty business for me! ... what have I gained?" The Engineer's Thumb "I get a wife out of it, Jones gets the credit, pray what remains for you?" The Sign of Four

It is perhaps a wonder that Conan Doyle did not find it necessary to prefix the now common disclaimer to his works, that "Any reference to persons living or dead is purely coincidental," for the names in Sherlock Holmes stories most certainly correspond to those of real individuals. His use of both commonly found names, even those held by several or many persons, and uncommon names which might readily be recognized, suggests a damn-the-torpedoes, full-speed-ahead attitude. Yet it achieves the effect which he most certainly sought: that of adding realism. He sought and used English and American names which were plausible, yet distinct and memorable, to produce an effect of naturalism, of the real London of his day. The distribution of names in the range of categories from rare to common, used frequently in the stones or used but once, is a good match for the actual scattering of names in the population. This study has repeatedly demonstrated, from the beginning in A Study in Scarlet onward, that a distribution of source groups is evident: names local to Portsmouth/Southsea; former acquaintances (Edinburgh students, whaling trip encounters perhaps); historical/literary figures; and sporting/contemporary/public figures. As the decades pass Conan Doyle's acquaintance broadened vastly, but the real-life referents of his characters can be grouped in the same way. It may not be important to identify all the sources of the names in the sixty stories. Rather, sufficient identifications may be fixed to establish Doyle's methods in this aspect of his creative process. He found ma-

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29 1

terial — plot, atmosphere, circumstance, character — where he might and when he could, and made this material his own in a melding process which infused the original and vital spark into his productions. The parts and pieces are no longer visible, and this makes the tracing of sources the more difficult. The careful selection of personal names was one part only of that creative process. To analyse the creative process, and discover that it builds in this case from given elements, rather than from sheer afflatus, is in no way to detract from the creator or the creation. The distinction between the first of creative writers — the towering geniuses of any literature — and those competent craftsmen who are read but are as foothills to the peaks of genius, must be one of universality, of the creation of a character who is at once a type figure and a bearer of universal truth or tragedy — an Everyman in role, a Hamlet in name, perhaps even a Becky Sharp or a Micawber — in whom philosophic truths, or distilled human traits, are so finely limned as to be an immortal archetype. By such a criterion Sherlock Holmes belongs among this group. Whether indeed this touch of universality qualifies the work in which that character appears for literary immortality, depends on the applicability of the universal to the real; of the timeless to the immediate; of the esoteric to the mundane. Would Hamlet react as the tragic Dane in a contemporary setting? This was in effect the kind of experiment which Orson Welles performed in the Mercury Theatre production of Julius Caesar, in the contemporary context of prewar blackshirts and dictators; the experiment which Dreiser recognized in calling his book An American Tragedy. That Sherlock Holmes responds to this touchstone is adequately shown by his immediate and universal recognizability, and his constant and growing place in popular reading and culture. The role of the names in the Sherlock Holmes stories is a carefully designed subordinate one — corroborative detail (in Pooh-Bah's words) which says in effect, this is Victorian London — these are real people — these are real events. The names are often just familiar enough that the reader's unconscious reaction is "Yes, I've heard of him, or ought to have" "Yes, that person is a foreigner and not to be trusted" — "Yes, of course that's the type such a person would be." Yet the unfamiliar is mixed with the common, the distinctive with the drab, so that the names not only of Holmes and Watson stay in the mind (who remembers the names of Perry Mason's clients?) but of many memorable characters — from that overblown and empty-headed Mary Sutherland, poor woman, to tough little chestnut-haired Violet Hunter. Krejci-Grafs allusion to Freud's demonstration of the tied nature

292

Sherlock Holmes

of names and numbers, quoted at the beginning of Chapter 7, is the most perceptive observation in regard to Conan Doyle's canonical nomenclature. Interpreting Freud's "immediate environmental conditions" and "situation of the moment" broadly in relation to Doyle will make obvious the classes and kinds of names which this study has found. Nordon calls attention in his study of Doyle to "one point — and a very important one — where Holmes's world fails to coincide with reality: it completely ignores the thousands of unemployed or manual workers who constituted such a large part of London's population."' This restriction, or rather boundary and horizon of Doyle's own world, perhaps his middle-class professional situation, gives perspective to his view of many groups and affects their image reflected, often marginally and fragmentarily, in his writing. The crossing-sweeper or the one-legged newspaper-seller may be seen only fleetingly — the grocer's man is a faint figure discernible and noticed only because he happens to have left a distinctive mark in the snow. The beggar in the streets of the City becomes a focus of attention only because he creates a mystery, apparently by his impact on a middle-class citizen — maids, cooks, and servants are faint, necessary nonpersons — yet Doyle is still careful that their names, when they must be named (and many are not), are appropriate, English (occasionally foreign), commonplace or unusual in careful proportion. Nordon has drawn attention to the class-consciousness built into name differences — that between a Neville St Clair and a Hugh Boone for instance — and one is tempted to speculate upon the different treatment an Ibsen or Williams would have given the same theme. Yet to highlight the difference in the names is not to cry class-prejudice against Doyle, but to demonstrate his accuracy in depicting a highly stratified society. The particular feature which should be noted in the canonical christenings is the not infrequent weaving of several names into a single skein of allusions. The phenomenon of the triply-faceted name derivations, discussed in Chapter 2, is accompanied by wider fabrics which may even extend from case to case, tale to tale, and not necessarily (though more often) those written in close sequence. Take The RedHeaded League as an example. The accompanying tabulation shows more than two dozen points of correspondence between the names and attributes in the case, and the names and attributes of proposed sources of those names:

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The Red-Headed League

Antecedents

Jabez Wilson, pawnbroker (copyist)

Leonard Wilson, pawnbroker James Wilson, MP (Pawnbrokers Bill) Jabez, town of scribes employed at (court of) King Hezekiah (writing on clay tablets?) Matthew Hopkins (hanged)

employed in Pope's Court by "Ezekiah Hopkins" (dead) goes to King Edward Street

John Clay, criminal (royal blood), common name, same as "Vincent Spaulding" (photographer) in cellar; expects to "swing"

James Clay, writer on whist

Merryweather, banker, whist player in darkened bank cellar; lantern

Merryweather, Glimmerings in the Dark

"Duncan Ross" or "William Morris" (aliases)

Duncan Clay, physician Robert Ross and William Morris (printer; common name) friends of Oscar Wilde

[?Thaddeus Sholto, Sign of Four]

Vincent Brooks, chromolithographer, died at Spalding & Hodge offices

The following points of correspondence may be found in both columns, pairs with equal signs indicating items which are not exact duplicates: Jabez / Wilson / pawnbroker / copyist Court / King = Pope / (H)Ezekiah / Hopkins / dead = hanged "common" vs royal blood / criminal / Clay / Clay (name) = clay (material) Vincent / Spa(u)lding / photographer = lithographer / glimmering = lantern / dark cellar Merryweather / whist Duncan / Ross / William Morris / printer = printed work (the story itself)

2

94

Sherlock Holmes

This is an extraordinary display indeed. By no means is it claimed that such a pattern may be traced in every case of Sherlock Holmes; this study is not endeavouring to find a "substructure" (or hoax either, as Hill claimed) in the sixty cases. Indeed, since this was an early tale in the series, the patterns or complexities may well have slackened in later stories. Nonetheless, patterns of relationship might be worked out, if the reader wishes, for such narratives as The Solitary Cyclist or The Hound of the Baskervilles. The Six Napoleons is discussed in this vein in Chapters 2 and 27, while possibilities in The Empty House have been suggested in Chapter 20. For identity in the comparison of fingerprints, experts declare that seventeen points of tally must be found. The two dozen points in The Red-Headed League amply meet such a criterion. Which came first, the chicken of story plot or the egg of character name, must in Conan Doyle's case be frequently answered with egg. The name, or many names, were often in his memory or his notes long before the need for their use. This appears to have been a habit learned in Southsea or before, and gradually growing over the forty years' growth of the Holmes adventures. In the earliest cases, names tend to be of immediate recollection. Southsea neighbours and Edinburgh classmates of a few years past appear at once in A Study in Scarlet and in The Sign of Four. As acquaintance widened, Doyle caught his names with a far wider net, but still at times drew from the earliest periods. Occasionally, as in The Valley of Fear, he seems to have drawn especially from a single source or group — medical men in that novel, which may be an exceptional situation as it involves the largest single cast of the sixty tales, eighty names. But it is still "the mixture as before," only thirty of the eighty being recognizably attributable to doctors. How positive are these conclusions? It cannot be claimed that all posited identifications are absolute, yet the frequency of such clearly identifiable names is sufficient to demonstrate the efficacy of the method, and the very large number of "probables" is such that statistically the expectation is very good indeed. An extremely large population of Doyle's acquaintance — all of London, for instance — would be necessary in order to propose that he drew names of characters purely at random from existing names, or that every one of his characters was named for a specific original. Clearly he did not invent more than a relative handful of imaginary names — less than one in ten. Any single name, other than those absolutely identified, could no doubt be countered with an alternative identification. Such a claim would be most welcome, but would have to rest upon a clear base of relationship, ie, acquaintance or observation by Conan Doyle. Conversely, no disclaimer for any proposed

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single identification could rest upon grounds of coincidence alone, for such coincidence would have to apply to a very large number of items, and the statistical presumption against pure coincidence would in turn become very high. Mathematical support (or denunciation) of the argument has not seemed necessary or appropriate in this study, but would be most welcome from any numerate scholar of Doyle studies. The conclusions must therefore be open to informed challenge of specific instances. The evidence needed may well be in those notebooks and letters which exist but are not at the moment available. Otherwise, such evidence would be documented by acquaintance with Doyle, and positive evidence only would be acceptable. Negative evidence (evidence of impossibility) might be found, but proving it to be an absolute might be difficult. Claim of coincidence would mean admissibility to a status of "doubtful," but not necessarily disproof. Comparison between Dickens and Doyle is inevitable, and constantly but casually made; yet the comparison is at best apples and oranges. Dickens, not the inventor of the detective story any more than was Doyle, used a detective as an incidental character, and Bleak House's Inspector Bucket of the detective force, one of the old school of thieftakers, is not far in treatment from the typical Dickensian figure. This is indeed Dickens's outstanding characteristic: the holding up to the English scene of a gently (at times none too gently) distorting mirror magnifying certain traits. Dickens was above all a caricaturist. Even Edwin Drood, closest in plot to a Dickensian detective story, is not one since the detective process is not central to the plot — it had hardly, in the Holmesian sense, been thought of — if indeed Dickens intended the solution to be worked out by a detective. This Dickensian approach, then, is not suitable to the detective story per se, where the aim is to produce as natural a setting as possible for the mystery, the better to hide or disguise the clues upon which the detective shall act. There are fine lines between the detective story proper, the pastiche (a gentle imitation as faithful to the original as possible), the mystery story in general, the Kriminalroman or roman policier — in which the attention is apt as not to centre upon the criminal rather than the detective, or the detective's own perils rather than his deductive processes, and the nearest to which may be the "thriller" in English — and all the shades of parody from Punchean Picklock Holes to comicstrip Hawkshaws. Successive shades of this spectrum diverge gradually from the naturalism which is an absolute requirement of the original. (Proposition: A successful science-fiction detective story is impossible.) The willing suspension of disbelief, a requirement for the auditor of

296

Sherlock Holmes

drama, has a very minor role in the detective story. The reader must grant one initial improbability alone: that a crime of whatever sort (much too often murder, but murder is the juiciest) can and does occur in a set of ordinary circumstances, which themselves demand or permit the appearance of a specific detective who becomes protagonally guide to the reader (his respectful follower), eventually to reach a solution. Modern reality, even Victorian reality, would universally involve the anonymous bureaucratic and powerful machinery of the official forces. The detective may actually be a member of the official forces (Maigret, Ghote, Gideon, Bonaparte) but he nonetheless carries the reader with him as if he were a sole operator. The "novels of police procedure" therefore are a radically separate category, but they too because of their "normative" approach demand that the circumstances be realistic. Within such parameters, names too must be "real" or they jar. Any jarring note punctures the careful balloon construction of the crime story. Some Dickensian names are memorable: Gamp has become lowercase language, Bumbledom a special use of the original, Micawber a symbol; but they are not "real," not part of the current of names in the real population. (Students of detective fiction might well study the impact of foreign detectives on English-reading audiences.) In Edwin Drood, how "real" are the names Datchery, Crisparkle, Jasper, Grewgious, Bazzard, Billickin, Durdles, Giggles, Honeythunder, Tisher, or Twinkleton? This is an extremely high proportion of extraordinary names, to say the least. Willing, even unconscious, suspension of disbelief occurs as the reader is caught up in Dickens's plot; but this is the sign of a novel, not a detective story in purls. A Doyle story typically has about forty percent rare or uncommon but nonetheless genuine personal names; not one in ten is a pure invention, and even they are difficult to discover; half are solid, common English names, and the occasional amazing and incorrect foreign name grates. Michael Harrison has suggested' that part of this realism may have come from the use of names well known in Victorian England as commercial firms. Advertisements on omnibuses have been mentioned more than once as bearing names as well known, or obscure, in the Canon as Hudson's Soap Powders and Akbar coffee. Harrison mentions the prominence of railway-platform advertising, and lists: Stephens (Shos) Evans (Shos, Glor, 3Gar) D.H. Evans, drapers Freebody (Five) Debenham & Freebody, also drapers Dunn (Vall) Dunn & Co, the Three-and-Ninepenny Hatters

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Robinson (Blue) Robinson & Cleaver, Irish Linen House, Regentstreet Straker (Silt') multiple-shop stationers Barclay, Perkins, brewers (Cron, Houn, Shos) Peters (Lady) Peters Chocolate, advertisements and slot machines Abdullah Khan (Sign) Abdullah cigarettes (later Abdulla) Bates (Thor) hatters, Jermyn-street, St James's Baxter (Silt') Baxter Payne & Lepper, estate agents Bradstreet (Twis, Engr, Blue) W.O. Bradstreet and Sons, haulage Hudson (SixN, Glor, Five) Hudsons, Furniture Removals and Depositories, 133 Wilton-road, swi, opposite Victoria Station Overton (Miss) oyster and shellfish restaurant, also at Victoria Carter (Vall) seed suppliers, Reading Blackwell (Chas) Crosse & Blackwell, manufacturers of jams, sauces, etc A thought-provoking list indeed; and indicative of the prominence of certain names, beyond even their numeric representation reflected in directories. The causal difficulty remains: that of specifically proving Doylean connection with any one or all, for it has already been demonstrated that any English list of names taken at random could generate a number of matches with canonical surnames. Making these points about reality, or conventional reality, in the detective story, as against the purely inventive situation of fiction in general, puts another light on Nordon's cavil about the failure of Holmes's world to coincide with reality. The real world of any given individual is a very small fragment of the total real world. Each person lives in a microcosm, a microenvironment, no matter the basis of comparison. His acquaintances number at most in the hundreds or a few thousand, out of the national millions and global billions of the population. Few individuals' names are widely known. Those hundreds or thousands of one person's acquaintance are for the most part stratified, of a like class or kind to that individual. His contacts with other classes, his attitudes to them, even his ability to understand their motivations and actions, tend to be limited in numbers, in situations, in action or reaction, in duration. This is the case as much for a ruler or governor, a world politician or jet-setter, a general or gypsy, as for the middle-class merchant, doctor, lawyer, author, or white-collar criminal, for the blue-collar hard-hat worker as for the postman, publican, or break-and-enter practitioner. Were it not so, most sociologists, anthropologists, social workers, and probably not a few bureaucrats (counting the police and judiciary) might be unemployed.

298

Sherlock Holmes

Nordon is therefore justified in saying that Holmesian London is not a complete picture of Victorian London. He must not say that it therefore lacks reality. On the contrary, the reality of the names used in the stories is only one fragment of evidence for the verity of the Holmesian picture — as seen through the particular eyes of one man — or several, if you will: Sherlock Holmes as he is depicted, John H. Watson as he narrates, Arthur Conan Doyle as he writes. The picture is a simplified one, not an idealized one. Any non-photographic illustration is inevitably simplified. But the revelation of the writer, his prejudices, preferences, his background as well as foreground, is to the careful reader (perhaps only the sociologist, psychiatrist, or anthropologist at times) evident and important. What he leaves out of his picture — often because he took it for granted and therefore did not notice it, Sherlock Holmes would be quick to point out — may be as telling indication of his own character as the things which he depicts. Such argument cannot be used to involve Sherlock Holmes in the cases of Jack the Ripper, or other unlikelihoods, merely because those cases are not mentioned but are known to exist. But it can be used to analyse Conan Doyle's attitude towards real Victorian crime, for instance, or towards class structure and immobility in Victorian society. What have we in fact discovered about Doyle through the study of the canonical names? Perhaps nothing in regard to the man's life or career that has not already been recorded, though a few suggestive scraps may have turned up. But in regard to his tenacious memory and recall, his keen and far-ranging observation of and interest in people, and his use of material in the systematic construction of his written works, a great deal. From his earliest narrative experience, when he found that it is indeed easier to ride the tiger than dismount, he followed that sound maxim, Write what you know — and he profited from every scrap of experience. His use of names was not at random. His use of other material, incidents, elements of atmosphere, viewpoints, philosophy, while it does not enter into the present study, can be demonstrated to be equally wideranging, equally careful. Names were selected for a purpose, carefully attached to characters where they were at once appropriate and unobvious; but more important, names and characteristics were melded in such ways that a dramatic character is not a recognizable real individual; or that conversely, if an individual is depicted, his name and context are so changed that he cannot be identified as a portrait or caricature. Doyle's Holmes stories are not romans a clef; and while his historical novels are by some critics carped at for literary licence with historical characters,

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his science and detective fiction, which do not depict historical or contemporary persons, present accurate word sketches of many individuals whom Doyle has placed in altered guises and settings, as well as under other names. Critics have not bothered with this — presumably because his science and detective fiction are beneath their notice. This has been part of the mechanism of Doyle's realism — ensuring that characters in the tales have realistic names and realistic characteristics though of more than a single individual in different circumstances. This has occasioned much Sherlockian squabbling (and a consequent slighting of the Holmes enthusiast by the literary genus) by proponents of one or the other single prototype of a character who, it may now be seen, receives his name from one or more parents, his lineage and lineaments from others altogether. To this extent this study is limited, for it is obviously not possible in any non-encyclopedic treatise to gather the originals of every name, their biographies and characters, and compare them with the Doylean character who bears either their names or their nuances of personality. Where names have not so far been discovered (which is to say that negative results do not prove that Doyle invented a name — the whole world has not been examined), or originals of the personality not found, extremely detailed study of Doyle's life and acquaintanceships might be needed to fill in the blanks. This may not be possible; it is certainly not necessary, for sufficient examples have been found to illuminate the process. Harrison has been quoted in Chapter 33 in regard to the process by which Doyle selected the name of Mr John Scott Eccles. He cites an example in which the dramatic character has (Harrison says) both nearname and characteristics of the prototype. Though he may not have noted all the antecedents of the final name, he is correct on the process, and it is cause for regret that, in all his fine Holmesian works, based as they are on vast knowledge and painstaking research, Harrison did not anticipate these present studies and discuss Holmesian names in depth, for his capability for the task exceeds that of any come-lately North American. The shortcoming of Harrison's Wisteria Lodge example does underscore the need to be cautiously aware of multiple antecedents and the telescoping of several names into one. Mathematical application of the Bradford-Zipf distribution, which describes the results found from needle-in-haystack searches, was deliberately omitted from Chapter 46. Nevertheless the message there is clear: that Marder, or anyone interested in a particular group of English names or body of persons primarily English, will find a certain number of Holmesian names among them. This in no way proves association be-

300

Sherlock Holmes

tween Doyle and that group; external evidence of that association must exist. But the mathematical test of productivity, plus the characteristics of the names found, will, if the association with Doyle also exists, indicate whether the group is a prime or fringe source which he may have used, or whether the occurrence is purely coincidental. The mathematical test does reinforce the statement that canonical names are real names — representative of the Victorian English population. By no means is it suggested that all these interrelationships and choices are deliberate; yet neither are they random. It is very likely that unconscious recollection, by those sudden remembrances which make one say, "Now what made me think of that?" or by which an odour, sound, or taste will recall memories many years forgotten, would operate as well with Doyle's need for names, given his prodigious memory. Despite Nordon's point that "Holmes's world fails to coincide with reality," he also says of London that "Conan Doyle paints it in almost sociological terms." He goes on to comment: It is clear that all the inhabitants of this world are keenly aware of where they belong — and are 'class-concious' in fact. It is rare for this to be explicitly remarked on — it would be out of keeping with Watson's style; but it is implicit in the way the characters reveal themselves in the dialogue, or by the choice of their surnames. The aristocracy are represented by Holdhursts, St. Simons, Holdernesses, Musgraves, Mount Jameses, Baskervilles, Brackenstalls or Prendergasts. Such resounding names are not allowed to the lower orders, among whom we find housekeepers called Porter or Warren ... Morton, an electrician; and Pycroft, a young bank clerk ...3 A sociological analysis of the canonical names is almost demanded by such asseverations. Norman-French or Anglo-Saxon; upper-crust or submerged; trade, profession, gentility, nobility; a wide field of further study is here. But the present studies, like the Lord Chancellor's song, have been long enough and devoted rather to Nordon's first point, reality, than to the second, sociology. One brief excursion may be made in this direction, by examining the "class" distribution of names found in the 1910 Post Office London Directory which also occur in the Canon (regardless of proposed actual source). Table 9 may be read as follows. Of fifteen canonical names found only in the "Court Directory" (list of private residents), three of the canonical characters represented are "lower class," ten "middle class," and two "upper class," the definitions of these classes being subjective for the moment. Of 262 names in which the listings in the "Commercial

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Table 9: Class Distribution of Canonical Names Occurring in Post Office London Directory 1910 (Commercial Directory and Court Directory Sections) LOWER CLASS

MIDDLE CLASS

UPPER CLASS

SUBTOTAL

RARE NAMES

PERCENT RARE

Trade (Only)

29 (.57)

17 (.33)

5 (.10)

51 (1.0)

48

94

Trade (Higher)

128 (.49)

I08 (.41)

26 (.10)

262 (1.0)

39

15

8 Trade & (Court Equal) (.38)

8 (.38)

5 (.24)

21 (1.0)

15

71

Court (Higher)

15 (.36)

23 (.55)

4 (.10)

42 (1.0)

21

50

Court (Only)

3 (.20)

10 (.67)

2 (.13)

15 (1.0)

14

93

Total

183 (.465)

166 (.427)

42 (.108)

391

137

35

Directory" exceed the number of listings for that name in the "Court Directory," 128 are lower class, io8 middle class, and 26 upper class characters. Percentages are given in parentheses below the number of names in each case. The two columns at the right give the number and percentage of rare names found in each group. A number of matrix analyses could be made from this and similar tabulations. The total of 38g names indicates of course that not all canonical names may be found in the Post Office Directory at least for 1810. But the differences between "trade" and "court" names thus found are not altogether expected. The fraction of "upper class" names is reasonably constant through both directory sections, whereas "lower class" names (which include a number of criminals who might be considered upper-class-gone-wrong) are far more often found in the "trade" directory — which appears to agree with Nordon. Middle class characters too draw names three times as often from "trade" names as from "court" names. But the occurrence of rare names is surprising. More than nine-tenths of those names occurring only in one of the two sections, Commercial or Court Directory, are rare names though they amount only to 17 percent of the total names found. A third of all names are rare names (ten or fewer occurrences in the

Sos

Sherlock Holmes

Post Office Directory). The fact that over 46 percent of the character names tabulated are "lower class" — servants, policemen, workmen, lodginghouse keepers, what have you — hardly bears out Nordon's assertion that the vast lower classes of Victorian London are not visible in the Canon. The obvious analysis needed would categorize major and minor canonical characters in similar fashion — but in Ko-Ko's words, "the task of filling up the blanks I'd rather leave to you." The object of the present study has not been to analyse characterization, which would include the name fitted to each character and its suitability to the ends of plot and atmosphere, but to consider the sources from which the names were drawn rather than their final use. Nordon, in considering sources, remarks upon formulas and pressure in the creation of the Holmes stories. The formula he used ... resulted in a success he had never dreamed of, nor perhaps even desired. As the cycle grew he came under more and more pressure from his own creation, and for a great many years the thread on which his days were strung was tightened by the fact that his imagination was caught in a trap.4 These statements may or may not be true. The proportion which from time to time the Sherlock Holmes stories occupied in Doyle's workload varied; and the pressure sounds more like the deadline-pressure syndrome from which the journalist suffers, than any constant incubus wearing upon Doyle, whose interests were so manifold that Holmes cannot have been an overwhelming burden. Wearisome perhaps, but hardly crushing; witness Doyle's own cartoon of the weary horse, and the amazing variety of the wagonload he pulls. Examination of the sources from which Doyle drew names for his wide spectrum of Holmesian characters tells much about the habits and ingenuity of the author. The characters may be minor; so are the archaeologist's bricks and potsherds. Nordon admits that "Sherlock and the other characters are completely three-dimensional," a statement which must be taken with some caution, but he goes on, "but we can only see their third dimension through the eyes of their contemporaries."5 It is to ascertain how representative these contemporaries — the other characters in the tales — may be, and how they came to be in the saga, that these studies have commenced. How and why Conan Doyle selected their names may tell as much about Conan Doyle as about Sherlock Holmes. You know Doyle's methods, Watson. Apply them.

L'Envoi As to the birth of Sherlock Holmes, I have several times been asked how he began and how he got his name ... In those old days — pretty early in the nineties — there was a reaction against what I look upon as the one blot in Charles Dickens, and I give way to no-one in my admiration for that great man. But I think that if he had dropped all the Turveydrops and the Tittletits and the other extraordinary names he gave to people, he would have made his work more realistic ... The M.C.C. brought down against us two fine bowlers in Attewell and Sherlock. I had the good fortune to scrape up twenty or thirty runs against them, and I think the name of Sherlock impressed itself on my mind. Through that small incident, when you remember his brother's name was Mycroft, I think you will see where the cricketing line runs. I am afraid even my villains have a taint of cricket, and when I think of Dr. Grimsby Rylott I feel I owe an apology to that excellent bowler. [From a speech by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at the Stoll Convention Dinner, 28 September 1921; published in Stoll's Editorial News 6 October 1921, volume 5, pages i1—i4; reprinted ig8i by Favil Press, published by Richard Lancelyn Green]

Notes 1 I Henri Mutrux Sherlock Holmes: roi des tricheurs Paris: La Penske Universelle, 1977) (translation and interpolation in brackets by D.A.R.) 2 John I. Marder "Cricket and Sherlock Holmes" Sherlock Holmes Journal 11 (Summer 1 973) 55

2 Particular credit must be given at this point to Christopher A. Redmond, then a high-school student and soon made "Billy" of the Baker Street Irregulars and their youngest member, whose 1965 compilation The Tin Dispatch Box is still the definitive listing of the unpublished cases of Mr. Sherlock Holmes. The genesis of the present research is owed to that original research by Chris. 2 J.C. Robinson "On spurious works of art" Nineteenth Century 30 (1881) 683 3 Ibid 692 4 Ibid 694 5 Michael Harrison In the Footsteps of Sherlock Holmes (New York: F. Fell 1g6o) 242-4 6 J.E. Holroyd "The egg spoon" Sherlock Holmes Journal no I (May 1952) 16-23 7 Michael Harrison "A study in surmise" Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine 57 no 3 (March 1971) 58-79 8 Walter Klinefelter Ex Libris Arthur Conan Doyle: Sherlock Holmes (Chicago:Black Cat Press 1 938) 33 9 Eduard Vehse Geschichte der Höfe des Hauses Braunschweig in Deutschland und England: die Hofhaltungen zu Hannover, London und Braunschweig (Geschichte der deutschen Höfe seit der Reformation, 3. Abt. I Teil) (Hamburg: Hoffman und Campe 1853) 165ff (translated by D.A.R.) 10 Notice the use by Dorothy Sayers of the name "Harriet Vane" in connection with a murder "scandal" in her Lord Peter Wimsey stories. 11 The Times (2o May 1901) 11e 1

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12 8th Report Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, Appendix (Pt 111), 1881 (C-3o4o-II) 2

3 1 Poul Anderson "The James quotient" Baker Street Journal 15 (1965) 154-8 2 Karl Krejci-Graf "Psychoanalysis of Sherlock Holmes and Co." Sherlock Holmes Journal 11 (Summer 1 973) 45-54

3 Ibid 4 The Dying Detective and The Solitary Cyclist were omitted because the major characters are Smiths; The Lion's Mane centres on Holmes himself; in The Six Napoleons Beppo is not a surname; and no one figure appeared to stand out in The Three Students. 5 The others not already mentioned are: Barclay, Barker, Barton, Evans, Fraser, Hardy, Johnson, Mason, McFarlane, Morrison, Mortimer, Morton, Ross, Saunders, Simpson, Stewart, and Williams.

5 1 Which for that matter should sound no different than Tweedley, Tyefisher, and Tintpulver, all from a recent telephone directory; or Josiah Scantlebury, an 1891 Scotland Yard inspector. 2 E.F. Bleiler "Marmeland or Marmelade [sic]" The Armchair Detective 13 (Fall 1g8o) 334-5 3 One takes cum grano salis John Bennett Shaw's claim that a character in The Yellow Face also bears the names of two American presidents: Grant Munro. 4 Noted by J. Bliss Austin (personal communication 6 March 1979), and by Ely Liebow Dr Joe Bell (Bowling Green: Popular Press 1982). 5 Jacob ter Meulen et P.J.J. Diermanse Bibliographie des ecrits sur Hugo Crotius imprimis au XVIIe siècle (La Haye: Martinus Nijhoff 1961) Item 67, page 31; kindly brought to my attention by Mr W.W. Barker. Mr Blau's note, personal communication 24 April 1g80. 6 To condense, as into a portmanteau; cf Lewis Carroll's Humpty Dumpty. 7 Richard D. Altick Victorian Studies in Scarlet (New York: W.W. Norton, 1 970) 199-209 8 Michael Harrison "A study in surmise" Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine 57 no 2 (February 1971) 58-79

Notes to pages 13-46

307

7 i Karl Krejci-Graf "The psychology of Sherlock Holmes and Co." Sherlock Holmes Journal 11 (Summer 1 g73) 45-54 2 L.W. Bailey "The scandal behind the 'Scandal"' Sherlock Holmes Journal g (Winter 1969) 82-5 3 Chris Redmond "Nihilism, NKVD, and the Napoleon of Crime" Sherlock Holmes Journal 7 (Spring 1966) 104-7 4 J.F. Christ "Problems in 'A Scandal in Bohemia' "Baker St. Gasogene no 2 (1961) 5-13

8 i Bent Langfeldt "In the footsteps of Sherlock Holmes" Sherlockiana 25 no 4 (198o) 24-6 (in Danish) 2 Frederick Boase Modern English Biography (Truro: Netherton and Worth 1892) 1640 3 "William Morris: a Rosenberg omission?" Naval Signals no 4 (17 June 1g8o) 4. The anonymous author was Thomas A. Dandrew 11. 4 Nancy D. Mann "Eros and community in the fiction of William Morris" Nineteenth Century Fiction 34 (December 1979) 302-25 5 James Edward Holroyd Baker Street By-Ways (London: George Allen and Unwin 1 959) 1 49-50 6 Michael Harrison "Found: — Pope's Court" Sherlock Holmes Journal 4 (Spring 1959) 8o; repeated in his In the Footsteps of Sherlock Holmes, 53.

9 i W.E. Dudley "Dr. Watson's triple play" Baker Street Journal 23 (1973) 22-7 2 J.E. Holroyd Baker Street By-Ways (London: G. Allen & Unwin 1959) 150 3 In this 1900 work Doyle is quoting George Borrow; see Chapter 34. 4 "Capture of a ship by convicts" The Times (2o February 1830) 3b. Cf Frank Clune and P.R. Stephenson The Pirates of the Brig Cyprus (New York: Morrow 1863). Julian Wolff (Baker Street Journal 28 [1978] 249) noted the review of this book in the Times Literary Supplement, 2 March 1962,

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and the apparent similarity to the plot of The "Gloria Scott" — but not the name. 5 Michael Harrison The World of Sherlock Holmes (New York: E.P. Dutton 1975) 152-3 6 Paul Hudson "Pleasure parlours" Mayfair 15 no 4 (April 1g8o) 94 7 Percy Metcalfe "Holmes's university career — a reassessment" Sherlock Holmes Journal (Summer 1970) 126 8 Michael Harrison The London of Sherlock Holmes (Newton Abbot: David and Charles 1972) 88 g Klas Lithner "En nyckel til Paradolkammeren?" Sherlockiana 25 no 2/3 (1980) 16-18 (in Danish) 10 Thomas A. Dandrew it pointed this out (personal communication 5 May 1981). 11 William Mercer Notes & Queries ser 11 vol 10 (12 September 1914) 214. Odd that the reminiscence of Sophie Anderson is by Mercer, the same name as the mate of the Gloria Scott.

10 i Kelvin I. Jones Sherlock Holmes and the South Eastern (Privately printed 1980) 9-10 2 Michael Harrison In the Footsteps of Sherlock Holmes (New York: Frederick Fell 1g6o) 41 3 A.G. Reid "Ferntosh" Notes & Queries ser g vol 5 (17 February 1900) 136 4 G.T[revelyan?] "The name of one of Thackeray's personages" Notes & Queries 199 (September 1 954) 396 5 "Across Rannoch Moor" Blackwood's Magazine 150 (September 1891) 348-55

11 i Pierre Weil Nordon Conan Doyle trans Frances Partridge (London: John Murray 1866) 25

12 1 James Edward Holroyd Baker Street By-Ways (1 959) 147-8

Notes to pages 46-81

309

2 Peter E. Blau "In memoriam Dr. Leander Starr Jameson" Baker Street Jour-

nal 18 (1968) 88-9 3 John Bennett Shaw "Musings on 'The Adventure of the Three Garridebs' " Holmesian Observer 2 no 1 (January 1972) 7 ("A paper given in 1969") 4 Edgar W. Smith "From the Editor's commonplace book" Baker Street Journal o s 1 (1946)

468

5 Warren Scheideman "The unexpected case of Colonel Warburton" Sherlock Holmes Journal 13 no 2 (Summer 1977) 38-40. An excellent bibliography is appended, listing the pastiches and some standard biographical sources. 6 "The Szlumpers" Railway Magazine 127 no 961 (May 1981) 961 7 Personal communication

13 1

Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack (1923) 1 285-6

14 1 Interview 26 July 1978 2 "Pycroft, James" in Dictionary of National Biography 3 Joy Holly's derivation of Hall Pycroft from "Mycroft Holmes" using Cockney rhyming slang and back-slang is ingenious but cannot be supported ("The foolish clerk, the forger, and the fraternal frontsman, remarks on 'The Stockbroker's Clerk' presented to the Occupants of the Empty House, September 7, 1979" [photocopy of typescript, 1 page], issued with Camden House Journal 1 no to [October 1979]). 4 Arthur G.F. Griffiths Mysteries of Police and Crime (London: Cassell 1898) 1 27 5 Charles Kingston A Gallery of Rogues (London: Stanley Paul 1924) 105 6 Michael Harrison In the Footsteps of Sherlock Holmes (New York: Frederick Fell 1960) 229

15 t

Charles Kingston A Gallery of Rogues (London: Stanley Paul 1924) 178

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"Julius Vernon: a Story of Hyde Park" by the author of The Jullabad Tragedy in Chamber's Journal 18go (serial) 3 D.A. Redmond "Some pretty cases from the tin box" Sherlock Holmes Journal 12 (Spring 1 975) 4-9 4 Jessie White (Vedova) Mario "Italy and the United States" Nineteenth Century 2

29 (May 1891) 701-18

5 D.A. Redmond "The prosthesis fixation; or, stop! You're pulling my wooden leg" Devon County Chronicle 4 no 5 (September 1968) 4-6; also in Canadian Holmes 5 no 2 (Christmas 1981) 15-19 6 Eg, Kelly's Cornwall Directory 1902, G. Pawley White A Handbook of Cornish Surnames (Camborne 1972; see National Union Catalog). But Tregillis is a placename. 7 D.A. Redmond "Våmb@ry the wine merchant" Sherlock Holmes Journal 12 no 3-4 (Summer 1976) 76-7 8 Trevor Hall Sherlock Holmes and His Creator (London: Duckworth 1 978) 43

16 1 Sidney C. Roberts Doctor Watson (London: Faber & Faber 1931; Criterion miscellany 28) 13 2 Colin G. Prestige "Osmosis no. 2" Sherlock Holmes Journal 4 (Spring 196o) 139, citing Radio Times 1 January 196o. 3 Joseph Forster Studies in Black and Red (London: Ward & Downey 1896) Chapter xxv1 282-94 4 Donald M. Powell The Peralta Grant: James Addison Reavis and the Barony of Arizona Norman: University of Oklahoma Press 1960); D.A. Redmond "The colossal schemes of Baron Who?" Baker Street Journal 20 (1970) 14-16 5 Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack (1920) t 16o 6 Review of Reviews 4 (November 1891); review of Henry Wood "Healing through the mind" Arena (Boston) 4 (November 1891) 530-42

17 1 Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack (1899) 841 G. Cokayne The Complete Peerage 11 192-3 3 Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack (1905) cii 2

Notes to pages 82-108

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4 A.L. Strout Saturday Review of Literature (8 April 1939); quoted by Christopher Morley "Clinical notes of a resident patient" Baker Street Journal o s 1 (1 946) 408

18 1 Cornelius Helling [Letter] Baker Street Journal n S 2 (1952) 58 2 Frederick Boase Modern English Biography (Truro: Netherton & Worth 1912) V 25-6 3 Dictionary of National Biography 4 Hella Pick "The Swiss family ski run" Manchester Guardian Weekly (23 May 1970); cited by Julian Wolff "From the Editor's commonplace book" Baker Street Journal 20 (1970) 190-1 5 Gustav Peyer Geschichte des Reisens in der Schweiz. Eine culturgeschichtliche Studie (Basel: C. Detloff 1885) 196 6 Richard Gerber "Namen als Symbol" Die Neue Rundschau 83 (1972) 499513; reprinted in Das grosse Sherlock Holmes Buch hrsg von Michael Schulte (München, Zürich: R. Piper 1 977) 340-55 (paragraph translated by D.A.R., from 507-8); English translation by Robert F. Fleissner, published as: "Name as symbol: On Sherlock Holmes and the nature of the detective story" Armchair Detective 8 no 4 (August 1974) 280-7

19 1 James Bliss Austin "Dartmoor revisited, or discoveries in Devonshire" A Baker Street Christmas Stocking ... 1964 (Pittsburgh: Hydraulic Press 1964) 6 2 J.L. McCowen [Letter] Baker Street Journal 27 (March 1977) 48 3 V.G. Plarr Men and Women of the Time 15th ed (1899) 386-7 4 Elenco Ufficiale degli Abbonati al Telefono, Rete di Roma (1978-8o) 412 (Rome telephone directory; 1973-74, and 1979-80) 5 James Edward Holroyd "The egg spoon" Sherlock Holmes Journal 4 no 3 (Winter 1959) 104 6 Chambers's Biographical Dictionary 7 Philip A. Shreffler "A study of the Chaldean roots in the ancient Cornish language" Baker Street Journal 30 (1 980) 223

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20 1 Rudolph Elie "The Battle of Charing Cross" The Third Cab, a Collection of

Sherlockiana from the Files of the Speckled Band (Boston: The Speckled Band 1960) 16-25 2 The Times (2 December 1892) 7; (2g October 1895) 8 3 Peter E. Blau "It is an old manuscript" Baker Street Miscellanea no 14 (June 1978) 18 4 Walter Klinefelter Ex Libris A. Conan Doyle: Sherlock Holmes (Chicago: Black Cat Press 1938) 41 5 Trevor Hall Sherlock Holmes and His Creator (London: Duckworth 1978)108108-g; and his New Light on Old Ghosts (1965) 6 A.H. Millar "William Lauder, the literary forger. An unrecorded episode in his life" Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine 166 (September 1899) 381, and cf J.C.H. Flood "William Masenius Lauder and Milton" Walford's Antiquarian Magazine of Bibliography 3 (1883) 221, 300. 7 "Printed forgeries" Littell's Living Age 34 no 434 (September 1852) 487-92; cf Dictionary of National Biography; and J.A. Farrer Literary Forgeries (London: Longmans, Green 1907) 39-66 8 See above, note 6.

21 1 Joy Holly "Hide and go seek, or, seek and go hide" [Paper presented to the Occupants of the Empty House, January 1981, and published as insert in Camden House Journal 3 no 3 (March 1981) 1 page mimeo] 2 Gresham Buildings where Graham & McFarlane had their offices was a very large office building at 1, Basinghall Street, housing some seventy tenants, mostly architects, solicitors, accountants, and merchants, but including a brewery, Slater's Private Enquiry Office (ie, a private detective), the City of London Conservative Association, and a sauce and pickle firm (Post Office London Directory 1901). The building at 24, Holborn Viaduct known today as Gresham House was then occupied by a firm of silversmiths and an analytical chemist. 3 R.M. Bradley Sir Herbert Stephen ... a Memoir (Cambridge: privately printed 1 934) 15 4 D.A. Redmond "The problem of the president's papers" Sherlock Holmes Journal 8 (Summer 1868) 112-13ff.

Notes to pages 109-31

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22 t Christopher Morley "Clinical notes by a resident patient" Baker Street Journal n S 1 (April 1 951) 55 2 Charles 0. Merriman "In search of Sherlock Holmes" Sherlock Holmes Journal 8 (1866) 9-10 3 Nathan L. Bengis "Fortunate surnames" Sherlock Holmes Journal 9 (Winter 1868) 35 4 John Dickson Carr The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (New York: Harper 1 949) X 63 5 Jay Finley Christ "The Dancing Men" Sherlock Holmes Journal 1 no 4 (December 1 953) 24 6 Cornelius Helling "The true story of the Dancing Men" Baker Street Journal n S 4 (1954) 16o 7 So the Doubleday and the 1905 McClure text. The Heritage Press text, emended by Edgar W. Smith, and the John Murray text have "Ridling Thorpe"; so does a Dutch omnibus translation. Dakin notes that in the Strand the first mention was as "Riding": "whether the slip was Watson's or the compositor's is anyone's guess. In all subsequent references it is Ridling, and of course the correction of the first name was made in the book" (167). The American text seems to derive from the Strand. Morley's "Ridlingthorp" (note 1 above) appears to be an error from memory. 8 Merriman; see note 2 above. g Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack (1907) t cxvi to Arthur Conan Doyle "My first book. v1. — Juvenilia" The Idler 2 (1892-3) 638 11 Christopher Morley "Clinical notes by a resident patient" Baker Street Journal o s 1 (1946) 405

23 William D. Jenkins "A peculiar persecution" Baker Street Journal 14 (1964) 45-53 Chamber's Biography Dictionary 2 G. Cokayne The Complete Peerage x11 226-7 note (a) 3 Ibid note (b) 1

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24 "The idea for one of his most ingenious tales was almost certainly inspired by a brief paragraph in the Strand Magazine ... In the May number 1903, there appeared a letter from a correspondent, with a photograph of two ancient horse-shoes recently found in the moat at Birtsmorton Court, near Tewkesbury. One of them was so contrived as to make the imprint of a child's foot; the other counterfeited the mark of a cloven hoof. Here is the kernel of the mystery in The Priory School, published a few months later." A.E. Murch The Development of the Detective Novel Rev ed (London: Peter Owen 1968) 1 73. 2 Wisden's Cricketers' Almanach (1899) xlviii 3 Ibid (1903) lxxvii 4 Gustav Peyer Geschichte des Reisens in der Schweiz. Eine culturgeschichtliche Studie (Basel: C. Detloff 1885) 173 (translation by D.A.R.). The item by Heidegger cited is probably in his Tagebuch eines unsichtbarer Reisenden [Diary of an Invisible Traveller] (1 793?) 5 Michael Harrison I, Sherlock Holmes (New York: E.P. Dutton 1977) 165 note 1

25 So Hesketh Pearson Conan Doyle (1861) 13. A long quotation which follows is Doyle's own admission of his passion for reading. 2 Dictionary of National Biography 3 "The wandering population of the West Highlands" Blackwood's Magazine 175 (April 1904) 537-45 4 Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed & Official Classes for 191 1 974 5 Dictionary of National Biography 6 Recall that canaries have been widely used as sensitive detectors of gas. 7 Edward Fraser Soldier and Sailor Words and Phrases (London: Routledge 192 5) 8 By 1903 Groombridge Place was the seat of the Misses Saint. g Albert Lieck Bow Street World (London: Robert Hale 1938) 187 to Andrew Lang "The truth about the Cardinal's murder" Blackwood's Magazine 163 (March 1888) 11 The tract was published by Day and Sears, London, in 1547(8?). Reprinted by Foxe in his Martyrs in 1564 and then by Knox in his history 1

Notes to pages 132-48

315

of the Reformation, it appears to have been written by Knox himself; so Lang, "The truth about the Cardinal's Murder" 352.

26 Joseph Stanley Holmes, 1878-1961: The Times (24 April 1961) 1913; New York Times (25 April 1961) 35 col 2 2 "Personalia, Political, Social and Various by 'Sigma' iv Art and Letters" Blackwood's Magazine 174 (September 1903) 301-18 3 Helen Rossetti Angeli Pre-Raphaelite Twilight: The Story of Charles Augustus Howell (London: Richards Press 1954) xi (italics added) 4 Ibid 3 5 Ibid 6 6 Henry Treffrey Dunn Recollections of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his Circle (London: Matthews 1904) 1

27 1 Trevor H. Hall Sherlock Holmes: Ten Literary Studies (London: G. Duckworth 1969) 72 2 "Beppo" Chambers's Journal g (12 March 1892) 1 74-5 3 Pope R. Hill The Sherlock Holmes Hoax (Athens, Ga.: privately printed, 1952); and his typed letter to Humfrey Michell, 1954, regarding the substructure theory (in Metropolitan Toronto Library, Doyle collection). 4 Patrick Horgan comments in a private letter 27 September 1976: "Surely you are standing on the `bardic' solution .. Is not Arthur Wellesley, another displaced Irishman, an image of Doyle, who forges at his forge? ... Joyce makes of him Arthur 'Wilysly'." In Finnegans Wake, first edition, pages 126-37, a long diatribe about the Duke calls him "the giganteous Wellingtonia Sequoia" and goes on: "who guesse his title grab his deeds; fletch and prities, fash and chaps; artful Juke of Wilysly; Hugglebelly's Funniral; Kukkuk Kallikak; heard in camera and excruciated; boon when with benches billeted, bann if buckshot-backscattered ... acts active, peddles in passivism and is a gorgon of selfridgeousness." These comments, less than approbative and suggestive of scandal, are remindful too of the aristocratic involvements in the Cleveland Street scandal and the subsequent hurried hush-up. They are in keeping with the DNB account which indicates that particularly during the government crisis of

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1829 Wellington "lived in an atmosphere of calumny" and was accused of dishonesty, which led to a duel with Lord Winchelsea. The "odium" of 1831 is mentioned. The duke was so unpopular that in one riot all the windows of Apsley House were broken, and Wellington applied iron shutters to them; hence his sobriquet "the Iron Duke." Clearly Wellington, conservative and against reform, was unpopular for all his military prowess. Shades of Eisenhower and Grant! 5 Francine Morris Swift "The depths to which WHAT will sink?" The Serpentine Muse 5 no 4 (Spring 1881) 4-8 6 Bernard Darwin "Sherlockiana: the faith of a fundamentalist" in his Every Idle Dream (London: Collins 1948) 87-96 7 Nikolaus Pevsner and Judy Naim The Buildings of England: Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Harmondsworth: Penguin 1972) 284 8 Gentleman's Magazine (1846) Pt it 104 g Michael Harrison in a digression in his World of Sherlock Holmes 94. 10 William Roughead The Murderer's Companion (New York: Reader's Club 1 941 ) 177-235 11 G. Cokayne The Complete Peerage iv to 12 Ibid 14

28 1 Michael Harrison "A study in surmise" Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine 57 no 2 (February 1971) 58-79 2 W.S. Bristowe "The Three Students in limelight, electric light and daylight" Sherlock Holmes Journal 3 no 2 (Winter 1956) 2-5 3 Discovered in the Ms in the Houghton Library, Harvard University, by Ursula Moran and Chris Redmond. 4 Pierre Weil Nordon Conan Doyle trans Frances Partridge (London: John Murray 1966) 1 73

29 1 Arthur George Frederick Griffiths Mysteries of Police and Crime (London: Cassell 1888) 1 27 2 Michael Harrison In the Footsteps of Sherlock Holmes (New York: Frederick Fell 1g6o) 2 74-7 3 Paul H. Gore-Booth "The journeys of Sherlock Holmes: a topographical monograph" Baker Street Journal o s 3 (1948) 161

Notes to pages 1 49-73

317

4 William E. Fleischauer "Who was Huret?" Baker Street Journal 21 (September 1971) 163-8

30 1 Wisden's Cricketers' Almanach (1903) lxxxvi—vii 2 Howard Brody "Who was Dr. Leslie Armstrong?" Baker Street Miscellanea no 8 (December 1976) 9-10 3 Joseph Clayton Father Stanton of Si. Alban's, Holborn (London: Wells Gardner, Darton 1913) vii-viii 4 George W.E. Russell Arthur Stanton: a Memoir (London: Longman 1917) 200 5 Ibid 259-26o 6 Cf Desmond Bowen The Idea of the Victorian Church (Montreal: McGill University Press 1968) 300-3, quoting Russell 128 (see note 4). 7 Michael Harrison In the Footsteps of Sherlock Holmes (New York: Frederick Fell 1960) g-1 1

31 1 Letter from George Meredith 12 November 1goo, cited by Pierre Nordon Conan Doyle (London: John Murray 1966) 54 2 Colin G. Prestige "Cases of identity or, Do I ring a bell in Afghanistan?" Sherlock Holmes Journal 14 (Spring 1979) 6

32 t Richard Luman "The second hand in The Second Stain" Baker Street Journal

28 (September 1978) 132 2 Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack (1915) 225 3 Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack (1927) 1 276-8; Cricket Year Book (1888); E.

Walmsley Cricket Celebrities of 1890 (Manchester: Abel Heywood 18go) 28 (portrait)

33 1

Michael Harrison In the Footsteps of Sherlock Holmes (New York: Frederick Fell 1g6o) 213

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2 Ibid 212 3 John Sweeney At Scotland Yard (London: Grant Richards 1904) 199-200 4 Elliot Kimball "A policeman of parts" in his Injecta Membra (1963); typescript, 2 pages, in Metropolitan Toronto Library. Cf Dictionary of National Biography. 5 Dictionary of National Biography 6 Records of the Carruthers Family compiled by A.S. Carruthers and R.C. Reid (London: Elliot Stock 1 934) 7 Private communication. 8 Encyclopedia Americana (1948) g D. Martin Dakin A Sherlock Holmes Commentary (Newton Abbot: David & Charles 1972) 220 10 Ibid 11 Osbert Sitwell Left Hand Right Hand! An Autobiography (London: Macmillan 1945) 1, The Cruel Month, 14 12 Benjamin Leeson Lost London (London: Stanley Paul 1 934) 245

34 D. Martin Dakin A Sherlock Holmes Commentary 229 A.T.C. Pratt People of the Period (London: Neville Beaman 1888?) t 168 3 Dictionary of National Biography 4 Michael Harrison 1, Sherlock Holmes 48-9, 158-69; and his World of Sherlock Holmes 81 5 Who Was Who (1916-28) 6 David Skene Melvin "Some notes on the name of the brothers Moriarty" Baker Street Journal 21 (]une 1971) 9o-6 7 V.G. Plarr Men and Women of the Time 15th ed (London: G. Routledge 1899) 1179-80 8 R.H. Buck [letters] Notes & Queries ser 7 vol 4 (13 August 1887) 127, (10 September 1887) 209 9 Cornhill Magazine n s 6 (January 1886) 30 10 The Times (5 November 188 7) 5 it Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack (1914) 1 194-5 12 Colin G. Prestige "Cases of identity or, Do I ring a bell in Afghanistan?" Sherlock Holmes Journal 14 (Spring 1 979) 7 1

2

Notes to pages 173-94

319

35 1 The Lancet (25 February 1903) 536 Philip A. Shreffler "A study of the Chaldean roots in the ancient Cornish language" Baker Street Journal 30 (1g8o) 223 3 Mr. Holmes in Cornwall, a Critical Explanation of the Late Dr. Watson's Narrative entitled "The Devil's Foot" by Percy Trevelyan, M.D. (Inverness: Printed by Robt. Carruthers & Sons 1927); verso of title leaf reads: Republished [sic] 1980 by Penwith Books, Pool, Redruth, Cornwall. 4 Michael Harrison In the Footsteps of Sherlock Holmes (New York: Frederick Fell 196o) 175 5 Thanks to Chris Redmond for this discovery. 6 Dictionary of National Biography 7 " The Prince of Army Chaplains': Pseudo St. Peter; or, a Regicide's Career. by Col. Colomb (Burns & Oates)" Athenaeum 3772 ( 1 o February 1900) 172-73. George H. Colomb's is an obviously unreliable, undocumented, and prejudiced account, published in 1889. 8 Arthur George Frederick Griffiths Mysteries of Police and Crime (London: Cassell 1898) i 269-70 g Ibid (italics added) io Peter E. Blau "It is an old manuscript" Baker Street Miscellanea 14 (1978) 19 11 Harrison In the Footsteps of Sherlock Holmes 230 12 R.S. Joby "Father and son business" Railway Magazine 126 no 946 (February 198o) 66—g 13 Ronald Firbank, 1886-1926, did not publish his first novel until 1915; "Lady Appledore's Mesalliance" was unfinished at his death. Lady Frances Carfax had appeared in 1911; Charles Augustus Milverton and The Priory School, which use Appledore, in 1904. 14 Maurice Moser and Charles F. Rideal Stories from Scotland Yard (London: George Routledge 1890) 123-32 15 Sir Henry Aaron Isaacs Memories of My Mayoralty; in the British Library, apparently as an unpublished proof copy; no other is recorded. Cf also Universal Jewish Encyclopedia (New York: Klav 1969) V 597; and The Times, 1891-2, regarding the Hansard Publishing Union case; and an obituary The Times 5 August 1909. 2

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36 i E.L. Wilson "Biography of the oyster" Scribner's Magazine io (October 1891)

469-85, cited in Review of Reviews 4 (October 1891) 406

37 i Nation & Athenaeum 30 (7 January 1922) 564 2 New York Tribune (3 September 1922) 7

38 1 Dana Martin Batory "The syndromic problem of 'Thor Bridge' " Sherlock Holmes Journal 14 (Spring 1979) 12-14 2 Colin G. Prestige "Cases of identity or, Do I ring a bell in Afghanistan?" Sherlock Holmes Journal 14 (Spring 1979) 6-7 3 Charles Kingston Dramatic Days at the Old Bailey (London: Stanley Paul 1 923) 145 4 E. Spencer Shew A Companion to Murder (London: Cassell 196o) 214 5 Maurice Moser and Charles F. Rideal Stories from Scotland Yard (London: George Routledge 18go) 86ff. They estimate that twenty-six people a day are missing in london. 6 Walter Klinefelter Ex Libris Arthur Conan Doyle: Sherlock Holmes (Chicago: Black Cat Press 1938) 25 7 Chi E (1 go8)

39 1 Edgar W. Smith "From the Editor's commonplace book" Baker Street Journal n S 2 (1952) 116 2 Robert N. Brodie "More osmosis" Sherlock Holmes Journal 11 (Winter 1972) 34 3 Richard W. Clarke "On the nomenclature of Watson's ships" Baker Street Journal os 1 (1946) 119-21 4 Ernest Nicholls Crime Within the Square Mile (London: John Lang 1935) 132

Notes to pages 195-218

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5 Howard Lachtman "Vigor: a case for identity" Baker Street Journal 27 (March 1 977) 37-40 6 W.H. Draper Hammersmith (London: James Chamberlen 1913)

40 1 R.H. Schutz "Further writings of Dr. John H. Watson" Baker Street Journal 10 (1960) 242 2 "Horace Harker" [pseud] "The case of Dr. Lysander Starr" Sherlock Holmes

Journal 4 (Winter 1958) 18-1g. This pioneering work on canonical names deserves special mention for it deals not solely with Starr, but with "This duplicity, sometimes, indeed, multiplicity of names [which] is one of the curious facets of the Sherlock Holmes stories and undoubtedly offers a field for rewarding research." These studies do not directly derive from "Harker's" work, but it was one of very few forerunners. He mentions the Mortimers, the Violets, the Hudsons, the Wilsons; Parker, Hope, Appledore, Hatherley, Holdhurst, and Holdernesse; the two named Jabez and the two named Josiah.

41 1 James Bliss Austin "A toast to the confreres of the Illustrious Client" Baker Street Journal 24 (June 1 974) 77-81 2 Jack Tracy, personal communication 28 April 198o 3 Colin G. Prestige "Cases of identity or, Do I ring a bell in Afghanistan?" Sherlock Holmes Journal 14 (Spring 1 979) 7 4 Emanuel Shinwell I've Lived Through It All (London: Gollancz 1973); and cf The Times. Recall that there was a Portsmouth alderman named Emanuel Emanuel in 1886 (Chapter 33). 5 J. Archibald Douglas "The Chief Lama of Himis on the alleged 'Unknown life of Christ' " Nineteenth Century 39 (April 1886) 667-77 6 Chambers's Biographical Dictionary 7 "Miss Winter's Hero" Chambers's Journal 8 (3o May 1891) 344-7 8 Kelvin I. Jones "A talent for crime" Wheelwrightings 4 no 3 (January 1982) 2 3-7 9 Hannaford v Hannaford (1871) (LR 7 Qs 116; cited in English and Empire Digest 49 Wills 1233)

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42 1 James Montgomery Shots from the Canon, Montgomery's Christmas Annual 1955 (Philadelphia? 1953) 5

43 i Colin G. Prestige "Cases of identity or, Do I ring a bell in Afghanistan?" Sherlock Holmes Journal 14 (Spring 1979) 5-7 2 Dictionary of National Biography 3 Patrick Drazen [untitled typescript paper prepared for The Occupants of the Empty House] (1979) 4 Carina. Comic Opera in Two Acts by E.L. Blanchard and C. Bridgman, with music by Julia Woolf (London: Enoch & Sons [1888?]; copyright deposit stamp 1888(?) on copy in Cambridge University Library). Produced at the Opera Comique 27 September 1888. Cf also: The Lyrics of Carina. A Comic Operatic Romance. In Two Acts, etc. (London: H. Good & Son [1888]; copy in British Library). 5 Montague Fowler Christian Egypt (London: Church Newspaper Co, 1901) 132 6 Axel Munthe "Diary of an idle doctor: Menagerie" Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine 146 (November 1889) 608-14 7 A.M. Scott-Moncrieff "The lady in the blue veil" Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine 195 (January 1914) 22-23 8 "The vågnatch, a tiger-claw weapon" Notes & Queries ser 10,1 (21 May 1904) 408; M.J.D. Cockle [reply] Notes & Queries ser 10, 2 (16 July 1904) 55; and cf Notes & Queries ser lo, 2 (16 July 1904) 95. g T.W. Hanshew's Cleek, the Man of Forty Faces; Cleek of Scotland Yard (1914); Cleek the Master Detective (1918)

44 1 James Bliss Austin "Dartmoor revisited, or Discoveries in Devonshire" A Baker Street Christmas Stocking ... 1964 (Pittsburgh: Hydraulic Press [ie, privately printed] 1964) 6 2 [William Wetmore Story] "Recent conversations in a studio" Blackwood's Magazine 146 (September 1888) 400

Notes to pages 21 9-53

323

3 MaryKathleen Brennan "The Molly Maguires: fact, fiction and film" Covert Notes 2 no 4 (December 1979) 2-10; 3 no 1 (March ig8o) 2-7, 12-14 4 James Montgomery Shots from the Canon, Montgomery's Christmas Annual 1953 [Philadelphia: privately printed 1953] 5 5 James Bliss Austin "On the writing of some of the most remarkable books ever penned" Baker Street Miscellanea no 14 (June 1978) 1-9 6 Brennan; see above note 3. 7 Bruce Kennedy and Robert Watson Douty In the Footsteps of Birdy Edwards (Mount Kisco, New York?: privately printed 1980) 17 8 Jack Tracy Conan Doyle and the Latter-Day Saints (Bloomington: Gaslight Publications 1979) g Austin; see above, note 5. 10 "Palmyra" Encyclopedia Americana xxt 218 (1948)

45 i Michael Harrison The London of Sherlock Holmes (Newton Abbot: David and Charles 1 972) 75 2 Ibid 1 75-9 3 G. Cokayne The Complete Peerage

46 1 Heather Owen "Some hundreds of Henry Bakers" (unpublished typescript, 1978); Mrs Owen is curator of the Sherlock Holmes Collection at the Marylebone Library.

47 i "Doyle was singularly unobservant," harrumphs Hesketh Pearson in his critical biography (page 87) but his particular examples deal rather with literary licence than lack of observation; the comment cannot be generally accepted. 2 Sir Hamilton Gull Murray also had other addresses in other years: The Grange, Stamshaw Road; Broughton Villa, 43, Granada Road. He evidently rented rather than owned (Chapter 5).

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3 Dr Ferrier's home was directly across the recreation ground from Doyle (Chapter 18). 4 Harben's Dictionary of London was not at hand when this was written.

48 1 "Ignorance, Madame, pure ignorance." 2 Jag Mohan Lal and Piyare Lal had both been students at New College, Cambridge. 3 Arthur Griffiths Mysteries of Police and Crime (London: Cassell 1898) 1 377, 383-4; and The Times (25 June 1870) 12 (27 June 1870) 7 4 Nathan L. Bengis "Substitute titles" Sherlock Holmes Journal 3 no 3 (1956) 23 5 Jack Tracy The Encyclopaedia Sherlockiana (Garden City: Doubleday 1977) 50 6 Randy Roberts "Oscar Wilde and Sherlock Holmes: a literary mystery" Clues, a Journal of Detection i no 1 (Spring 1980) 41-5 7 Alan Bradley "Idle thoughts of an idle fellow" From the Mantelpiece no 3 (April 1 979) [7-8] 8 Newton M. Williams [letter] Baker Street Journal 2g (]une 1979) 113

49 1 "There is a qualification which stands lower in professional esteem than the M.D. of Glasgow Univesity, viz — the M.D. Brussels." Anonymous letter in The Times (1g November 1888) 7 2 Vernon Goslin "Further identifications" Sherlock Holmes Journal 9 (Summer 1 970) 144 3 Margaret Isabella Dundas Dundas of Fingask. Some Memorials of the Family (Edinburgh: D. Douglas 1881) 105 4 Christopher Morley "Clinical notes by a resident patient" Baker Street Journal o s 1 (1 946) 37 5 Richard L. Lane "The adventure of the fourth Napoleon" Baker Street Journal 20 (1 970) 30-5 6 On the binding of a copy of William Thomas Historye of Italye (London: Thos. Marshe 1561) bound with Anthony of Guevara Chronicle (London: R. Newberrie 1577). Apparently a contemporary English binding; bequeathed to Cambridge by Samuel Sandars (d 1894), provenance unknown. 7 Thanks to Evelyn Herzog for this recognition.

Notes to pages 2 54-302

325

50 1 Jay Finley Christ in his Sherlock's Anniversaries and Irregular Chronology mentions St Blaise. J.E. Holroyd in the Sherlock Holmes Journal (June 1 953) adds Silvio, but errs in the date.

51 i Bruce Kennedy "It is a hobby of mine" Northumberland Dispatch (August 1g8o) 6 2 Heros von Borcke Memoirs of the Confederate War for Independence (New York: P. Smith 1938) ii 318. This was a reprint edition; the Memoirs were originally published in Blackwood's Magazine, readily accessible to Doyle, in 1865-6. 3 J.C. Prager and Albert Silverstein "Lowenstein of Prague" Baker Street Journal 23 (1973) 220-7

53 i Pierre Nordon Conan Doyle trans Frances Partridge (London: John Murray 1966) 252 2 Private communication 24 November 1g8o 3 Nordon 254 note i 4 Ibid 237 5 Ibid 253

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with Mr. D.D. Home Introduction by Sir Oliver Lodge (1868; rpt Glasgow: Reprinted and published by the Society for Psychical Research 1 92 4) Read, W.W. Annals of Cricket (London: Sampson Low 1896) 230-3 Reaney, P.H. Dictionary of British Surnames 2nd ed (London: Routledge & Regan Paul 1976) Redmond, Chris "Nihilism, NKVD, and the Napoleon of Crime" Sherlock Holmes Journal 7 (Spring 1966) 104-7 Redmond, Donald A. "The colossal schemes of Baron Who?" Baker Street Journal 20 (1970) 14-16 — "The problem of the president's papers" Sherlock Holmes Journal 8 (Summer 1868) 112-13 — "The prosthesis fixation, or, Stop! You're pulling my wooden leg" Devon County Chronicle 4 no 5 (September 1968) 4-6 — "Some notes on the Ceylon problem" Sherlock Holmes Journal 7 (1964) 1618 — "Some pretty cases from the tin box" Sherlock Holmes Journal 12 (1 975) 4-9 — "Still sits the cormorant" Sherlock Holmes Journal 1 1 (Summer 1973) 58-63 — "Våmbery the wine merchant" Sherlock Holmes Journal 12 no 3-4 (1976) 767 — "Why such mortal terror?" Holmesian Observer 4 no 2 (June 1974) 10-12 Review of Reviews 3-15 (1891-7) Roberts, Randy "Oscar Wilde and Sherlock Holmes: a literary mystery" Clues, a Journal of Detection i no i (Spring 198o) 41-5 Roberts, Sir Sidney Castle Doctor Watson (London: Faber & Faber 1931; Criterion miscellany, no 28) 13 Robinson, J.C. "On spurious works of art" Nineteenth Century 3o (November 1881) 683 Rosenberg, Samuel Naked is the Best Disguise (Indianapolis: Bobbs Merrill 1974) Rosenblum, Morris "Some Latin byways in the canon" Baker Street Journal o s 3 (1948) 17-18 Rossiter, William "Artisan atheism" Nineteenth Century 21 (February 1887) 264 Roughead, William The Murderer's Companion (New York: Reader's Club 1941) 177-235 Ruber, Peter "Baskerville hound is dead" Baker Street Gasogene no 4 (1962) 6 Russell, George W.E. Arthur Stanton: A Memoir (London: Longman 1917) Scheideman, J.W. "Like the flipper of a seal" Baker Street Journal 25 (March 1975) 23-4 ff — "Thaddeus Sholto redressed" Baker Street Journal 27 (March 1977) 11-16

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Key to Abbreviations of Titles The following list of four-letter abbreviations for the sixty canonical titles was invented by Professor Jay Finley Christ for use in his Irregular Guide to Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street (1947) and is now standard. These abbreviations are used in tables and index of this book. (The words "Adventure of" or "Case of" are omitted from story titles.)

The Abbey Grange The Beryl Coronet Black Peter The Blanched Soldier The Blue Carbuncle The Boscombe Valley Mystery The Bruce-Partington Plans The Card-Board Box Charles Augustus Milverton The Copper Beeches The Creeping Man The Crooked Man The Dancing Men The Devil's Foot The Dying Detective The Empty House The Engineer's Thumb The Final Problem The Five Orange Pips The "Gloria Scott" The Golden Pince-Nez The Greek Interpreter The Hound of the Baskervilles A Case of Identity The Illustrious Client The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax Last His Last Bow Lion The Lion's Mane Maza The Mazarin Stone Miss The Missing Three-Quarter

Abbe Bery Blac Blan Blue Bosc Bruc Card Chas Copp Cree Croo Danc Devi Dyin Empt Engr Fina Five Glor Gold Gree Houn Iden Illu Lady

Musg Nava Nobl Norw Prio RedC RedH Reig Resi Reti Scan Seco Shos Sign Silv SixN Soli Spec Stoc Stud Suss Thor 3Gab 3Gar 3Stu Twis Vall Veil Wist Yell

The Musgrave Ritual The Naval Treaty The Noble Bachelor The Norwood Builder The Priory School The Red Circle The Red-Headed League The Reigate Squires The Resident Patient The Retired Colourman A Scandal in Bohemia The Second Stain Shoscombe Old Place The Sign of the Four Silver Blaze The Six Napoleons The Solitary Cyclist The Speckled Band The Stockbroker's Clerk A Study in Scarlet The Sussex Vampire The Problem of Thor Bridge The Three Gables The Three Garridebs The Three Students The Man with the Twisted Lip The Valley of Fear The Veiled Lodger Wisteria Lodge The Yellow Face

Index The Abby Grange (Abbe) 165-7, 183 Abdullah. See Khan Abe. See Slaney Abelwhite (Abel White) (Sign) 269, 271 Abergavenny (Prio) 135, 211, 238 Abernetty (Sixty) 63, 147 Abrahams (Lady) 194-5 Acton (Reig) 84 Adair (Empt) 114 Adams (Gree) 64, 93-4, 259 Addleton (Gold) 158 Adler, Irene (Scan) 36 Advertisements as source of names 271, 296-7 Agar (Devi) 58, 64, 139, 186 Agatha (Chas) 143, 239, 275 Ainstree (Dyin) 58, 64, 195, 288 Airguns 114, 201 Akbar, Dost (Sign) 271 Aldridge (Card) 62, 8o, 228 Algar (Card) 8o, 228, 255 Aliases 18 Alienists. See Asylums Alison (Sign) 271 Allan Bros (Wist) 175 Allardyce (Blac) 63, 137-8 Allen (Vall) 236 Altamont (Last) 281 Amateur Mendicant Society (Five) 82 Amberley (Reti) 1o8, 111, 223, 289 Ames (Vall) 236 Amyl nitrite 82 Anderson (Blan, Houn, Lion) log, 222. See also Sophy Anderson, barque Andrews (Vall) 63, 229, 236 Angel, Hosmer (Iden) 273 Angell, Charles Cyrill 1 55, 244 Anstruther (Bosc) 52, 57-8

Appledore (Chas, Prio) 132, 136, 143, 319 Armitage (Glor, Spec) 47, 60, 243 Armstrong (Miss) 57-8, 62, 16o-1 Asylums, medical officers of 5o, 71, 74, 8o, 133, 186, 197, 216, 229, 231-2, 275, 285 Athelney. See Jones, Athelney Atkinson (Scan) 38 Atwood (Vall) 236 Aurora, launch (Sign) 266 Aveling (Prio) 134 Backwater (Nobl, Silo) 162, 238, 276, 278, 28o, 288 Bain (Shos) 29, 227 Baker, Henry (Blue) 3o, 6o, 227, 243, 249, 274 Baldwin (Vall) 33, 233 Balmoral (Empt, Nobl, Silv) 118, 238, 278, 28o Bannister (3Stu) 61, 153 Barclay (Croo) 61, 86, 297 Barclay Square (Bruc) 183 Bardle (Lion) 222 Barelli (RedC) 189 Barker (Reti, Vall) 224, 233, 243, 261 Barnes (Shos) 227 Barnicot (Sixty) 58, 64, 149-50, 157 Barrett (Seco) 63, 171, 277 Barrymore (Houn) 107 Barton, Dr Hill (Illu); Inspector (Twis) 55, 58, 64, 215, 25o, 258, 26o, 264, 288 Basil (Blar) 62, 138 Baskerville (Houn) 10, 101-2 Bates, Marlow (Thor) 203-4, 297 Baxter (Silo) 297

346 Baynes (Wist) 91, 1 75 Becher (Engr) 58, 64, 6g Beddington (Stoc) 49, 78, 89, 191, 286 Beddoes (Glor) 49, 78, 89 Bellamy (Lion) 30, 222 Bellinger (Seco) 24, 167, 228, 238, 252, 2 54 Belminster (Seco) 168, 228, 238, 288 Bender (Stud) 28 Bennett, Trevor (Cree) 57-8, 62, 2 54, 284 Beppo (SixN) 143, 148 Bernstone (Sign) 267 Bertillon, Alphonse 140 The Beryl Coronet (Bery) 277-8 Beverley (Prix) 132, 238 Bevington (Bovington) (Lady) 192 Biddle (Resi) 89 Bird (Vall) 63, 233 Bischoff, Von (Stud) 27 Black Peter (Blac) 126, 136-42 Blackwater (Prio) 132, 136, 238 Blackwell (Brackwell) (Chas) 62, 144, 238, 257, 288, 2 97 Blaker (Vall) 232, 261 The Blanched Soldier (Blan) 209, 213, 221-8

Blessington (Resi) 49, 78, 89-go, 122, 151, 163, 191, 289

Blount (Lion) 222 The Blue Carbuncle (Blue) 1 43, 274-5 Blymer (Maw) 200 Boone (Twis) 53, 55, 90, 122, 151, 289, 292 Borgia (SixN) 54, 147 Bork, Von (Last) 281 The Boscambe Valley Mystery (Bosc) 51-6,

169 Bovington. See Bevington Boxers and boxing 45, 89, 222, 233-4, 27o, 274, 276

Index Brackenstall (Abbe) 166, 288 Brackwell. See Blackwell Bradford-Zipf distribution 247-50, 299 Bradley (Houn) to6, 156 Bradstreet (Blue, Engr, Twis) 55-6, 71, 2 75, 297 Branding. See Scowrers brand symbol Breckinridge (Blue) 2 75 Brewer (Shos) 64, 22 7 Brickfall and Amberley (Reti) 224, 288 Briggs, Matilda. See Matilda Briggs, ship Brinvilliers (Stud) 26, 240 Broderick and Nelson (Sign) 268 Bromley. See Brown, Bromley Brooks (Bruc) 62, 184 Brown, Bromley (Sign) 64, 267, 288; Josiah (SixN) 150 Browner (Card) 81 The Bruce-Partington Plans (Bruc) 17885, 193-4, 204, 211, 228 Brunton (Musg) 81, 259 Buffelsspruit (Blan) 222 Burnet (Wish) 61, 174, 256 Burnwell (Bery) 2 77 Cadogan West. See West Cairns (Blac) 138 Calhoun (Five) 48, 257 Camberwell poisoning case (Five) 51 Canary-trainer (Blac) 140 Cantlemere (Maw) 200, 238, 288 Capleton. See Mapleton Capus, Hugo de (Vall) 2 34 The Cardboard Box (Card) 79-83, 174, 228 Cardinal. See Tosca Car@re (Noun) 104 Carey (Blac) 138 Carfax (Lady) 189, 238 Carina (Reti) 22 3-4, 277 Carnaway (Vall) 236, 288

Index Carriton (Suss) 209, 288 Carruthers (Soli, Wist) 61, 129, 175, 256-8 Carstairs (Empt) 63, 116 Carston (Prio) 132, 238 Carter (Vail) 63, 229, 233, 297 Cartwright (Houn, Resi) 109 A Case of Identity (Iden) 170, 2 72-4 Castalotte and Zamba (RedC) 189, 199, 288 Cathcart. See Soames, Sir Cathcart Caulfield (Brut) 11, 157, 184, 193, 289 Caunter (Prio) 64, 132 The Cedars (Twin) 53, 9o, 122, 151, 289 Chandos (Vall) 2 34 Charles Augustus Milverton (Chas) 142-6, 228 Charpentier (Stud) 22, 253, 263-4 Cheeseman (Suss) 208, 2 54 Children poisoned. See Woman, winning. Chowdar, Lal (Sign) 265 Christian names. See Forenames Classes, social. See Social classes Clay, John (RedH) 4o-1, 62, 2 43 Clayton (Houn) 30, 106, 2 43 Clergymen 22-3, 8g, 104, 110, 128, 161-3, 169, 176, 191, 224, 241-50 Cleveland 12-13, 151 Cleveland Street scandal 13, 315 Cobb (Bost) 54 Colonels 113, 143, 175, 18o, 1 97, 2 79 Colonna (SixN) 1 47, 149, 24o Conan Doyle syndrome lo, 23, 41, 46, 5o, 8o, 149, 203-7, 211 Conk-Singleton (SixN) 8-1o, 54, 147-8 Cook (Five) 5o The Copper Beeches (Copp) 1 35 Coptic Patriarchs, two (Reti) 224 Coram (Gold) 156, 182, 256-7

347 Cormac (Vall) 65, 229 Cornelius (Norw) 64, 120 Coventry (Thor) 203-5 Cowper (Stud) 22, 64, 252 Cox & Co (Thor) 207 Coxon and Woodhouse (Stoc) 76, 184 Crabbe (Vail) 63, 23o The Creeping Man (Cree) 281-5 Creina. See Norah Creina, steamer Crocker (Croker) (Abbe) 166 The Crooked Man (Croo) 83-8 Crosby (Gold) 159 Crowder (Bosc) 54 Croy, Philippe de (Stud) 26, lo8 Cubitt (Dane) 12 3-4 Cullingworth, Dr 91 Culverton. See Smith, Culverton Cummings (Thor) 206-7 Cunningham (Reig) 61, 83-4 Cusack (Blue) 2 56, 275 Cushing (Card) 8o, 203, 26o Dacre Hotel (SixN) 151, 289 d'Albert, Countess (Chas) 1 43, 240 Damery (Illu) 214, 287 The Dancing Men (Dane) 12 3-7 Darlington (Scan) 11-13, 151 Davenport (Gree) 95, 243 Dawson (Sign, Silv) 255, 269, 279 Dawson and Neligan (Bloc) 137 Deep Dene House (Norw) 119 de Merville (Illu) 214 Dennis (Stud) 23 Derwent 135, 213 Desmond (Houn) lob The Devil's Foot (Devi) 182, 185-95 Devine (Lady, SixN) 149, 194 Devonshire Place, names from. See Neighbours Devoy (Croo) 88 Dickens, Charles 295-6, 303

Index

348 The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax (Lady) 182, 185-95, 215 Dixie (3Gab) 219-20 Dixon (Miss, Soli) 130, 165, 170, 220, 255, 259

Dobney (Lady) 194 Doctors. See Medical names Dodd (Blan) 30, 221, 243. See also Morrison, Morrison & Dodd Dolores (Suss) 211 Dolsky (Stud) 23, 163, 253, 263 Dorak (Cree) 283 Doran (Nobl) 64, 276 Dorking (Chas) 1 43 Douglas (Vail) 33-4, 6o, 117, 230, 2 33, 243, 269 Dovercourt (Chas) 1 43, 239 Downing (Wist) 176 Dowson (Maza) 200-1, 239 Drebber (Stud) 27 Dubuque (Nava) 94, 287 Dunbar (Thor) 207 Dundas (Iden) 2 74 Dunn (Vail) 234, 296 Durando (Wist) 1 73-4 The Dying Detective (Dyin) 188, 195-8 Eccles, John Scott (Wist) 1 7 2-3, 243, 256, 260, 299

Edinburgh medical graduates. See Medical names Edmunds (Veil) 225, 254, 262 Edwards, Birdy (Vall) 61, 23o Egan (Vall) 2 34 Elise (Engr) 68 Elman (Reti) 176, 224 Elrige (Danc) 124-5, 287-8 The Empty House (Empt) log-18, 17o, 294 Emsworth (Blan) 221, 254, 263 The Engineer's Thumb (Engr) 68-72

Englischer Hof (Fina) 97 Ernest, Dr Ray (Reit) 58, 224 Escott (Chas) 1 44 Etherege (Iden) 2 74 Eustace, Lord (Nobl) 278 Evans (Glor, Shos, 3Gar) 48, 61, 1 47, 212, 236, 296. See also Pott, Evans Explorers 182, 186-7, 190, 214-15, 231 Ezekiah. See Hopkins, Ezekiah Fairbairn (Card) 81 Fairdale. See Hobbs, Fairdale Falder (Shos) 170, 226 Farintosh (Spec) 53-4 Farquhar (Stoc) 57-8, 64, 75, 260 Ferguson (Engr, Suss, Thor, 3Gab) 61, 71, 207-8, 220, 243 Ferguson and Muirhead (Suss) 208, 254, 261 Ferrers (Frio) 135, 151 Ferrier, Dr (Nava) 58, 64, g6, 249, 258; John (Stud) 25, 61, 2 43, 249 Ffolliott (Wist) 176 The Final Problem (Fina) 92-9 Firbank Villas (Lady) 193, 289 First names. See Forenames Fisher, Penrose (Dyin) 58, 63-4, 178, 1g6 The Five Orange Pips (Five) 189 Flowers (Seco) 170, 239, 26o Forbes (Nava) 63, 96 Fordham (Five, Glor) 46, 48, 58, 64 Forenames 5, 18-2o, 148, 242-3 Forgery 8-to, 147, 210 Forrester (Reig, Sign) 63-4, 84, 267, 272

Fournaye (Seco) 171, 288 Fowler (Copp) 62, 72 Frankland (Houn) 103, 179 Fraser (Abbe, Houn, Lady) 30, 63, 100, 166, 193, 203

Index Freebody (Five) 47, 63, 296 Friesland, steamship (Norw) 122 Fritz (Engr) 68 Furniture van, Grosvenor Square (Nob/) 171, 2 77 Garcia (Houn, Wist) 1o8-g, 176 Garrideb (3Gar) 211, 288 Gelder (SixN) 149 Geographical names. See Placenames Gibson (Thor) 61, 203 Gilchrist (3Stu) 62, 153-4, 288 The "Gloria Scott" (Glor) 44-51 Godfrey. See Staunton The Golden Pince-Nez (Gold) 1 55-9 Goldini (Bruc) 185, 271 Gorgiano (RedC) 189, 288-9 Gorot (Nava) 94 Gower (Vail) 65, 23o Grafenstein (Last) 24o, 284 Graham and McFarlane (Norw) 120 Grant. See Munro The Greek Interpreter (Gree) 92-9, 194 Green (Lady) 6o, 192, 2 43 Gregory (Silt') 64, 26o, 279 Gregson (Stud) 22 Gresham Buildings (Norw) 312 Greyminster (Blan) 222, 239 Grice Paterson (Five) 47, 63 Griggs (Veil) 225 Grimpen Mire (Houn) 104 Grimesby. See Roylott, Grimesby Gross and Hankey (Scan) 38, 64, 202 Grosvenor Square furniture van. See Furniture van Gruner (Illu) 214, 241 Haggerty (Vall) 2 35 Haines Johnson (3Gab) 65, 219 Hales (Vall) 3o, 65, 23o, 236, 25o Hallamshire (Prio) 1 33

349 Halliday (Stud) 23, 253 Hammerford (Illu) 218, 288 Hankey. See Gross and Hankey Harden (Soli) 129, 243, 257 Harding (SixN) 150, 228, 261 Hardy (Empt, Iden, Seco) 117, 129, 17o, 2 43, 273 Hare, Sir John (Scan) 38 Hargrave (Vall) 65, 23o Hargreave, Wilson (Danc) 126 Harker (Sixty) 149, 157, 189, 228 Harold (Maza) 200 Harraway (Vall) 236 Harringby (Wist) 176, 239, 288 Harris (Stoc) 63, 75, 257, 26o Harrison (Nava) 6o, 95, 243, 256 Harvey (Suss) 64, 208 Hatherley (Engr, Bosc) 56, 7o, 222 Hayes (Prio) 62, 133 Hayling (Engr) 7o Hayter (Reig) 84 Hayward (Rest) 64, 8g Heath. See Newton, Heath Hebron (Yell) 81, 287 Heidegger (Prio) 134 Heinrich (Last) 285 Henderson (Wist) 61, 174, 255 Herder, Von (Empt) 114, 135 Herling, Von (Last) 241, 283 Higgins (Vall) 236 Hill (SixN) 150, 257. See also Barton, Dr Hill Hilton. See Soames, Hilton Hindhead, names from. See Neighbours His Last Bow (Last) 281-5 Hobbs, Fairdale (RedC) 188, 288 Hoby (Holly) (Glor) 49, 125 Holder (Bery, Sign) 31, 243, 269, 278 Holdernesse (Prio) 62, 132-3, 168, 238-9

350

Holdhurst (Nava g6, 215, 239, 288 Hollis (Last) 63, 285 Holloway and Steele (3Gab) 213, 219 Holly. See Hoby Holmes, Mycroft (Bruc, Empt, Fina, Gree) 14, 93, 170, 303 Hones (Vall) 236 Hope, Jefferson (Stud) 25-6, 61, g8; Trelawney (Seco) 168-g Hope, whaling ship 142 Hopkins, Ezekiah (RedH) 40, 42, 2 596o; Stanley (Abbe, Blac, Gold, Miss) 1 37 Hopley. See Neligan, John Hopley Hordle John 215, 289 Homer (Blue) 31, 2 75 Horsom (Lady) 58, 63, 193-4, 288 The Hound of the Baskervilles (Houn) gg109, 131, 14o, 187, 228, 2 94 Howe Street (RedC) 189, 289 Howells (Musg) 83, 143 Hudson (Five, Glor, SixN) 45, 149-50, 157, 285-6, 2 97 Hugo de Capus (Vall) 2 34 Hunt (Vall) 63, 230 Hunter, Ned (Silt') 64, 255, 279; Violet (Copp) 74, 291 Huret (Gold) 159 Hurlstone (Musg) 82, 258, 28g Huxtable, Thorneycroft (Frio) 61, 133, 191, 289 Hyam (Norw, Vall) 120, 176, 233, 261 Hynes, Hynes (Wist) 1 57, 174, 177-8, 254 The Illustrious Client (Illu) 145-6, 212, 214-8 Indian names. See Names, foreign Ionides (Gold) 155-6 Isonomy (Silt') 28o Jabez. See Wilson, Jabez

Index Jackson (Croo) 57-8, 64, 86-7, 252 Jacobs (Seco) 171 James (Last, Vall) 31, 65, 230, 236, 2 43, 285 Jenkins (Vall) 233 John, Spencer (3Gab) 220 Johnson (Brut, Illu, Miss) 64, 182, 21617; Theophilus Johnson (Houn) 52, 102,257-8 Johnston (Stud) 24, 252-3, 263 Jones, Athelney (Sign) 215, 268-g, 287; Peter (RedH) 31, 43 Kemball (Stud) 24, 83 Kemp, Wilson (Gree) 62, 95 Kennedy. See Morton and Kennedy Kent (Blan) 57-8, 222, 26o Keswick (Stud) 28 Kahn, Abdullah (Sign) 297 King (Dane) 127 King Edward Street 17; (RedH) 43-4 King's Pyland (Silt') 279 Kirwan (Reig) 61, 84, 243 Klein (3Gab) 220 Klopman (Last) 284 Knox (Vall) 2 33, 243 Kramm, Von (Scan) 36, 241 Kratides (Gree) 94 Lady Frances Carfax. See The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax Lamberley (Suss) 209 Lancaster, James (Blac) 1 39, 243, 254 Lander (Vail) 2 33, 255 Langdale. See Pike, Langdale Lanner (Resi) 90 Larbey (Vall) 236 La Rothiere (Bruc, Seco) 169, 171, 1 79 Latimer (Gree, Lady) 94, 185, 194 Lauder (Empt) 116-17, 23o Lauriston Gardens (Stud) 26, 189, 289

Index Lawler (Vail) 236 LeBrun (Illu) 217 Lee (Vail) 63, 230 Lefevre (Stud) 27 Leonardo (Veil) 225 Leslie. See Oakshott, Sir Leslie Lestrade, Inspector G. 25,61 Lesurier (Silt') 27, 280, 288 Leturier (Stud) 27, 288 Leverstoke (Prio) 107, 136, 239, 288 Leverton (RedC) 188, 228 le Villard (Sign) 266 Lewis, Sir George (Illu) 217, 284 Lexington (Norw) 122 Linder (Vall) 63, 230 The Lion's Mane (Lion) 221-8 Little Ryder Street (3Gar) 190, 212 Lomax (Illu) 64, 215 Lomond (3Gab) 239, 288 Lopez (Wist) 176 Lowenstein (Cree) 283 Lower Burke Street (Dyin) 198 Lower Grove Road (Sixty) 150 Lucas (Seco, Wist) 169 Lucca (RedC) 188 Lucretia. See Venucci Lunacy. See Asylums Lynch, Victor (Suss) 1 3, 147, 197, 210 Lyons (Houn) 103 Lysander. See Stark; Starr Maberley (3Gab) 220, 259, 265 McCarthy (Bosc) 54, 61, 243 McCauley (Five) 50, 64, 133 MacDonald (Vall) 31, 62, 230, 236 McFarlane (Norw, RedH) 43, 64, 120, 256. See also Graham and McFarlane McGinty (Vall) 234, 236 McGregor (Stud) 2 3, 64, 253 MacKinnon (Reti) 224 Mackleton (Prio) 11

351 McLaren (3Stu) 61, 1 54 McMurdo (Sign, Vall) 235, 269 MacNamara (Vall) 234, 236 MacPhail (Cree) 63, 259, 285 MacPherson (Seco) 64, 171 McPherson, Fitzroy (Lion) 171, 222 McQuire (Nobl) 278 The Man with the Twisted Lip (Twis) 516, 122, 215 Manders (Vall) 65, 228, 231 Mangles. See Ross and Mangles Manor House case (Gree) 93 Mansel (Vall) 63, 228, 231, 2 33 Manson (Vall) 65, 228, 231 Mapleton (Capleton) (Silt') 28o Marbank. See Westhouse and Marbank Marcini (Houn) 109 Margate, woman at, suspected by Holmes (Seco) 171 Marker (Gold) 157 Marlow. See Bates, Marlow Marsham (Abbe) 167 Martha (Last) 285 Martin (Danc, Glor) 48, 63, 105, 127, 257, 260 Marvin (Vall) 2 34 Marx (Wist) 32, 176 Mary Jane (Scan) 38 Mason (Bruc) 184; (Stud) 27, 116; (Suss) 211; John Mason (Shos) 32, 61, 227, 243; White Mason (Vail) 32, 64, 233, 261 Matheson. See Venner and Matheson Mathews (Empt) 1 10, 259-60 Matilda Briggs, ship (Suss) 209 Maudsley (Blue) 62, 258, 275 Maupertuis (Reig) 85, 131, 240-1, 287 Mawson and Williams (Slot) 63, 76 Mayfield Place (Stud) 26 Maynooth (Empt) 113, 170, 239 The Mazarin Stone (Maza) 199-202, 273

352 Medical names 56-67, 79, 86-7, 91, 112, 129, 137, 182, 195, 197, 22932, 2 45-9, 279, 283-5, 294. See also

Asylums; Ophthalmologists Meek, Sir Jasper (Dyin) 58, 64, 196 Melas (Gree) 94 Melville (Wist) 63, 174 Mental disease, specialists in. See Asylums Menzies (Vall) 63, 231, 2 34 Mercer (Mereer) (Cree, Glor) 49, 63, 255, 285 Merivale (Shos) 226 Merridew (Empt) 110-11, 225 Merrilow (Veil) 225, 288 Merripit House (Houn) 101 Merrow (Seco) 169, 239 Merryweather (RedH) 43 Merton (Maza) 200 Meunier (Empt) 111 Meyer, Adolph (Bruc) 182 Meyers (Houn) 1o8 Middleton (Houn) 102, 255 Miles (Chas) 1 43-4, 154, 228 Milman (Vall) 2 35 Milner (Empt) 63, 111, 2 35, 255-7 Milverton (Chas) 65, 142, 144-6, 150, 228 The Missing Three-Quarter (Miss) 160-5 Mitton (Seco) 171, 2 43 Moffat (Rest) 63, 8g Molesey mystery (Empt) 112, 279 Molly Maguires. See Scowrers Montalva (Wist) 176, 241 Montgomery (Card) 64, 81, 2 55 Montpensier (Noun) 104 Moorhouse (Miss) 64, 164 Moran (Bosc, Empt) 55, 62, 113, 18o, 186, 200 Mortar (Blue) 143, 239, 275 Morecroft (3Gar) 212

Index Morgan (Empt) 63, 112, 227 Moriarty (Fana, Vall) 49, 97-9, 113, 18o, 243, 254, 278 Morland (Houn) 108, 223, 228 Morphy (Cree) 282 Morris (Vall) 63, 231, 243; William Morris (RedH) 32, 41, 2 43

Morrison (Croo, Reig) 63, 86 Morrison, Morrison and Dodd (Suss) 208 Morstan (Sign) 287-8 Mortimer (Gold, RedH) 42; Dr James Mortimer (Noun) 57-8, 104, 187, 220, 228. See also Maberley; SmithMortimer Morton (Dyin, Miss, Solt) 63, 129, 164, 197, 224, 2 43 Morton and Kennedy (Solt) 130 Morton and Waylight (RedC) 13o, 188, 273, 288 Moser (Lady) 194 Moulton (Nobl) 275 Mount-James (Miss) 164, 240, 288 Muirhead. See Ferguson and Muirhead Muller (Stud) 27 Munro (Yell) 61, 81; Col Spence Munro (Copp) 62, 73, 255-7, 259 Murcher (Stud) 28, 288 Murdoch (Lion, Vall) 222, 2 34 Murillo (Norw, Wist) 121, 151, 177, 289 Murphy (Croo, Houn, Vall) 63, 87, 100, 234, 236, 256 Murray (Empt, Stud) 24, 112, 220, 2523, 263 The Musgrave Ritual (Musg) 61, 79-83 Mycroft. See Holmes, Mycroft The Mystery of Thor Bridge. See Thor Bridge Names: common, difficult to identify 29-34; compound 181-2;

Index doublets 177; foreign 35-6, 94, 109, 167, 176, 265-6, 271, 283, 286; invented 286-8; pattern of disguise 6-14, 117, 1 55, 173, 184, 199, 20.1, 292; problems in counting 3-6; recurrence 14-20, 227-8; total number of 3-6, 241-50; unidentified or unlocated 285-go. See also Advertisements; Forenames; Surnames The Naval Treaty (Nava) 92-g, 140, 2 34 Neal (Vail) 63, 231 Neighbours of Doyle 22-4, 168, 172, 195, 207, 212-13, 219, 225, 282-3, 251-65 Neligan, John Hopley (Blac) 62, 1 3540 Nelson. See Broderick and Nelson Neville. See St Clair Newton, Heath (Silv) 112, 215, 279, 288 Nicholson (Vall) 63, 231 Nobility, titles of 108, 118, 136, 143 164, 168, 237-41 The Noble Bachelor (Nobl) 275-8 Nonpareil Club (Houn) 103 Norah Creina, steamer (Resi) 91 Norberton (Shos) 226, 288 Norlett (Shos) 227, 288 Norton (Scan) 38-9 Norwood, names from. See Neighbours The Norwood Builder (Norw) 119-22, 140, 1 77

353 Ophthalmologists 47, 73, 95, 114, 129, 139, 164, 192, 197, 225, 231, 279 Ormstein (Scan) 36 Overton (Miss) 164, 224, 2 97 Oysters 198 Palmer (Spec) 3, 201 Palmyra, steamship (Vall) 2 37 Paradol (Five) 50 Paramore (Five) 46-7, 64 Parker (Danc, Empt, Stoc) 63, 77, 11516, 125, 218, 258 Parr (Bery) 2 77 Parsley in butter 147-8 Partington. See Bruce-Partington Plans Paterson. See Grice Paterson Patrick, Elsie (Danc) 126 Patterson (Fina) 64, 97 Pattins (Bloc) 141, 288 Peace, Charles (Illu) 81, 116, 217-18, 226

Peerage. See Nobility Penrose. See Fisher, Penrose Perkins (Houn, 3Gab) 63, 100, 220, 297 Persano, Isadora (Thor) 206 Peter (Soli) 131 Peters, "Holy" (Lady) 1go-1, 215, 243, 2 97

Phelps (Nava) 95, 255 Phillimore (Thor) 171, 205, 277 Physicians. See Medical names Pierrot (Bruc) 179 Pike, Langdale (3Gab) 213, 215, 21819, 252, 262, 279, 287

Oakshott, Sir Leslie (Illu, Blue) 58, 64, 216, 2 75 Oberstein (Bruc, Seco) 169, 171, 179 Odley (Suss) 209, 288 Oldacre (Norw) 119 Oldmore (Houn) 109, 288 Openshaw (Five) 48-9, 243

Pinner (Stoc) 78 Pinto (Thor, Vall) 206, 236 Placenames used as personal names 28, 78, 146, 169, 184-5, 187-g, 1 92, 196, 200,214 -15,218-21,223,229,23640,258,264,269,274,276,279,287 90

354 Pollock (Stoc) 63, 77, 261 Pompey (Miss) 165 Pondicherry Lodge (Sign) 271 Pope's Court (RedH) 44 Popham House (Wist) 1 73 "Porky Shinwell" Johnson (Illu) 216 Porlock (Vall) 77, 82, 223, 228-g, 261, 289 Porter (Devi) 187, 256 Pott, Evans (Vall) 65, 231 Prendergast (Five, Glor) 46 Presbury (Cree) 283, 286 Prescott (3Gar) 212, 257 Price (Stoc) 63, 77 Pringle (Seco) 171, 2 57 The Priory School (Prio) 131-6, 213 Prizefighters. See Boxers and boxing Prosper, Francis (Berg) 82, 278 Psychiatrists. See Asylums Pycroft, Hall (Stoc) 77-8 Rae and Sturmash (Vall) 63, 231, 236, 288 Rance (Stud) 22, 243, 252, 264 Randall (Abbe) 63, 103, 167 Rao, Lal (Sign) 154, 265 Ras, Daulat (3Stu) 1 54 The Red Circle (RedC) 185-95 The Red-Headed League (RedH) 39-44, 113, 211, 292-4 The Reigate Squires (Reig) 83-8, 131, 286 Reilly (Vall) 2 35 The Resident Patient (Resi) 88-92 Reszke brothers (Houn) 223 The Retired Colourman (Reti) 212, 2218 Richards (Devi) 58, 63, 187 Ricoletti (Musg) 8, 82, 217 Ridlingthorpe (Danc) 123-4 Robinson, John (Blue) 32, 63, 244, 274, 2 97

Index Ronder (Veil) 224 Rosenberg-Doyle syndrome. See Conan Doyle syndrome Ross (RedH, Sily) 41, 64, 112, 255, 258, 2 79 Ross and Mangles (Houn) 48, 105 Roundhay (Devi) 187, 287-8 Roylott (Rylott), Grimesby (Spec) 52, 58, 17o, 221, 263, 288, 303 Rucastle (Copp) 74, 135, 288 Rufton (Lady) 194, 2 40, 288 Rulli (Wist) 176 Ryder (Blue) 212, 244, 2 74-5. See also Little Ryder Street Rylott. See Roylott St Clair, Neville (Twis) 53, 65, 292 St Luke's (3Stu) 1 53 St Simon (Nob/) 240, 276, 278 Saltire (Prio) 135-6, 213, 240, 2 77 Samson (Stud) 22-3, 2 53 Sandeford (Sixty) 147-50 Sanders (Maza) 200 Sanger (Veil) 3, 225 Sarah. See Cushing Saunders (Blau, Danc, 3Gar) 58, 87, 126, 143, 166, 213, 261 Savage, Victor (Dyin) 63, 196 Sawyer (Stud) 23, 252-3 Saxe-Coburg Square (RedH) 39, 153 189,289 Saxe-Meningen, Clotilde von (Scan) 36, 241, 276 A Scandal in Bohemia (Scan) 35-9, 283, 286 Scanlan (Vall) 65, 231, 236 Scott (Vail) 62, 231, 2 44 Scott Eccles. See Eccles Scowrers 228-37; brand symbol 2289 Sea Unicorn, ship (Blac) 142

Index The Second Stain (Seco) 167-72, 228 Selden (Houn) 26, 108, 289 Shafter (Vail) 63, 232 Sherman (Sign) 268 Shinwell. See Johnson, Shinwell Shipley (Houn) 103-4 Shlessinger (Lady) 61, 190-2 Sholto (Sign) 269-70, 275 Shoscombe Old Place (Shos) 184, 226-8 Shuman (Vall) 236 Sigerson (Empt) 115 The Sign of the Four (Sign) 265-71, 294 Silver Blaze (Silo) 174, 278-80 Simpson (Blan, Croo, Silv) 62, 222 Sinclair (Bruc) 183 Singleford (Silt') 240, 280, 288 Singleton. See Conk-Singleton The Singular Problem of Mr John Scott Eccles. See Wisteria Lodge The Six Napoleons (Sixty) 146-51, 157, 189, 192, 194, 228, 294 Slaney, Abe (Danc) 125 Slater (Bloc) 62, 140 Small (Sign) 62, 267 Smith: Culverton (Dyin) 197, 288; James (Sign, Soli) 33, 128, 244; Willoughby (Gold) 157, 178, 235, 261 Smith-Mortimer (Gold) 157-8 Snakes, venomous 81 Soames, Sir Cathcart (Prio) 63, 122, 288; Hilton (3Stu) 154 Social classes in names 300-2 The Solitary Cyclist (Soli) 128, 188, 294 Somerton (Sign) 58, 63, 228, 267 Somomy (Silt') 28o Sophy Anderson, barque (Five) 51 Southerton (Copp) 73, 24o Southsea, names from. See Neighbours Spaulding, Vincent (RedH) 42 The Speckled Band (Spec) 51-6, 1 47 Spence. See Munro, Col Spence

355 Spender (Lady) 194 Stackhurst (Lion) 223, 288 Stamford (Houn, Soli, Stud) 27, 109, 128, 130, 185 Stanford (Houn) 28, 109 Stanger (Vall) 28, 63, 182, 232, 236, 258, 264, 2 75, 289 Stangerson (Stud) 11, 27, 288 Staphouse (Vall) 236, 288 Staples (Dyin) 197 Stapleton (Houn) 62, 100-1, 259 Stark, Lysander (Engr) 62, 65, 68, 176, 213, 252 Starr, Lysander (3Gar) 57, 58, 213 Staunton (Miss) 8, 104, 147, 161-3, 176, 244 Steele. See Holloway and Steele Steiler (Fina) 97, 134, 288 Steiner (Last) 256, 282 Stendal (Vall) 236 Stephens (Shos) 64, 226-7, 296 Sterndale (Devi) 58, 185-7 Stevens (Norw) 64, 120, 2 44 Stevenson (Miss) 63, 164, 278. See also Holder and Stevenson Stewart (Croo, Empt) 88, 116-17, 255 Stimson (Lady) 192 The Stockbroker's Clerk (Stoc) 75-9, 212 Stockdale (3Gab) 63, 219, 259 Stone (Wist) 176 Stoner (Stonor) (Spec) 53, 147 Stoper (Copp) 74 Straker (Silt') 280, 297 Straubenzee (Maza) 38, 115, 201-2 Strauss (Vall) 235-6 A Study in Scarlet (Stud) 21-8, 211, 294 Surmash. See Rae and Sturmash Sudbury (Lion) 223 Sumner (Blac) 64, 139 Surnames of characters lacking forenames 17-18

Index

356

The Sussex Vampire (Suss) 135, 207-11 Sutherland (Iden) 272, 291 Sutro (3Gab) 221 Sutton (Resi) 62, 8g, go Swain (Five) 49 Swindon (Vall) 236 Sylvius, Negretto (Maza) 113, 199 Tangey (Nava) 96 Tankerville (Empt, Five) 46, 118 Tarleton (Musg) 83 Tarlton (Gold) 159 Tavernier (Maw) 11 1, 201 Theophilus. See Johnson, Theophilus

Thor Bridge (The Mystery of Thor Bridge, Thor) 20 3-7 Thorneycroft. See Huxtable, Thorneycroft

The Three Gables (3Gab) 207, 218-21 The Three Garridebs (3Gar) 136, 211-14 The Three Students (3Stu) 1 47, 152-5, 161, 286 Thurston (Danc) 127 Titles of nobility. See Nobility Tobin (Resi) 91 Todman (Vall) 236 Toller (Copp) 62, 74 Tonga (Sign) 266 Tosca, Cardinal (Blac) 137, 141-2 Tregellis (Musg) 82-3, 143, 185 Tregennis (Devi) 185, 187, 288 Trelawney. See Hope, Trelawney Trepoff (Scan) 38 Trevelyan (Resi) 58, 82, 87, 91, 115 Trevor (Glor) 47, 49. See also Bennett, Trevor Turner (Bose, Scan) 39, 52, 61, 244, 259 Turpey Street (Houn) 106 Tuson (Stoc) 78, 252

Underwood (Stud) 28, 33 Upwood (Houn) 102-3, 257 Valentine. See Walter The Valley of Fear (Vall)

174, 200, 228-

37, 294 Vamberry (Musg) 76, 83 Van Deher (Vall) 236, 288 Vandeleur (Houn) 100, 105 Vanderbilt (Suss) 209-lo Van Jansen (Stud) 236 Van Seddar (Maw) 200, 236, 288 Van Shorst (Vall) 236, 288

The Veiled Lodger (Veil)

224-8

Venner and Matheson (Engr) 63, 71, 130 Venucci (Sixty) 147, 288 Verner (Nona) 58, 121 Vibart (Lady) 192 Victor. See Lynch, Victor; Savage, Victor Vigor (Suss) 210 Vincent. See Spaulding, Vincent Vittoria (Suss) 211 Von. See the name following Von: Bischoff; Bork; Herder; Herling; Kramm; Ormstein; Saxe-Meningen; Waldbaum Wainwright (Illu) 217 Waldbaum (Nava) 84, 116 Waldron (3Gar) 63, 136, 213 Walker (Vall) 2 35 Walter (Bruc) 63, 180, 2 44 Walters (Wilt) 176 Warburton (Engr) 63, 6g, 1 75 Warner (Wist) 63, 1 74, 244 Warren (RedC) 187, 18g, 225 Warrender (Maw) 202

Index Watson 2 44 Waylight. See Morton and Waylight Weiss & Co (Sil)) 279 West, Arthur Cadogan (Bruc) 168,17982, 228, 2 44 Westaway (Copp) 74 Westbury (Bruc) 107, 183, 204, 228 Westhouse and Marbank (Iden) 2 74, 278, 287-8 Westphail (Spec) 55, 288 Whist 41 White, Abel. See Abelwhite Whitney (Twin) 53, 65 Whittington (Nobl) 240, 278 Whyte, William (Stud) 26 Wiggins (Stud) 27-8 Wilcox (Vail) 63, 232 Wilder (Prio) 132 Willaby (Vall) 235 Williams: Charlie (Vall) 62, 232, 242, 244; James Baker (Wist) 176, 2 44. See also Mawson and Williams Williamson (Soll) 128 Willoughby. See Smith, Willoughby Willows (Bosc) 52, 58 Wilson (Blac, Glor, Gold, Houn, Sign, Vall) 50, 63, 109, 126, 14o, 159, 232;

357 Jabez Wilson (RedH) 39-40, 298. See also Hargreave, Wilson; Kemp, Wilson Windibank (Iden) 273, 288 Windigate (Blue) 273, 278, 288 Windle (Vall) 232 Winter (Illu, 3Gar) 64-5, 212, 217, 261 Wisteria Lodge (The Singular Problem of Mr f ohn Scott Eccles, Wist) 65, 68, 1728 Woman, at Margate, suspected by Holmes (Seco) 171-2; winning, poisoned children (Sign) 270 Wombwell (Veil) 3, 225 Wood (Croo, Vail) 58, 61, 87-8, 244, 2 54 Woodhouse (Bruc) 63, 184. See also Coxon and Woodhouse Woodley (Empt, Soli) 116-7, 128 Wothingdon (Resi) 89 Wright (Abbe) 167 The Yellow Face (Yell) 79-83, 221 Youghal (Maul) 200, 287, 289 Yoxley Old Place (Gold) 156-7 Zamba. See Castalotte and Zamba