Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. He was a prolific writer whose other works include science fiction stories, historical novels, plays, poetry and non-fiction.

Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was born on 22 May, 1859, in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Doyles were a prosperous Irish Catholic family, who held a prominent position in the work of art. Conan Doyle studied medicine at Edinburgh University, and in 1882 he joined former classmate George Budd as his partner at a medical practice in Plymouth, but their relationship proved difficult and Conan Doyle soon left to set up an independant practice. The practice was initially not very successful, and while waiting for patients he began writing stories.

In 1885 Conan Doyle married Louisa Hawkins and they went on to have two children. In May 1891, while writing some of the early Sherlock Holmes short stories, Conan Doyle was struck by a virulent attack of influenza, which left him between life and death for several days. When his health improved, he came to realise how foolish he had been trying to combine a medical career with a literary one. “With a wild ruch of joy,” he decided to abandon his medical careers. He added “I remember in my delight taking the handkerchief which lay upon the coverlet in my enfeebled hand, and tossing it up to the ceiling in my exultation. I should at last be my own master”.

In 1893, in spite of everyone’s entreaties, Conan Doyle decided to kill off his Sherlock Holmes character so that he could concentrate on his historical novels. During a trip to Switzerland, he found the spot where his hero was to meet his end. In The Final Problem, Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty plunge to their deaths at the Reichenbach Falls. As a result twenty thousand readers cancelled their subscription to The Strand magazine which had published the Sherlock Holmes stories.

Conan Doyle now immersed himself into even more intensive activity. This frenzied life may explain why the former physician failed to notice the serious deterioration in his wife’s health. By the time he finally became aware of how sick she was, Louisa was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Louisa died in 1906, and although he remarried in 1907 and went on to have three more children, the loss of his first wife, then his father and then his son Kingsley (who died in 1918 from complications after being very badly wounded at the Battle of The Somme in 1916) deeply troubled Conan Doyle and he found himself increasingly drawn towards spiritualism.

Because of his deepening involvement in the occult, Conan Doyle wrote very little fiction after 1918, writing about spiritualism instead. The family’s trips to America, Australia and Africa were on ‘psychic crusades.’ Conan Doyle also became something of a crusader for justice, personally intervening in and fighting the causes of two men, George Edalji (who was convicted and later pardoned for the crimes of mutilating horses and sending poison pen letters) and Oscar Slater, a German Jew who had been convicted of murdering an elderly lady.

In the Autumn of 1929, in spite of having been diagnosed with Angina Pectoris, Conan Doyle went on his last psychic tour to Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. He was in such pain by the time he returned that he had to be carried ashore. Arthur Conan Doyle died on 7 July 1930, surrounded by his family. His last workds before departing for “the greatest and most glorious adventure of all,” were addressed to his wife. He whispered “You are wonderful.”