Walking with the creator of Sherlock Holmes
A few days ago, I led a Sherlock Holmes walk through London. It’s a tour I wrote for my students some years ago, when I was teaching a course on ‘Literary London’. It was also inspired by the podcast I wrote for Audible, The Real Sherlock[1].
The walk begins at – of course – Baker Street, and meanders through London towards Covent Garden. A few of the sites we visited include: the house in which Sherlock Homes was invented, the house in which Conan Doyle erroneously believed Sherlock Homes was invented (there’s a story there…), John and Mary Watson’s home, Scotland Yard, the Sherlock Holmes pub, the shop that commissioned a special ‘Sherlock Holmes tweed’, and places that inspired the young author’s gothic imagination.
We also stopped by what was once the pharmacy used by Dr Conan Doyle – in the days when he was still best known as an aspiring doctor, and in the days before he became Sir. Perhaps this was the same pharmacy which the author envisaged Holmes and Watson patronising. It was no doubt intended to be the place where Conan Doyle sent his patients for their prescriptions – but he didn’t ever have any patients to refer.
It was while waiting for his medical practice to take off, that Arthur Conan Doyle started working on a series of stories about a consulting detective named, Sherrington Hope, and his narrator, Ormond Sacker. After several changes of name, the characters eventually became Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson. Rapidly, the stories became so popular – and so lucrative – that Conan Doyle was able to forget about his attempts to set up as a doctor, and make writing his career.
In his fiction, Conan Doyle often wrote about the medical profession with a sense of humour and, irony. In The Red-Headed League, he included the following exchange of dialogue between Holmes and Watson:
“Sarasate plays at the St. James’s Hall this afternoon,” he remarked. “What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare you for a few hours?”
“I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very absorbing.”
“Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!”
In The Adventure of the Resident Patient Dr Percy Trevelyan complains that a specialist would need substantial capital to pay enormous rents and furnishing expenses, as well as the money needed to hire a presentable horse and carriage.
Conan Doyle’s first work of fiction was not about Sherlock Holmes. It was a short story called ‘The Mystery of the Sasassa Valley’, which was published in Chamber’s Edinburgh Journal on 6 September 1879, when the author was 20. Sherlock Holmes first appeared in print in 1887, in the story 'A Study in Scarlet'.
When Conan Doyle was writing his Sherlock Holmes stories, there were not enough addresses on Baker Street for number 221B to exist. Since then, the street has changed, as have the house numbers. Conan Doyle envisioned Dr Watson and Sherlock Holmes living in an apartment in an elegant Georgian house. Today, many tourists flock to the Sherlock Holmes Museum[2], which flaunts the number 221B above its door, although it’s actually at 239 Baker Street. For many years, the Abbey National Building Society was based at 219-229 Baker Street. This meant that any letters sent to Sherlock Holmes, addressed to 221B Baker Street, ended up with them.
Amazingly, many people believe – even today – that Sherlock Holmes was a real person, not a fictional creation. Some years ago in London, I met a woman who told me that, in the 1970s, she had worked as a secretary for the Abbey National, and her job was to reply to the many letters sent to the consulting detective. I have often thought what a fun, fascinating – and no doubt at times very sad – job that would have been.
People have become so enthralled by the name of Sherlock Holmes, that Conan Doyle's creation has become legendary. His name is, in fact, far better known around the world than that of his creator.
If you would like to join any of my future walks, follow me on Eventbrite[3] https://www.eventbrite.com/o/lucinda-hawksley-9464508019.
[1] https://www.lucindahawksley.com/the-real-sherlock/
https://www.sherlock-holmes.co.uk/
[3] https://www.eventbrite.com/o/lucinda-hawksley-9464508019