Sherlock Holmes of Arthur Conan Doyle, The Character and the Inspirer

 

Many authors have written about and analyzed the character of Sherlock Holmes since 1887 when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle presented the character for the first time in the first story called: "A Study in Scarlet" that was first published in “Beeton’s Christmas Annual”.  Sherlock Holmes the character was presented by Doyle in four novels and 56 short stories with specific character traits the author has put into Holmes with inspiration from Dr. Joseph Bell who was one of the teachers at the medical school of Edinburgh University. Arthur Doyle met Dr. Joseph Bell when Arthur was seventeen years old and the doctor was thirty nine and his character left an indelible impression on Doyle the student at that time. He liked that thin wiry man with dark attitudes, a high-nosed acute face, penetrating grey eyes, and angular shoulders.” Dr. Bell “would sit in his receiving room with a like a Red Indian face, and diagnose the people as they came in, before they even opened their mouths. He would tell them everything of their past life; and hardly would he ever make a mistake”.

Doyle presented the stories of Sherlock Holmes to his teacher who supported him with his words saying that: " “You are yourself Sherlock Holmes and well you know it,” Holmes was made to have deductive powers and abilities to understand the people from their outer appearance, feelings, attitudes and ways of talking and reacting. He could have abilities to realize motives and actions and attitudes of people with accurate observation and this helped him reveal the veil from many criminals. 

He wrote many stories groups and the last of them was In His Last Bow, set in 1914, Holmes was 60 and this tells that he was born in 1854. He lived in London at 221B Baker Street and shared rooms with Dr. Watson was his friend and helper in solving many problems and crimes and his marriage was in 1887 and then again after his wife’s death. Nothing known of Holmes’ parents through the stories as he does explain this but it is said that his ancestors were “country squires”. He claims that his grandfather was the artist Horace Vernet and we know that he has a brother Mycroft, a civil servant, who is seven years older than he is. Holmes worked as a detective for 23 years and retired in the Sussex Downs shortly before 1904. People loved the character and the stories all over the world and the stories were translated to many worldwide languages.