Elementary: Sherlock Holmes
We couldn’t publish a ‘Crime and Mystery’ edition of StopPress without a mention of Britain’s most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, especially as the creator of this master of deduction based his most famous story here in Devon, on Dartmoor.
Little is known about the early life of the master detective but from clues left in one of his stories it can be estimated that he was born on 6th January 1854, spent his university years at Cambridge and from 1881 set up his private detective agency at 221B Baker Street where he worked alone until the arrival of Dr. Watson.
Almost nothing is known of his family; there is a brief reference to a sister on one of the stories but apart from that the only other family member named is that of his older brother, Mycroft, who is described as even more gifted than Sherlock in matters of observation and deduction. Though never married, Holmes was once engaged, though this never went as far as marriage. He was later to be very taken with a lady known as Irene Adler but there are those who still insist on stating that there is evidence to suspect that Holmes and Watson were more than just good friends.
The Holmes and Watson partnership continued for twenty three years, with Watson documenting his cases for seventeen of them. Watson eventually retired to the Sussex Downs in 1903/4 where he became a bee-keeper.
Along with his flair for deduction and eccentric behaviour comes a dark side which shows itself in his addiction to drugs when he has no cases to work on and requires mental stimulation. Holmes is a cocaine addict and even has a special syringe for injecting himself. He also occasionally takes morphine. Interestingly, Dr. Watson shows a typical Victorian attitude towards his friend’s addiction and has no medical objection to it. The only reason for his disapproval is that he feels the drugs will affect his friend’s mental abilities.
Holmes was presumed dead after falling over the Reichenbach Falls whilst fighting with his arch nemesis Moriarty. News of his death caused an outcry among readers of the London newspaper in which his exploits were published, and it was later revealed that he had survived this event. Holmes went on to solve his most famous case ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’, investigating mysterious events on Dartmoor.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - and his Devon inspiration
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote four novels and fifty-six short stories that feature Holmes.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle once stayed in a cottage on Dartmoor close to Hound Tor. It was while here that he came up with the idea of The Hound of the Baskervilles. He may have been inspired by the legend of Richard Cabell, who was supposed to have sold his soul to the Devil. On the night of his burial, a pack of ghostly dogs ran across Dartmoor to his tomb, and the ghost of Cabell was said to have been seen many times on Dartmoor with the pack of dogs in later years. You can still see the tomb of Richard Cabell in Buckfastleigh churchyard.
In 1990 the Sherlock Holmes Museum was opened in Baker Street, London . It was the first museum in the world to be dedicated to a fictional character.
