Sherlock Holmes

1st April 1886 - Setting for The Adventure of the Yellow Face

1886 - Sherlock Holmes publishes two short monographs in the Anthropological Journal, one of them is entitled On the Variations in the Human Ear

1886 - A monograph written by Holmes sometime before the case recounted in The Hound of the Baskervilles (possible dates for the book given by experts include before 1886 or before 1889). The work apparently had a wise distributed, at least in the scientific community.

Pre Sept 1887 - A monograph called The Tracing of Footsteps, with some remarks upon the uses of Plaster of Paris as a preserver of impresses. It was shown to Watson in The Sign of Four. The work was translated into French by François le Villard.

Jan - Feb 1887 - The first appearance of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson came in November, however in January and February, when this story was published in Boy’s Own Paper, Arthur Conan Doyle was writing about an intelligent and resourceful detective, complete with partner, solving a baffling mystery - the self-same format which was to make the Holmes and Watson stories so successful.

26th April 1887 - Setting for The Reigate Squires

December 1887 - Death of Mrs Watson

1887 - In full, A Study of the Influence of a Trade upon the Form of the Hand with Lithotypes of the Hands of Slaters, Sailors, Corkcutters, Compositors, Weavers, and Diamond-cutters, a monograph written by Holmes sometimes in or before 1887. It was, Holmes told Watson in The Sign of Four, ‘a matter of great practical interest to the scientific detective - especially in cases of unclaimed bodies, or in discovering the antecedents of criminals.’ At the time of the affair of the Four, this monograph, with other works of the detective, was being translated into French by François le Villard.

7th January 1888 - the opening of The Valley of Fear is set around this time

4th June 1888 - The death of Sir Charles Baskerville

17th July 1888 - setting for The Silver Blaze

10th August 1888 - setting for The Adventure of the Cardboard Box

15th August 1888 - setting for The Greek Interpreter

27th September 1888 - setting for The Sign of Four

12th October 1888 - setting for The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor

20th March 1889 - setting for A Scandal in Bohemia

May 1889 - The marriage of Watson and Mary Morstan. Watson purchased a practice in Paddington from 'old farquhar'

15th June 1889 - setting for The Stockbroker's Clerk

19th June 1889 - setting for The Man With the Twisted Lip

2nd July 1889 - setting for The Adventure of the Second Stain

29th July 1889 - setting for The Naval Treaty

6th August 1889 - setting for The Crooked Man

7th September 1889 - setting for The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb

24th September 1889 - setting for The Five Orange Pips

7th October 1889 - setting for A Case of Identity

22nd December 1889 - The theft of the Blue Carbuncle

27th December 1889 - the conclusion of The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

6th August 1885 - Louise Hawkins, the daughter of one of his patients. "Touie's" constant poor health was to lead to frequent domestic upheavel in the forthcoming years

1885 - Conan Doyle meets Major Alfred Wood who became his secretary for forty years

1885 - Lionel Atwill is a well-known performer of the 1930s and 1940s, Atwill appeared in such memorable films as The Vampire Bat (1933), Son of Frankenstein (1939), and Mark of the Vampire (1935), frequently playing mad scientists or dutiful police inspectors. Atwill worked in two Holmes pictures, The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) and Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942) opposite Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. In the former he played Dr. Mortimer while in the latter he had the coveted role of Professor Moriarty. As the evil professor, Atwill had the fun of strapping Holmes to an operating table and slowly draining him of every last drop of blood. Holmes, of course, had the last laugh. He died in 1946.

1886 - During March and April he produced a story with a completely new type of leading character: a private consulting detective who produced amazing results through the application of a keen, analytical mind. It was thus that Sherlock Holmes first saw the light of day. A Photostat of this page hangs in the museum of Sherlock Holmes Tavern in Northumberland Street, London. The original of the page is a part of the Doyle Archives, in the possession of Mr. Adrian M. Conan Doyle.

1886 - Arthur Conan Doyle begins to develop an interest in psychic studies following meeting which he had attended in Southsea

1887 - Publication of A Study in Scarlet in Beeton's Christmas Annual

1888 - The 'Jack the Ripper' murders take place in London's East End

1888 - A Study in Scarlet is published in book form. The publishers Ward Lock propose that the second edition should be illustrated by the author's father Charles Doyle

1889 - Mary Louise Doyle is born

1889 - Conan Doyle decided to test his powers to the full with a long historical novel. The outcome was the highly successful Micah Clarke, which finally appeared in 1889. It must have been pleasing to Conan Doyle that the novel became a topic of conversation between himself and Oscar Wilde when the two met for dinner.

1889 - The Mystery of Cloomber is published

1889 - Mysteries and Adventures is published, a collection of short stories

August 1889 - At a dinner given by J.M. Stoddart, a literary agent for the American Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, Oscar Wilde and Conan Doyle were encouraged to produce new novels. The results were Oscar Wilde’s famous The Picture of Dorian Gray and the second Holmes long story The Sign of The Four. The latter was the original title of the story but Doyle shortly afterwards decided that he preferred the shorter title The Sign of Four, which is how it is usually known now. He produced the book in only six weeks.