Sherlock Holmes

1893 - In the Christmas issue of The Strand Magazine, the public was devastated to read of the death of Sherlock Holmes at the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland, in The Final Problem. City Gentleman in London wore black armbands and Doyle received threats and letters of abuse.

1893 - Sherlock Holmes Dead - The amazed readers of The Strand Magazine (and of McClure’s Magazine in America) could scarcely believe their eyes. Conan Doyle heard of many who wept, of sober City men who even went to their work wearing mourning bands. He himself wrote:
I am amazed at the concern expressed by the public. They say a man is never properly appreciated until he is dead, and the general protest against my summary execution of Holmes taught me how many and how numerous were his friends. “You Brute!” was the beginning of the letter of remonstrance which one lady sent me, and I expect she spoke for others beside herself... I fear I was utterly callous myself, and only glad to have a chance of opening into new fields of imagination, for the temptation of high prices made it difficult to get one’s thoughts away from Holmes.

1893 - The Adventure of Chubb-Lock Holmes - The very first British comic strip The Adventures of Chubb-Lock Homes appeared in Comic Cuts. Comic Cuts, selling at halfpenny, helped to fill a want of the man in the street for cheap, light, easy-to-read literature that was not constantly preaching at him. Readers were evidently able to appreciate the skit on Sherlock Holmes, since Chubb-Lock continued to appear until September 1894, being in 33 issues in all. At first Chubb-Lock did not appear every week, and on his second appearance somebody blundered, and the strip was printed with the heading Sherlock Holmes, but that appears to have happened only once.

1893 - Picklock Holes - The earliest known parody of Sherlock Holmes, created by R.C. Lehmann and first appearing in Punch in 1893. The humorous adventures of the detective were recorded by Cunnin Toil. Picklock Holes was unique among detectives as he hired criminals to keep himself busy and generally created the evidence he would need to solve a case. Among his ‘investigations’ were The Bishop’s Crime (1893), Lady Hilda’s Mystery (1893) and Picklock’s Disappearance (1894). One story from October 7 1893 is reprinted in A Sherlock Holmes Compendium edited by Peter Haining.

1893 - The adventures of the famous fictional detective Sexton Blake have filled hundreds of books since he made his first appearance in 1893.
He has also had his exploits featured in dramatic performances on the stage, in films, on radio and even on television.
Not bad for a character who was once contemptuously nick-named 'the office boy’s Sherlock Holmes:' A survey carried out in 1926 proved that Blake was read by readers of all ages and after Blake’s regular magazine, Detective Weekly ceased publication in 1940, the stories continued in the Sexton Blake Library which definitely had an adult readership. The Sexton Blake Library series are now collector’s items and older copies are becoming harder and harder to find.
The stories reproduced in this volume are taken mainly from Sexton Blake libraries originally published in Blake’s golden age, the twenties.
Blake had a great career spanning the years from 1893 to 1970 and as further reprints and collections bring him right into the eighties, a whole new generation of fans are waiting to be thrilled.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

1893 - Ward, Lock & Co. published A Study in Scarlet

1893 - Death of Charles Altamont Doyle. Whilst Charles Doyle had artistic talents, he exercised his skills only intermittently, and lack of drive led to the loss of his post as a civil servant in the Office of Works at Edinburgh. After this he lapsed steadily into alcoholism, and his epilepsy grew increasingly worse, so that he was institutionalised for the final ten years of his life.

1893 - Written by Sir James M. Barrie after the play Jane Annie; On the Good Conduct Prize(1893), on which he collaborated with Conan Doyle, had proved a dismal failure. Conan Doyle thought that this was by far one of the best parodies on Sherlock Holmes. This story can be read in Ellery Queen’s collection, The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published by Doyle in his autobiography. Barrie wrote it on the fly-leaves of one of his books, A Window in Thurms, and sent it to his friend.
In the parody Holmes is visited at Baker Street by his ungrateful creator. The detective's last words, as he is ruthlessly reduced to nothing: ‘Fool, fool! I have kept you in luxury for years. By my help you have ridden extensively in cabs where no author was ever seen before. Henceforth you will ride in buses!’ Barrie also wrote ‘The Late Sherlock Holmes,’ a clever obituary of the Great Detective that first appeared in the St. James Gazette on December 29 1893, later published in Collier’s in America. The mood of the obituary is set by the subtitle “Sensational Arrest - Watson accused of the Crime.”
Doyle wrote in his Memories and Adventures (1924): ‘It was really a gay gesture of resignation over the failure we had encountered with a comic opera for which he undertook to write the libretto. I collaborated with him on this, but in spite of our joint efforts the piece fell flat. Whereupon Barrie sent me a rollicking parody on Holmes written on the fly leaf of one of his books...[it was] the best of all the numerous parodies.’

January 1893 - The Adventure of the Cardboard Box is published in the Strand Magazine

February 1893 - The Adventure of the Yellow Face is published in the Strand Magazine

March 1893 - Author! Author! is published in the Strand Magazine. It is written by E. W. Hornung - Doyle's brother in law.

March 1893 - The Adventure of the Stock-Broker's Clerk is published in the Strand Magazine

April 1893 - The Adventure of the "Gloria Scott" is published in the Strand Magazine

May 1893 - The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual is published in the Strand Magazine

June 1893 - The Adventure of the Reigate Squires is published in the Strand Magazine

July 1893 - The Adventure of the Crooked Man is published in the Strand Magazine

August 1893 - The Adventure of the Resident Patient is published in the Strand Magazine

September 1893 - The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter is published in the Strand Magazine

October and November 1893 - The Adventure of the Naval Treaty is published in the Strand Magazine

December 1893 - The Adventure of the Final Problem is published in the Strand Magazine

1893 - Arthur Conan Doyle joins the Psychical Research Society

1893 - Another result of the visit to Switzerland was Conan Doyle’s poem, An Alpine Wall, first published in the Independent for December 14, 1893; reprinted in the Baker Street Journal, Vol. XII, No. 3, New Series, July, 1962, p. 134.

1893 - Under the Clock performed at Royal Court Theatre, London.

1893 - Sherlock Holmes performed at Theatre Royal, Hanley

1st June 1893 - Sidney Paget got married, on the morning of the wedding he received a silver cigarette case bearing the inscription: ‘From Sherlock Holmes 1893.’ The case became one of Paget’s most treasured possessions. The Artist’s daughter, Winifred Paget, wrote in Full Circle, "A curious and interesting point arises here, if Holmes disappeared in April, 1891, and was not seen again until 1894, how did he manage to send the cigarette case to my father in 1893? Surely this is important evidence to support the theory that Holmes was not in Tibet or Persia during those years but probably wandering much nearer home in one of his many disguises. The cigarette case could, I suppose, have been despatched by Mycroft Holmes acting on his brother’s instructions..."

1893 - The Refugees is published

29th December 1893 - The Late Sherlock Holmes published in St James Gazette, it was thought to be written by J. M. Barrie