Editing Sherlock Holmes (section)

== Biography ==

===Family and early life===
[[File:A Study in Scarlet from Beeton's Christmas Annual 1887.jpg|thumb|upright|right|alt=Magazine cover featuring ''A Study in Scarlet'', with drawing of a man lighting a lamp|The cover page of the 1887 edition of ''[[Beeton's Christmas Annual]]'', which contains Holmes's first appearance (''[[A Study in Scarlet]]'')]]

Details of Sherlock Holmes' life in Conan Doyle's stories are scarce and often vague. Nevertheless, mentions of his early life and extended family paint a loose biographical picture of the detective.

A statement of Holmes' age in "[[His Last Bow]]" places his year of birth at 1854; the story, set in August 1914, describes him as sixty years of age.<ref>Klinger II, p. 1432—"[[His Last Bow (short story)|His Last Bow]]"</ref> His parents are not mentioned, although Holmes mentions that his "ancestors" were "[[Landed gentry|country squires]]". In "[[The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter]]", he claims that his grandmother was sister to the French artist Vernet, without clarifying whether this was [[Claude Joseph Vernet|Claude Joseph]], [[Carle Vernet|Carle]], or [[Horace Vernet]]. Holmes' brother [[Mycroft Holmes|Mycroft]], seven years his senior, is a government official. Mycroft has a unique [[civil service]] position as a kind of human database for all aspects of government policy. Sherlock describes his brother as the more intelligent of the two, but notes that Mycroft lacks any interest in physical investigation, preferring to spend his time at the [[Diogenes Club]].<ref>Klinger I, pp. 637-639—"[[The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter|The Greek Interpreter]]"</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://arthurconandoyle.co.uk/character/mycroft-holmes|title=Mycroft Holmes|last=Quigley|first=Michael J.|website=The Official Conan Doyle Estate Ltd.|access-date=27 December 2019|archive-date=27 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191227073317/https://arthurconandoyle.co.uk/character/mycroft-holmes|url-status=live}}</ref>

Holmes says that he first developed his methods of deduction as an undergraduate; his earliest cases, which he pursued as an amateur, came from his fellow university students.<ref>Klinger I, pp. 529-531—"[[The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual|The Musgrave Ritual]]"</ref> A meeting with a classmate's father led him to adopt detection as a profession.<ref>Klinger I, pp. 501-502—"[[The Adventure of the Gloria Scott|The ''Gloria Scott'']]"</ref>

==={{anchor|Life with Dr. Watson}}Life with Watson===
[[File:The Adventure of Silver Blaze 01.jpg|right|thumb|alt=Holmes (in deerstalker hat) talking to Watson (in a bowler hat) in a railway compartment|Holmes (right) and Watson in a [[Sidney Paget]] illustration for "[[The Adventure of Silver Blaze]]"]]

In the first Holmes tale, ''A Study in Scarlet'', financial difficulties lead Holmes and [[Dr. Watson]] to share rooms together at [[221B Baker Street]], London.<ref>Klinger III, pp. 17-18, 28—''A Study in Scarlet''</ref> Their residence is maintained by their landlady, [[Mrs. Hudson]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://arthurconandoyle.co.uk/character/mrs-hudson|title=Mrs Hudson|last=Birkby|first=Michelle|website=The Official Conan Doyle Estate Ltd.|access-date=27 December 2019|archive-date=27 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191227073313/https://arthurconandoyle.co.uk/character/mrs-hudson|url-status=live}}</ref> Holmes works as a detective for twenty-three years, with Watson assisting him for seventeen of those years.<ref>Klinger II, pp. 1692, 1705-1706—"[[The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger]]"</ref> Most of the stories are [[frame narrative]]s written from Watson's point of view, as summaries of the detective's most interesting cases. Holmes frequently calls Watson's records of Holmes's cases sensational and populist, suggesting that they fail to accurately and objectively report the "science" of his craft:

{{Blockquote|Detection is, or ought to be, an exact science and should be treated in the same cold and unemotional manner. You have attempted to tinge it [''A Study in Scarlet''] with romanticism, which produces much the same effect as if you worked a love-story or an elopement into the fifth proposition of [[Euclid]].&nbsp;... Some facts should be suppressed, or, at least, a just sense of proportion should be observed in treating them. The only point in the case which deserved mention was the curious analytical reasoning from effects to causes, by which I succeeded in unravelling it.<ref>Klinger III, p. 217—''The Sign of Four''</ref>|sign=|source=}}

Nevertheless, when Holmes recorded a case himself, he was forced to concede that he could more easily understand the need to write it in a manner that would appeal to the public rather than his intention to focus on his own technical skill.<ref>Klinger II, pp. 1482-1483—"[[The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier|The Blanched Soldier]]"</ref>

Holmes's friendship with Watson is his most significant relationship. When Watson is injured by a bullet, although the wound turns out to be "quite superficial", Watson is moved by Holmes's reaction:

{{Blockquote|It was worth a wound; it was worth many wounds; to know the depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask. The clear, hard eyes were dimmed for a moment, and the firm lips were shaking. For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain. All my years of humble but single-minded service culminated in that moment of revelation.<ref name="auto">Klinger II, p. 1598—"[[The Adventure of the Three Garridebs]]"</ref>}}

After confirming Watson's assessment of the wound, Holmes makes it clear to their opponent that the man would not have left the room alive if he genuinely had killed Watson.<ref name="auto"/>

=== Practice ===
Holmes' clients vary from the most powerful monarchs and governments of Europe, to wealthy [[Aristocracy|aristocrats]] and [[industrialist]]s, to impoverished [[pawnbroker]]s and [[governess]]es. He is known only in select professional circles at the beginning of the first story, but is already collaborating with [[Scotland Yard]]. However, his continued work and the publication of Watson's stories raise Holmes's profile, and he rapidly becomes well known as a detective; so many clients ask for his help instead of (or in addition to) that of the police<ref>"[[The Adventure of the Reigate Squire|The Reigate Squires]]" and "[[The Adventure of the Illustrious Client]]" are two examples.</ref> that, Watson writes, by 1887 "Europe was ringing with his name"<ref>"The Reigate Squires"</ref> and by 1895 Holmes has "an immense practice".<ref>Klinger II, p. 976—"[[The Adventure of Black Peter]]"</ref> Police outside London ask Holmes for assistance if he is nearby.<ref>Klinger I, pp. 561-562—"The Reigate Squires"</ref> A [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|British prime minister]]<ref>Klinger II, pp. 1190-1191, 1222-1225—"[[The Adventure of the Second Stain]]"</ref> and the [[King of Bohemia]]<ref name="Klinger I pp. 15-16">Klinger I, pp. 15-16—"A Scandal in Bohemia"</ref> visit 221B Baker Street in person to request Holmes's assistance; the [[President of France]] awards him the [[Legion of Honour]] for capturing an assassin;<ref>Klinger II, p. 1092—"[[The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez]]"</ref> the King of Scandinavia is a client;<ref>Klinger I, p. 299—"[[The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor]]"—there was no such position in existence at the time of the story.</ref> and he aids the [[Holy See|Vatican]] at least twice.<ref>''The Hound of the Baskervilles'' (Klinger III p. 409) and "The Adventure of Black Peter" (Klinger II p. 977)</ref> The detective acts on behalf of the British government in matters of national security several times<ref>"[[The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans]]", "[[The Adventure of the Naval Treaty|The Naval Treaty]]", and after retirement, "[[His Last Bow (story)|His Last Bow]]".</ref> and declines a [[Knight Bachelor|knighthood]] "for services which may perhaps some day be described".<ref>Klinger II, p. 1581—"The Adventure of the Three Garridebs"</ref> However, he does not actively seek fame and is usually content to let the police take public credit for his work.<ref>In "The Naval Treaty" (Klinger I p. 691), Holmes remarks that, of his last fifty-three cases, the police have had all the credit in forty-nine.</ref>

==={{anchor|"Great Hiatus"}}The Great Hiatus===
[[File:Sidney Paget - Original illustration of The Death of Sherlock Holmes, 1893.png|thumb|upright|alt=Holmes and Moriarty wrestling at the end of a narrow path, with Holmes's hat falling into a waterfall|Holmes and [[archenemy]] Moriarty struggle at the [[Reichenbach Falls]]; drawing by Sidney Paget]]

The first set of Holmes stories was published between 1887 and 1893. Conan Doyle killed off Holmes in a final battle with the criminal mastermind [[Professor Moriarty|Professor James Moriarty]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://arthurconandoyle.co.uk/character/professor-james-moriarty|title=Professor James Moriarty|last=Walsh|first=Michael|website=The Official Conan Doyle Estate Ltd.|access-date=27 December 2019|archive-date=27 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191227073317/https://arthurconandoyle.co.uk/character/professor-james-moriarty|url-status=live}}</ref> in "[[The Final Problem]]" (published 1893, but set in 1891), as Conan Doyle felt that "my literary energies should not be directed too much into one channel".<ref>Klinger II, p. 1448—''The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes''</ref> However, the reaction of the public surprised him very much. Distressed readers wrote anguished letters to ''[[The Strand Magazine]]'', which suffered a terrible blow when 20,000 people cancelled their subscriptions to the magazine in protest.<ref name="Hounding"/> Conan Doyle himself received many protest letters, and one lady even began her letter with "You brute".<ref name="Hounding">{{cite news |title=The hounding of Arthur Conan Doyle |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/the-hounding-of-arthur-conan-doyle-1.323267 |access-date=8 October 2020 |newspaper=The Irish News |archive-date=28 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210128002254/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/the-hounding-of-arthur-conan-doyle-1.323267 |url-status=live }}</ref> Legend has it that Londoners were so distraught upon hearing the news of Holmes's death that they wore black armbands in mourning, though there is no known contemporaneous source for this; the earliest known reference to such events comes from 1949.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bakerstreetjournal.com/armbands.html|title=A Reader Challenge & Prize|last=Calamai|first=Peter|website=The Baker Street Journal|date=22 May 2013|access-date=25 June 2018|archive-date=27 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170527161708/http://www.bakerstreetjournal.com/armbands.html|url-status=live}}</ref> However, the recorded public reaction to Holmes's death was unlike anything previously seen for fictional events.<ref name=":3" />

After resisting public pressure for eight years, Conan Doyle wrote ''[[The Hound of the Baskervilles]]'' (serialised in 1901–02, with an implicit setting before Holmes's death). In 1903, Conan Doyle wrote "[[The Adventure of the Empty House]]"; set in 1894, Holmes reappears, explaining to a stunned Watson that he had faked his death to fool his enemies.<ref>Klinger I, pp. 791-794—"The Adventure of the Empty House"</ref> Following "The Adventure of the Empty House", Conan Doyle would sporadically write new Holmes stories until 1927.
Holmes aficionados refer to the period from 1891 to 1894—between his disappearance and presumed death in "The Final Problem" and his reappearance in "The Adventure of the Empty House"—as the Great Hiatus.<ref>Klinger II, pp. 815-822</ref> The earliest known use of this expression dates to 1946.<ref>{{cite book|last=Riggs|first=Ransom|author-link=Ransom Riggs|title=The Sherlock Holmes Handbook. The methods and mysteries of the world's greatest detective|year=2009|publisher=[[Quirk Books]]|location=Philadelphia|isbn=978-1-59474-429-7|pages=115–118}}</ref>

===Retirement===
In ''His Last Bow'', the reader is told that Holmes has retired to a small farm on the [[South Downs|Sussex Downs]] and taken up [[beekeeping]] as his primary occupation.<ref>Klinger II, pp. 1229, 1437, 1440—His Last Bow</ref> The move is not dated precisely, but can be presumed to be no later than 1904 (since it is referred to retrospectively in "[[The Adventure of the Second Stain]]", first published that year).<ref>Klinger II, p. 1189—"The Adventure of the Second Stain"</ref> The story features Holmes and Watson coming out of retirement to aid the British [[World War I|war]] effort. Only one other adventure, "[[The Adventure of the Lion's Mane]]", takes place during the detective's retirement.<ref>Klinger II, p. 1667—"The Adventure of the Lion's Mane"</ref>