Arthur Conan Doyle - wikipedia Arthur Conan Doyle `` Conan Doyle '' redirects here. For the rugby player, see Conan Doyle ( rugby union ). Arthur Conan Doyle KStJ DL Doyle in 1914 Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle ( 1859 - 05 - 22 ) 22 May 1859 Edinburgh, Scotland 7 July 1930 ( 1930 - 07 - 07 ) ( aged 71 ) Crowborough, England Occupation Author writer physician Nationality British Alma mater University of Edinburgh Genre Detective fiction fantasy science fiction historical novels non-fiction Notable works Stories of Sherlock Holmes The Lost World Spouse Louisa Hawkins ( m. 1885 ; d. 1906 ) Jean Leckie ( m. 1907 ) Children Five Signature Website www.conandoyleestate.com Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, KStJ, DL ( 22 May 1859 -- 7 July 1930 ) was a British writer best known for his detective fiction featuring the character Sherlock Holmes. Originally a physician, in 1887 he published A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels about Holmes and Dr. Watson. In addition, Doyle wrote over fifty short stories featuring the famous detective. The Sherlock Holmes stories are generally considered milestones in the field of crime fiction. Doyle was a prolific writer ; his non-Sherlockian works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction and historical novels. One of Doyle 's early short stories, `` J. Habakuk Jephson 's Statement '', helped to popularise the mystery of the Mary Celeste. Contents 1 Name 2 Early life 3 Medical career 4 Literary career 4.1 Sherlock Holmes 4.2 Other works 5 Sporting career 6 Family life 7 Political campaigning 8 Justice advocate 9 Spiritualism, Freemasonry 10 Architecture 11 Honours and awards 12 Death 13 See also 14 References 15 Further reading 16 External links Name Doyle is often referred to as `` Sir Arthur Conan Doyle '' or simply `` Conan Doyle '' ( implying that Conan is part of a compound surname as opposed to his given middle name ). His baptism entry in the register of St Mary 's Cathedral, Edinburgh, gives `` Arthur Ignatius Conan '' as his given names and `` Doyle '' as his surname. It also names Michael Conan as his godfather. The cataloguers of the British Library and the Library of Congress treat `` Doyle '' alone as his surname. Steven Doyle, editor of the Baker Street Journal, wrote, `` Conan was Arthur 's middle name. Shortly after he graduated from high school he began using Conan as a sort of surname. But technically his last name is simply ' Doyle '. '' When knighted, he was gazetted as Doyle, not under the compound Conan Doyle. Nevertheless, the actual use of a compound surname is demonstrated by the fact that Doyle 's second wife was known as Jean Conan Doyle rather than Jean Doyle. Early Life Portrait of Doyle by Herbert Rose Barraud, 1893 Doyle was born on 22 May 1859 at 11 Picardy Place, Edinburgh, Scotland. His father, Charles Altamont Doyle, was born in England, of Irish Catholic descent, and his mother, Mary ( née Foley ), was Irish Catholic. His parents married in 1855. In 1864 the family dispersed because of Charles 's growing alcoholism, and the children were temporarily housed across Edinburgh. In 1867, the family came together again and lived in squalid tenement flats at 3 Sciennes Place. Doyle 's father died in 1893, in the Crichton Royal, Dumfries, after many years of psychiatric illness. Supported by wealthy uncles, Doyle was sent to England, at the Jesuit preparatory school Hodder Place, Stonyhurst in Lancashire at the age of nine ( 1868 -- 70 ). He then went on to Stonyhurst College until 1875. From 1875 to 1876, he was educated at the Jesuit school Stella Matutina in Feldkirch, Austria. He later rejected the Catholic faith and became an agnostic. He also later became a spiritualist mystic. Medical career From 1876 to 1881, Doyle studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, including periods working in Aston ( then a town in Warwickshire, now part of Birmingham ), Sheffield and Ruyton - XI - Towns, Shropshire. During that time, he studied practical botany at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. While studying, Doyle began writing short stories. His earliest extant fiction, `` The Haunted Grange of Goresthorpe '', was unsuccessfully submitted to Blackwood 's Magazine. His first published piece, `` The Mystery of Sasassa Valley '', a story set in South Africa, was printed in Chambers 's Edinburgh Journal on 6 September 1879. On 20 September 1879, he published his first academic article, `` Gelsemium as a Poison '' in the British Medical Journal, a study which The Daily Telegraph regarded as potentially useful in a 21st - century alleged murder investigation. Professor Challenger by Harry Rountree in the novella The Poison Belt published in The Strand Magazine Doyle was the doctor on the Greenland whaler Hope of Peterhead in 1880. As M.B., C.M. after his graduation from university in 1881, he was ship 's surgeon on the SS Mayumba during a voyage to the West African coast. He completed his Doctor of Medicine degree ( an advanced degree in Scotland beyond the usual medical degrees ) on the subject of tabes dorsalis in 1885. In 1882, Doyle joined former classmate George Turnavine Budd as his partner at a medical practice in Plymouth, but their relationship proved difficult, and Doyle soon left to set up an independent practice. Arriving in Portsmouth in June 1882, with less than £ 10 ( £ 900 today ) to his name, he set up a medical practice at 1 Bush Villas in Elm Grove, Southsea. The practice was not successful. While waiting for patients, Doyle returned to writing fiction. Doyle was a staunch supporter of compulsory vaccination and wrote several articles advocating for the practice and denouncing the views of anti-vaccinators. In early 1891, Doyle attempted the study of ophthalmology in Vienna. He had previously studied at the Portsmouth Eye Hospital to qualify to perform eye tests and prescribe glasses. Vienna was suggested by his friend Vernon Morris as a place to spend six months and train to be an eye surgeon. Doyle, however, found it too difficult to understand the German medical terms at the classes in Vienna and quickly quit his studies there. For the rest of his two - month stay in Vienna, he pursued other activities, such as ice skating with his wife Louisa and drinking with Brinsley Richards of the London Times. He also wrote The Doings of Raffles Haw. After visiting Venice and Milan, he spent a few days in Paris observing Edmund Landolt, an expert on diseases of the eye. Within three months of his departure for Vienna, Doyle returned to London. He opened a small office and consulting room at 2 Upper Wimpole Street, or 2 Devonshire Place as it was then. A Westminster City Council commemorative plaque is over the front door. He had no patients according to his autobiography and his efforts as an ophthalmologist were a failure. Literary career Main article : Arthur Conan Doyle bibliography Sherlock Holmes Doyle struggled to find a publisher for his work. His first work featuring Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, A Study in Scarlet, was taken by Ward Lock & Co on 20 November 1886, giving Doyle £ 25 ( £ 2500 today ) for all rights to the story. The piece appeared one year later in the Beeton 's Christmas Annual and received good reviews in The Scotsman and the Glasgow Herald. Holmes was partially modelled on his former university teacher Joseph Bell. In 1892, in a letter to Bell, Doyle wrote, `` It is most certainly to you that I owe Sherlock Holmes... round the centre of deduction and inference and observation which I have heard you inculcate I have tried to build up a man, '' and, in his 1924 autobiography, he remarked, `` It is no wonder that after the study of such a character ( viz., Bell ) I used and amplified his methods when in later life I tried to build up a scientific detective who solved cases on his own merits and not through the folly of the criminal. '' Robert Louis Stevenson was able, even in faraway Samoa, to recognise the strong similarity between Joseph Bell and Sherlock Holmes : `` My compliments on your very ingenious and very interesting adventures of Sherlock Holmes... can this be my old friend Joe Bell ? '' Other authors sometimes suggest additional influences -- for instance, the famous Edgar Allan Poe character C. Auguste Dupin. Dr. ( John ) Watson owes his surname, but not any other obvious characteristic, to a Portsmouth medical colleague of Doyle 's, Dr James Watson. A sequel to A Study in Scarlet was commissioned, and The Sign of the Four appeared in Lippincott 's Magazine in February 1890, under agreement with the Ward Lock company. Doyle felt grievously exploited by Ward Lock as an author new to the publishing world and he left them. Short stories featuring Sherlock Holmes were published in the Strand Magazine. Doyle wrote the first five Holmes short stories from his office at 2 Upper Wimpole Street ( then known as Devonshire Place ), which is now marked by a memorial plaque. Portrait of Sherlock Holmes by Sidney Paget, 1904 Sherlock Holmes statue in Edinburgh, erected opposite the birthplace of Doyle, which was demolished c. 1970 Doyle 's attitude towards his most famous creation was ambivalent. In November 1891 he wrote to his mother : `` I think of slaying Holmes,... and winding him up for good and all. He takes my mind from better things. '' His mother responded, `` You wo n't ! You ca n't ! You must n't ! '' In an attempt to deflect publishers ' demands for more Holmes stories, he raised his price to a level intended to discourage them, but found they were willing to pay even the large sums he asked. As a result, he became one of the best - paid authors of his time. In December 1893, to dedicate more of his time to his historical novels, Doyle had Holmes and Professor Moriarty plunge to their deaths together down the Reichenbach Falls in the story `` The Final Problem ''. Public outcry, however, led him to feature Holmes in 1901 in the novel The Hound of the Baskervilles. In 1903, Doyle published his first Holmes short story in ten years, `` The Adventure of the Empty House '', in which it was explained that only Moriarty had fallen, but since Holmes had other dangerous enemies -- especially Colonel Sebastian Moran -- he had arranged to also be perceived as dead. Holmes was ultimately featured in a total of 56 short stories -- the last published in 1927 -- and four novels by Doyle, and has since appeared in many novels and stories by other authors. Jane Stanford compares some of Moriarty 's characteristics to those of the Fenian John O'Connor Power. `` The Final Problem '' was published the year the Second Home Rule Bill passed through the House of Commons. `` The Valley of Fear '' was serialised in 1914, the year Home Rule, the Government of Ireland Act ( 18 September ) was placed on the Statute Book. Other works Doyle 's house in South Norwood Doyle 's first novels were The Mystery of Cloomber, not published until 1888, and the unfinished Narrative of John Smith, published only in 2011. He amassed a portfolio of short stories including `` The Captain of the Pole - Star '' and `` J. Habakuk Jephson 's Statement '', both inspired by Doyle 's time at sea. The latter popularised the mystery of the Mary Celeste and added fictional details such as the perfect condition of the ship ( which had actually taken on water by the time it was discovered ) and its boats remaining on board ( the one boat was in fact missing ) that have come to dominate popular accounts of the incident. Doyle 's spelling of the ship 's name as Marie Celeste has become more common in everyday use than the original form. Between 1888 and 1906, Doyle wrote seven historical novels, which he and many critics regarded as his best work. He also authored nine other novels, and later in his career ( 1912 -- 29 ) five stories, two of novella length, featuring the irascible scientist Professor Challenger. The Challenger stories include what is probably his best - known work after the Holmes oeuvre, The Lost World. He was a prolific author of short stories, including two collections set in Napoleonic times featuring the French character Brigadier Gerard. Doyle 's stage works include Waterloo, the reminiscences of an English veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, the character of Gregory Brewster being written for Henry Irving ; The House of Temperley, the plot of which reflects his abiding interest in boxing ; The Speckled Band, after the short story `` The Adventure of the Speckled Band '' ; and the 1893 collaboration with J.M. Barrie on the libretto of Jane Annie. Sporting career While living in Southsea, Doyle played football as a goalkeeper for Portsmouth Association Football Club, an amateur side, under the pseudonym A.C. Smith. Doyle was a keen cricketer, and between 1899 and 1907 he played 10 first - class matches for the Marylebone Cricket Club ( MCC ). He also played for the amateur cricket team the Allahakbarries alongside authors J.M. Barrie and A.A. Milne. His highest score, in 1902 against London County, was 43. He was an occasional bowler who took just one first - class wicket, although one of the highest pedigree as it was W.G. Grace. Also a keen golfer, Doyle was elected captain of the Crowborough Beacon Golf Club in Sussex for 1910. He had moved to Little Windlesham house in Crowborough with Jean Leckie, his second wife, and resided there with his family from 1907 until his death in July 1930. ) Family Life Arthur Conan Doyle by George Wylie Hutchinson, 1894 In 1885 Doyle married Louisa ( sometimes called `` Touie '' ) Hawkins. She was the youngest daughter of J. Hawkins, of Minsterworth, Gloucestershire, and the sister of one of Doyle 's patients. Louisa suffered from tuberculosis and died on 4 July 1906. The following year he married Jean Elizabeth Leckie, whom he had first met and fallen in love with in 1897. He had maintained a platonic relationship with Jean while his first wife was still alive, out of loyalty to her. Jean died in London on 27 June 1940. Doyle fathered five children. He had two with his first wife : Mary Louise ( 28 January 1889 -- 12 June 1976 ) and Arthur Alleyne Kingsley, known as Kingsley ( 15 November 1892 -- 28 October 1918 ). He had an additional three with his second wife : Denis Percy Stewart ( 17 March 1909 -- 9 March 1955 ), second husband of Georgian Princess Nina Mdivani ; Adrian Malcolm ( 19 November 1910 -- 3 June 1970 ) ; and Jean Lena Annette ( 21 December 1912 -- 18 November 1997 ). All of Doyle 's five children died without issue, leaving him with no grandchildren or direct descendants. Political campaigning Following the Boer War in South Africa at the turn of the 20th century and the condemnation from some quarters over the United Kingdom 's role, Doyle wrote a short work titled The War in South Africa : Its Cause and Conduct, which argued that the UK 's role in the Boer War was justified, and which was widely translated. Doyle had served as a volunteer doctor in the Langman Field Hospital at Bloemfontein between March and June 1900. Doyle believed that this publication was responsible for his being knighted as a Knight Bachelor by King Edward VII in 1902 and for his appointment as a Deputy - Lieutenant of Surrey. Also in 1900 he wrote a book, The Great Boer War. He stood for Parliament twice as a Liberal Unionist -- in 1900 in Edinburgh Central and in 1906 in the Hawick Burghs -- but although he received a respectable vote, he was not elected. Doyle was appointed a Knight of Grace of the Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem in 1903. Doyle was a supporter of the campaign for the reform of the Congo Free State, led by the journalist E.D. Morel and diplomat Roger Casement. During 1909 he wrote The Crime of the Congo, a long pamphlet in which he denounced the horrors of that colony. He became acquainted with Morel and Casement, and it is possible that, together with Bertram Fletcher Robinson, they inspired several characters in the 1912 novel The Lost World. Doyle broke with Robinson when he became one of the leaders of the pacifist movement during the First World War. When Casement was found guilty of treason against the Crown after the Easter Rising, Doyle tried unsuccessfully to save him from facing the death penalty, arguing that Casement had been driven mad and could not be held responsible for his actions. Justice advocate Doyle statue in Crowborough, East Sussex Doyle was also a fervent advocate of justice and personally investigated two closed cases, which led to two men being exonerated of the crimes of which they were accused. The first case, in 1906, involved a shy half - British, half - Indian lawyer named George Edalji who had allegedly penned threatening letters and mutilated animals in Great Wyrley. Police were set on Edalji 's conviction, even though the mutilations continued after their suspect was jailed. Apart from helping George Edalji, Doyle 's work helped establish a way to correct other miscarriages of justice, as it was partially as a result of this case that the Court of Criminal Appeal was established in 1907. The story of Doyle and Edalji was dramatised in an episode of the 1972 BBC television series, The Edwardians. In Nicholas Meyer 's pastiche The West End Horror ( 1976 ), Holmes manages to help clear the name of a shy Parsi Indian character wronged by the English justice system. Edalji was of Parsi heritage on his father 's side. The story was fictionalised in Julian Barnes 's 2005 novel Arthur and George, which was adapted into a three - part drama by ITV in 2015. The second case, that of Oscar Slater, a Yekke and gambling - den operator convicted of bludgeoning an 82 - year - old woman in Glasgow in 1908, excited Doyle 's curiosity because of inconsistencies in the prosecution case and a general sense that Slater was not guilty. He ended up paying most of the costs for Slater 's successful appeal in 1928. Spiritualism, FREEMASONRY Doyle had a longstanding interest in mystical subjects. He was initiated as a Freemason ( 26 January 1887 ) at the Phoenix Lodge No. 257 in Southsea. He resigned from the Lodge in 1889, but returned to it in 1902, only to resign again in 1911. Also in Southsea in 1887, influenced by a member of the Portsmouth Literary and Philosophical Society, Major - General Alfred Wilks Drayson, he began a series of psychic investigations. These included attending around 20 seances, experiments in telepathy and sittings with mediums. Writing to Spiritualist journal Light, that year, he declared himself to be a Spiritualist and spoke of one particular psychic event that had convinced him. Though he later wavered, he remained fascinated by the paranormal. He was a founding member of the Hampshire Society for Psychical Research in 1889 and joined the London - based Society for Psychical Research in 1893. He joined Sir Sidney Scott and Frank Podmore on a poltergeist investigation in Devon in 1894. Nevertheless, during this period, he remained, in essence, a dilettante. During 1916, at the height of World War I, a change came over Conan Doyle 's beliefs prompted by the apparent psychic abilities of his children 's nanny, Lily Loder Symonds. This, combined with the deaths he saw around him, made him rationalise that Spiritualism was a `` New Revelation '' sent by God to bring solace to the bereaved. The New Revelation was the title of his first Spiritualist work, published two years later. In the intervening years, he wrote to Light magazine about his faith and lectured frequently on the truth of Spiritualism. War - related deaths close to him certainly strengthened his long - held belief in life after death and spirit communication, though it is wrong to claim that the death of his son, Kingsley, turned him to Spiritualism, as is often stated. Doyle came out as a Spiritualist to the public in 1916, a full two years before his son 's death. It was on 28 October 1918 that Kingsley died from pneumonia contracted during his convalescence after being seriously wounded in the 1916 Battle of the Somme. Doyle 's brother Brigadier - general Innes Doyle died, also from pneumonia, in February 1919. His two brothers - in - law ( one of whom was E.W. Hornung, creator of the literary character Raffles ) and his two nephews also died shortly after the war. His second book on Spiritualism, The Vital Message, appeared in 1919. Doyle found solace supporting spiritualism and its attempts to find proof of existence beyond the grave. In particular, according to some, he favoured Christian Spiritualism and encouraged the Spiritualists ' National Union to accept an eighth precept -- that of following the teachings and example of Jesus of Nazareth. He was a member of the renowned supernatural organisation The Ghost Club. Doyle with his family in New York City, 1922 In 1919, the magician P.T. Selbit staged a séance at his own flat in Bloomsbury, and Doyle attended the séance. Some later commentators have stated that he declared the clairvoyance manifestations to be genuine. However, the contemporary report by the Sunday Express quotes Doyle as saying : `` I should have to see it again before passing a definite opinion on it, '' and : `` I have my doubts about the whole thing ''. In 1920, Doyle debated the claims of Spiritualism with the notable sceptic Joseph McCabe at Queen 's Hall in London. McCabe later published his evidence against the claims of Doyle and Spiritualism in a booklet entitled Is Spiritualism Based on Fraud ? which claimed Doyle had been duped into believing Spiritualism by mediumship trickery. Doyle believed that many cases of diagnosed mental illness were the result of spirit possession. He debated the psychiatrist Harold Dearden, who was diametrically opposed to Doyle 's views. He travelled to Australia and New Zealand on spiritualist missionary work in 1920, and continued his mission all the way up to his death, speaking about his spiritualist conviction in Britain, Europe, and the United States. One of the five photographs of Frances Griffiths with the alleged fairies, taken by Elsie Wright in July 1917 Doyle was also inspired by his Spiritualist beliefs to write a novella on the subject, The Land of Mist, featuring the character Professor Challenger. He wrote many other non-fictional Spiritualist works ; perhaps his most famous being The Coming of the Fairies ( 1922 ) which reveals Conan Doyle 's conviction in the veracity of the five Cottingley Fairies photographs. He reproduced them in the book, together with theories about the nature and existence of fairies and spirits. Initially suspected of being falsified, the photos were decades later determined to be faked ( along with admissions from the photographers ). Doyle was friends for a time with Harry Houdini, the American magician who himself became a prominent opponent of the Spiritualist movement in the 1920s following the death of his beloved mother. Although Houdini insisted that Spiritualist mediums employed trickery ( and consistently exposed them as frauds ), Doyle became convinced that Houdini himself possessed supernatural powers -- a view expressed in Doyle 's The Edge of the Unknown. Houdini was apparently unable to convince Doyle that his feats were simply illusions, leading to a bitter public falling out between the two. A specific incident is recounted in memoirs by Houdini 's friend Bernard M.L. Ernst, in which Houdini performed an impressive trick at his home in the presence of Conan Doyle. Houdini assured Conan Doyle the trick was pure illusion and that he was attempting to prove a point about Doyle not `` endorsing phenomena '' simply because he had no explanation. According to Ernst, Conan Doyle refused to believe it was a trick. In 1922, the psychical researcher Harry Price accused the spirit photographer William Hope of fraud. Doyle defended Hope, but further evidence of trickery was obtained from other researchers. Doyle threatened to have Price evicted from the National Laboratory of Psychical Research and claimed if he persisted to write `` sewage '' about spiritualists, he would meet the same fate as Harry Houdini. Price wrote `` Arthur Conan Doyle and his friends abused me for years for exposing Hope. '' Because of the exposure of Hope and other fraudulent spiritualists, Doyle led a mass resignation of eighty - four members of the Society for Psychical Research, as they believed the Society was opposed to spiritualism. Doyle and spiritualist William Thomas Stead were duped into believing Julius and Agnes Zancig had genuine psychic powers, both claiming that the Zancigs used telepathy. In 1924 Julius and Agnes Zancig confessed that their mind reading act was a trick and published the secret code and all the details of the trick method they had used, under the title Our Secrets ! ! in a London newspaper. Doyle praised the psychic phenomena and spirit materializations produced by Eusapia Palladino and Mina Crandon, who were both exposed as frauds. Doyle 's two volume, The History of Spiritualism was published in 1926. W. Leslie Curnow a spiritualist, contributed much research to the book. In 1926, Robert John Tillyard wrote a predominantly supportive review of Doyle 's book The History of Spiritualism in the journal Nature. This caused controversy, and several critics such as A.A. Campbell Swinton pointed to the evidence of fraud in mediumship and Doyle 's non-scientific approach to the subject. In 1927, Doyle spoke in a filmed interview about Sherlock Holmes and spiritualism. Richard Milner, an American historian of science, has presented a case that Doyle may have been the perpetrator of the Piltdown Man hoax of 1912, creating the counterfeit hominid fossil that fooled the scientific world for over 40 years. Milner says that Doyle had a motive -- namely, revenge on the scientific establishment for debunking one of his favourite psychics -- and that The Lost World contains several encrypted clues regarding his involvement in the hoax. Samuel Rosenberg 's 1974 book Naked is the Best Disguise purports to explain how, throughout his writings, Doyle left open clues that related to hidden and suppressed aspects of his mentality. Architecture Façade of Undershaw with Doyle 's children, Mary and Kingsley, on the drive Doyle commissioned a newly - built home from Joseph Henry Ball, an architect friend, in 1895, and played an active part of the design process. He lived in Undershaw which is near Hindhead in Surrey from October 1897 to September 1907. It was a hotel and restaurant from 1924 until 2004, when it was bought by a developer and stood empty while conservationists and Doyle fans fought to preserve it. In 2012, the High Court in London ruled the redevelopment permission be quashed because proper procedure had not been followed, but it is now due to become part of the Stepping Stones school for children with disabilities and additional needs. Doyle was staying at the Lyndhurst Grand Hotel during March 1912 and made his most ambitious foray into architecture : sketching the original designs for a third storey extension and altering the front facade to the building. Work began later that year and the building as it is today is a near perfect expression of Doyle 's plans. In 1914, on a family trip to the Jasper National Park in Canada, he designed a golf course and ancillary buildings for a hotel. The plans were realised in full, but neither the golf course nor the buildings have survived. In 1926, Doyle laid the foundation stone for a Spiritualist temple in Camden, London. Of the building 's total £ 600 construction costs, he provided £ 500. Honours and awards Knight Bachelor ( 1902 ) Knight of Grace of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( 1903 ) Queen 's South Africa Medal ( 1901 ) Knight of the Order of the Crown of Italy ( 1895 ) Order of the Medjidie -- 2nd Class ( Ottoman Empire ) ( 1907 ) Doyle 's grave at Minstead Death Doyle in 1930, the year of his death, with his son Adrian Doyle was found clutching his chest in the hall of Windlesham Manor, his house in Crowborough, East Sussex, on 7 July 1930. He died of a heart attack at the age of 71. His last words were directed toward his wife : `` You are wonderful. '' At the time of his death, there was some controversy concerning his burial place, as he was avowedly not a Christian, considering himself a Spiritualist. He was first buried on 11 July 1930 in Windlesham rose garden. He was later reinterred together with his wife in Minstead churchyard in the New Forest, Hampshire. Carved wooden tablets to his memory and to the memory of his wife, originally from the church at Minstead, are on display as part of a Sherlock Holmes exhibition at Portsmouth Museum. The epitaph on his gravestone in the churchyard reads, in part : `` Steel true / Blade straight / Arthur Conan Doyle / Knight / Patriot, Physician, and man of letters ''. A statue honours Doyle at Crowborough Cross in Crowborough, where he lived for 23 years. There is a statue of Sherlock Holmes in Picardy Place, Edinburgh, close to the house where Doyle was born. See also Physician writer William Gillette, a personal friend who performed the most famous stage version of Sherlock Holmes List of notable Freemasons Arthur & George ( miniseries ) Biography portal Children 's literature portal Poetry portal Sherlock Holmes portal References Jump up ^ Stashower says that the compound version of his surname originated from his great - uncle Michael Conan, a distinguished journalist, from whom Arthur and his elder sister, Annette, received the compound surname of `` Conan Doyle '' ( Stashower 20 -- 21 ). The same source points out that in 1885 he was describing himself on the brass nameplate outside his house, and on his doctoral thesis, as `` A. Conan Doyle '' ( Stashower 70 ). Jump up ^ Redmond, Christopher ( 2009 ). Sherlock Holmes Handbook 2nd ed. Dundurn. p. 97. Google Books. Retrieved 11 February 2017. Jump up ^ Doyle, Steven ; Crowder, David A. ( 2010 ). Sherlock Holmes for Dummies. Hoboken, New Jersey : John Wiley & Sons. p. 51. ^ Jump up to : `` No. 27494 ''. The London Gazette. 11 November 1902. p. 7165. Jump up ^ Cutis, vols. 53 -- 54 ( 1994 ), p. 312 : `` A large stone cross stands over a simple half - oval white stone, inscribed : `` Steel True, Blade Straight, Arthur Conan Doyle, Knight, Patriot, Physician & Man of Letters, 22 May 1859 -- 7 July 1930, And His Beloved, His Wife, Jean Conan Doyle... '' Jump up ^ `` Scottish Writer Best Known for His Creation of the Detective Sherlock Holmes ''. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 30 December 2009. Jump up ^ `` Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Biography ''. sherlockholmesonline.org. Archived from the original on 2 February 2011. Retrieved 13 January 2011. Jump up ^ The details of the births of Arthur and his siblings are unclear. Some sources say there were nine children, some say ten. It seems three died in childhood. See Owen Dudley Edwards, `` Doyle, Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan ( 1859 -- 1930 ) '', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 ; Encyclopædia Britannica ; Arthur Conan Doyle : A Life in Letters, Wordsworth Editions, 2007 p. viii ; ISBN 978 - 1 - 84022 - 570 - 9. ^ Jump up to : Owen Dudley Edwards, `` Doyle, Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan ( 1859 -- 1930 ) '', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. Jump up ^ Lellenberg, Jon ; Stashower, Daniel ; Foley, Charles ( 2007 ). Arthur Conan Doyle : A Life in Letters. HarperPress. pp. 8 -- 9. ISBN 978 - 0 - 00 - 724759 - 2. Jump up ^ Stashower, pp. 20 -- 21. Jump up ^ Golgotha Press ( 2011 ). The Life and Times of Arthur Conan Doyle. BookCaps Study Guides. ISBN 978 - 1 - 62107 - 027 - 6. In time, he would reject the Catholic religion and become an agnostic. Jump up ^ Pascal, Janet B. ( 2000 ). Arthur Conan Doyle : Beyond Baker Street. Oxford University Press. p. 139. Jump up ^ Brown, Yoland ( 1988 ). Ruyton XI Towns, Unusual Name, Unusual History. Brewin Books. pp. 92 -- 93. ISBN 0 - 947731 - 41 - 5. Jump up ^ McNeill, Colin ( 6 January 2016 ). `` Mystery solved of how Sherlock Holmes knew so much about poisonous plants ''. Herald Scotland. Retrieved 9 January 2016. Jump up ^ Stashower, Daniel ( 2000 ). Teller of Tales : The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle. Penguin Books. pp. 30 -- 31. ISBN 0 - 8050 - 5074 - 4. Jump up ^ Doyle, Arthur Conan ( 20 September 1879 ). `` Arthur Conan Doyle takes it to the limit ( 1879 ) ''. British Medical Journal. BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. Retrieved 2 February 2014. ( subscription required ) Jump up ^ Doyle, Arthur Conan ( 20 September 1879 ). `` Letters, Notes, and Answers to Correspondents ''. British Medical Journal. BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. Retrieved 2 February 2014. ( subscription required ) Jump up ^ Robert Mendick ( 23 May 2015 ). `` Russian supergrass ' poisoned after being tricked into visiting Paris ' ''. Sunday Telegraph. Retrieved 24 May 2015. Jump up ^ Conan Doyle, Arthur ( Author ), Lellenberg, Jon ( Editor ), Stashower, Daniel ( Editor ) ( 2012 ). Dangerous Work : Diary of an Arctic Adventure. University Of Chicago Press ; ISBN 0 - 226 - 00905 - X ; ISBN 978 - 0 - 226 - 00905 - 6. Jump up ^ Available at the Edinburgh Research Archive. Jump up ^ Stashower, pp. 52 -- 59. Jump up ^ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory ( 2017 ). `` The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present ( New Series ) ''. MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 6 November 2017. Jump up ^ Stashower, pp. 55, 58 -- 59. Jump up ^ ( 1 ) Jump up ^ ( 2 ) Jump up ^ Higham, Charles ( 1976 ). The Adventures of Conan Doyle. New York : W.W. Norton. pp. 86 -- 87. Jump up ^ Diniejko, Andrzej. `` Sir Arthur Conan Doyle : A Biographical Introduction ''. The Victorian Web. Retrieved 21 October 2016. Jump up ^ Stashower, pp. 114 -- 118. Jump up ^ Independent, 7 August 2006 ; Jump up ^ Doyle, Arthur Conan, Memories and Adventures ( Reprint ), Cambridge University Press, ( Cambridge ) 2012, p. 26. Jump up ^ Letter from RL Stevenson to Doyle 5 April 1893 The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson Volume 2 / Chapter XII. Jump up ^ Sova, Dawn B. Edgar Allan Poe : A to Z. New York : Checkmark Books, 2001. pp. 162 -- 163. ISBN 0 - 8160 - 4161 - X. ^ Jump up to : Carr, John Dickson ( 1947 ). The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Jump up ^ City of Westminster green plaques Archived 16 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine. ; accessed 22 March 2014. Jump up ^ Panek, LeRoy Lad ( 1987 ). An Introduction to the Detective Story. Bowling Green, OH : Bowling Green State University Popular Press. p. 78. ISBN 0 - 87972 - 377 - 7. Retrieved 4 January 2012. Jump up ^ Stanford Jane, That Irishman : The Life and Times of John O'Connor Power, pp. 30, 124 -- 127, History Press Ireland, May 2011 ; ISBN 978 - 1 - 84588 - 698 - 1 Jump up ^ Saunders, Emma ( 6 June 2011 ). `` First Conan Doyle novel to be published ''. BBC. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2011. ^ Jump up to : Macdonald Hastings, Mary Celeste, ( 1971 ) ; ISBN 0 - 7181 - 1024 - 2 Jump up ^ `` Mary Celeste -- definition of Mary Celeste in English from the Oxford dictionary ''. Jump up ^ `` Jane Annie -- J.M. Barrie and Doyle 's Libretto Rather Puzzles London '', The New York Times, 28 May 1893, p. 13 Jump up ^ Juson, Dave ; Bull, David ( 2001 ). Full - Time at The Dell. Hagiology Publishing. p. 21. ISBN 0 - 9534474 - 2 - 1. Jump up ^ `` Arthur Conan Doyle ''. ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 17 January 2018. Jump up ^ `` What is the connection between Peter Pan, Sherlock Holmes, Winnie the Pooh and the noble sport of cricket ?. BBC. Retrieved 25 November 2014 Jump up ^ `` London County v Marylebone Cricket Club at Crystal Palace Park, 23 -- 25 Aug 1900 ''. Static.cricinfo.com. Retrieved 2 March 2010. Jump up ^ Arthur Conan Doyle. `` Memories and Adventures '', p. 222. Oxford University Press, 2012 ; ISBN 1441719288. ^ Jump up to : Leeman, Sue, `` Sherlock Holmes fans hope to save Doyle 's house from developers '', Associated Press, 28 July 2006. Jump up ^ Janet B. Pascal ( 2000 ). `` Arthur Conan Doyle : Beyond Baker Street : Beyond Baker Street ''. p. 95. Oxford University Press ; ISBN 0195122623. Jump up ^ `` No. 35171 ''. The London Gazette. 23 May 1941. p. 2977. Jump up ^ `` Obituary : Air Commandant Dame Jean Conan Doyle ''. The Independent ; retrieved 6 November 2012 Jump up ^ Itzkoff, Dave ( 2010 - 01 - 18 ). `` Heirs to Sherlock Holmes Face Web of Ownership Issues ''. The New York Times. ISSN 0362 - 4331. Retrieved 2017 - 07 - 18. Jump up ^ `` Who owns Sherlock Holmes ? ''. The Telegraph. Retrieved 2017 - 07 - 18. Jump up ^ Miller, Russell. The Adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle. New York : Thomas Dunne Books, 2008. pp. 211 -- 217 ; ISBN 0 - 312 - 37897 - 1. Jump up ^ `` No. 27453 ''. The London Gazette. 11 July 1902. p. 4444. Jump up ^ `` Arthur Conan Doyle : 19 things you did n't know ''. The Telegraph. Retrieved 25 November 2014 Jump up ^ `` No. 27550 ''. The London Gazette. 8 May 1903. p. 2921. Jump up ^ Spiring, Paul. `` B. Fletcher Robinson & ' The Lost World ' ''. Bfronline.biz. Archived from the original on 3 October 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2011. Jump up ^ Rajiva Wijesinha ( 2013 ). `` Twentieth Century Classics : Reflections on Writers and Their Times ''. Cambridge University Press, Jump up ^ International Commentary on Evidence, Volume 4, Issue 2 2006 Article 3, Boxes in Boxes : Julian Bardes, Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes and the Edalji Case, D. Michael Risinger Jump up ^ International Commentary on Evidence, Volume 4, Issue 2 2006 Article 3, Boxes in Boxes : Julian Barnes, Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes and the Edalji Case, D. Michael Risinger Jump up ^ Roughead, William ( 1941 ). `` Oscar Slater ''. In Hodge, Harry. Famous Trials. 1. Penguin Books. p. 108. Jump up ^ Beresiner, Yasha ( 2007 ). `` Arthur Conan Doyle, Spiritualist and Freemason ''. Masonic papers. PIETRE - STONES REVIEW OF FREEMASONRY. Retrieved 13 March 2015. Jump up ^ Wingett, Matt ( 2016 ). Conan Doyle and the Mysterious World of Light, 1887 -- 1920. Life Is Amazing. pp. 19 -- 32. ISBN 978 - 0 - 9 - 5724135 - 0. ^ Jump up to : Wingett, Matt ( 2016 ). Conan Doyle and the Mysterious World of Light, 1887 -- 1920. Life Is Amazing. pp. 32 -- 36. ISBN 978 - 0 - 9 - 5724135 - 0. Jump up ^ Wingett, Matt ( 2016 ). Conan Doyle and the Mysterious World of Light, 1887 -- 1920. Life Is Amazing. pp. 43 -- 44. ISBN 978 - 0 - 9 - 5724135 - 0. Jump up ^ Wingett, Matt ( 2016 ). Conan Doyle and the Mysterious World of Light, 1887 -- 1920. Life Is Amazing. pp. 44 -- 48. ISBN 978 - 0 - 9 - 5724135 - 0. Jump up ^ Wingett, Matt ( 2016 ). Conan Doyle and the Mysterious World of Light, 1887 -- 1920. Life Is Amazing. pp. 44 -- 48. ISBN 978 - 0 - 9 - 5724135 - 0. Jump up ^ Price, Leslie ( 2010 ). `` Did Conan Doyle Go Too Far ? ''. Psychic News ( 4037 ). Jump up ^ Ian Topham ( 31 October 2010 ). `` The Ghost Club -- A History by Peter Underwood ''. Mysteriousbritain.co.uk. Retrieved 28 May 2013. Jump up ^ Baker, Robert A. ( 1996 ). Hidden Memories : Voices and Visions from Within. Prometheus Books. p. 234. ISBN 978 - 1 - 57392 - 094 - 0 Jump up ^ Christopher, Milbourne. ( 1996 ). The Illustrated History of Magic. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 264. ISBN 978 - 0 - 435 - 07016 - 8 Jump up ^ Wingett, Matt ( 2016 ). Conan Doyle and the Mysterious World of Light, 1887 -- 1920. Life Is Amazing. pp. 160 -- 161. ISBN 978 - 0 - 9 - 5724135 - 0. Jump up ^ Joseph McCabe. ( 1920 ). Is Spiritualism Based On Fraud ? The Evidence Given By Sir A.C. Doyle and Others Drastically Examined. London Watts & Co. Jump up ^ Dearden, Harold. ( 1975 edition ). Devilish But True : The Doctor Looks at Spiritualism. EP Publishing Limited. pp. 70 -- 72. ISBN 0 - 7158 - 1041 - 3 Jump up ^ `` The Coming of the Fairies ''. British Library catalogue. British Library. Retrieved 12 June 2013. Jump up ^ Massimo Polidoro. ( 2003 ). Secrets of the Psychics : Investigating Paranormal Claims. Prometheus Books. pp. 120 -- 124. ISBN 1 - 59102 - 086 - 7 Jump up ^ Polidoro, Massimo. `` Houdini 's Impossible Demonstration ''. Skeptical Inquirer. The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Archived from the original on 12 April 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2017. Jump up ^ Polidoro, Massimo. `` Houdini 's Impossible Demonstration ''. Skeptical Inquirer. The Committee For Skeptical Inquiry. http://www.csicop.org/SI/show/houdinirsquos_impossible_demonstration/ ( August 2006 ). Jump up ^ Massimo Polidoro ( 2011 ). `` Photos of Ghosts : The Burden of Believing the Unbelievable by Massimo Polidoro ''. Csicop.org. Retrieved 5 December 2013. Jump up ^ William Kalush, Larry Ratso Sloman. ( 2006 ). The Secret Life of Houdini : The Making of America 's First Superhero. Atria Books. pp. 419 -- 420. ISBN 978 - 0 - 7432 - 7208 - 7 Jump up ^ Massimo Polidoro. ( 2001 ). Final Séance : The Strange Friendship Between Houdini and Conan Doyle. Prometheus Books. p. 67. ISBN 978 - 1 - 57392 - 896 - 0 Jump up ^ G.K. Nelson. ( 2013 ). Spiritualism and Society. Routledge. p. 159 ; ISBN 978 - 0 - 415 - 71462 - 4 Jump up ^ John Booth. ( 1986 ). Psychic Paradoxes. Prometheus Books. p. 8 ; ISBN 978 - 0 - 87975 - 358 - 0 Jump up ^ William Kalush, Larry Ratso Sloman. ( 2006 ). The Secret Life of Houdini : The Making of America 's First Superhero. Atria Books. ISBN 978 - 0 - 7432 - 7208 - 7 Jump up ^ Hall, Trevor H. ( 1978 ). Sherlock Holmes and his Creator. Duckworth. p. 121 Jump up ^ Stashower, Daniel ( 1999 ). Teller of Tales : The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle. Henry Holt & Company. `` A Spiritualist researcher named Leslie Curnow contributed a great deal of material and wrote some of the chapters, which Conan Doyle freely admits in the book 's preface. '' Jump up ^ Tillyard, Robert John ( 1926 ). `` The History of Spiritualism ''. Nature. 118 : 147 -- 149. doi : 10.1038 / 118147a0. Jump up ^ Swinton, A.A. Campbell ( 1926 ). `` Science and Psychical Research '' ( PDF ). Nature. 118 : 299 -- 300. doi : 10.1038 / 118299a0. Jump up ^ Donkin, Bryan ( 1926 ). `` Science and Psychical Research '' ( PDF ). Nature. 118 : 480. doi : 10.1038 / 118480a0. Jump up ^ Donkin, Bryan ( 1926 ). `` Science and Psychical Research '' ( PDF ). Nature. 118 : 658 -- 659. doi : 10.1038 / 118658a0. Jump up ^ Arthur Conan Doyle Interviewed on Sherlock Holmes and Spirituality. 16 April 2009 -- via YouTube. Jump up ^ `` '' Piltdown Man : Britain 's Greatest Hoax '' 17 February 2011 BBC ``. Retrieved 5 October 2014. Jump up ^ `` '' Piltdown Man : British archaeology 's greatest hoax '' The Guardian 5 February 2012 ``. the Guardian. Retrieved 5 October 2014. Jump up ^ Samuel Rosenberg. ( 1974 ). Naked is the Best Disguise : The Death and Resurrection of Sherlock Holmes. Bobbs - Merrill. ISBN 0 - 14 - 004030 - 7 Jump up ^ Cooke, Simon, 2013, Introduction : Life and Controversy, `` Charles Altamont Doyle, '' The Victorian Web Jump up ^ Historic England, 1977 ( amended 2014 ), Reasons for Designation -- Architectural Interest, `` Undershaw List Entry, '' 1244471, National Heritage List for England ( NHLE ). Jump up ^ Duncan, Alistair ( 2011 ). An Entirely New Country : Arthur Conan Doyle, Undershaw and the Resurrection of Sherlock Holmes. MX Publishing. ISBN 978 - 1 - 908218 - 19 - 3. Jump up ^ `` Sir Arthur Conan Doyle house development appeal upheld ''. BBC News. 12 November 2012. Retrieved 12 November 2012. Jump up ^ Griffith, Carolyn. `` Campaigner says hotel 's writer link should secure landmark building '' Lymington Times, Sep 15th, 2017 Jump up ^ Glasshayes House : the 1912 extension of The Lyndhurst Grand Hotel, The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia, 2017 Jump up ^ The Golfball Factory, accessed September 2017, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -- Golf Course Architect Jump up ^ http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/property/blur-guitarist-leads-fight-to-save-camden-road-spiritualist-temple-1-5152950 Jump up ^ Stashower, p. 439. Jump up ^ Limited, Alamy. `` Stock Photo -- Wooden headstone of Sir Arthur Conan - Doyle at a special display in the Town 's museum. Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK ''. Alamy. Retrieved 15 March 2016. Jump up ^ `` City Museums ''. www.portsmouthcitymuseums.co.uk. Retrieved 15 March 2016. Jump up ^ Johnson, Roy ( 1992 ). `` Studying Fiction : A Guide and Study Programme '', p. 15. Manchester University Press ; ISBN 0719033977. Jump up ^ `` Arthur Conan Doyle ( 1859 -- 1930 ), author database ), librarything.com ; retrieved 17 March 2012 ''. Retrieved 5 October 2014. Jump up ^ `` Sherlock Holmes statue reinstated in Edinburgh after tram works '', bbc.co.uk ; retrieved 6 November 2012. Further reading Martin Booth ( 2000 ). The Doctor and the Detective : A Biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Minotaur Books. ISBN 0 - 312 - 24251 - 4 John Dickson Carr ( 2003 edition, originally published in 1949 ). The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Carroll and Graf Publishers. Arthur Conan Doyle, Joseph McCabe ( 1920 ). Debate on Spiritualism : Between Arthur Conan Doyle and Joseph McCabe. The Appeal 's Pocket Series. Bernard M.L. Ernst, Hereward Carrington ( 1932 ). Houdini and Conan Doyle : The Story of a Strange Friendship. Albert and Charles Boni, Inc. Kelvin Jones ( 1989 ). Conan Doyle and the Spirits : The Spiritualist Career of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Aquarian Press. Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower, Charles Foley ( 2007 ). Arthur Conan Doyle : A Life in Letters. HarperPress. ISBN 978 - 0 - 00 - 724759 - 2 Andrew Lycett ( 2008 ). The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes : The Life and Times of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Free Press. ISBN 0 - 7432 - 7523 - 3 Russell Miller ( 2008 ). The Adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle : A Biography. Thomas Dunne Books. Pierre Nordon ( 1967 ). Conan Doyle : A Biography. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Ronald Pearsall ( 1977 ). Conan Doyle : A Biographical Solution. Littlehampton Book Services Ltd. Massimo Polidoro ( 2001 ). Final Séance : The Strange Friendship Between Houdini and Conan Doyle. Prometheus Books. ISBN 978 - 1 - 57392 - 896 - 0 Jane Stanford, Moriarty Unmasked : Conan Doyle and an Anglo - Irish Quarrel, Carrowmore, August 2017. ISBN 9 - 780995 - 610866. Daniel Stashower ( 2000 ). Teller of Tales : The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle. Penguin Books. 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Online works available from the University of Adelaide Library Works of Arthur Conan Doyle available as freely downloadable eBooks at University of Virginia EText Center Arthur Conan Doyle at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database The short film Arthur Conan Doyle ( 1927 ) ( Fox newsreel interview ) is available for free download at the Internet Archive C. Frederick Kittle 's Collection of Doyleana at the Newberry Library DOYLE, Sir Arthur Conan, Knt. -- Cr. 1902, The county families of the United Kingdom or Royal manual of the titled and untitled aristocracy of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, ( Volume ed. 59, yr. 1919 ) ( page 109 of 415 ) by Edward Walford Arthur Conan Doyle Bibliography Sherlock Holmes A Study in Scarlet ( 1887 ) The Sign of the Four ( 1890 ) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ( 1892 ) The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes ( 1894 ) The Hound of the Baskervilles ( 1902 ) The Return of Sherlock Holmes ( 1904 ) The Valley of Fear ( 1914 ) His Last Bow ( 1917 ) The Case - Book of Sherlock Holmes ( 1927 ) Professor Challenger The Lost World ( 1912 ) The Poison Belt ( 1913 ) The Land of Mist ( 1926 ) `` When the World Screamed '' ( 1928 ) `` The Disintegration Machine '' ( 1929 ) Other novels The Mystery of Cloomber ( 1889 ) Micah Clarke ( 1889 ) The Firm of Girdlestone ( 1890 ) The White Company ( 1891 ) The Doings of Raffles Haw ( 1892 ) Beyond the City ( 1892 ) The Refugees ( 1893 ) The Parasite ( 1894 ) The Stark Munro Letters ( 1895 ) The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard ( 1896 ) Rodney Stone ( 1896 ) The Tragedy of the Korosko ( 1898 ) A Duet, with an Occasional Chorus ( 1899 ) Adventures of Gerard ( 1903 ) Sir Nigel ( 1906 ) The Maracot Deep ( 1929 ) Short stories `` J. Habakuk Jephson 's Statement '' ( 1884 ) `` Lot No. 249 '' ( 1892 ) `` The Case of Lady Sannox '' ( 1893 ) `` The Club - Footed Grocer '' ( 1898 ) `` The Brown Hand '' ( 1899 ) `` The Terror of Blue John Gap '' ( 1910 ) `` The Horror of the Heights '' ( 1913 ) Danger ! and Other Stories ( 1918 ) Other `` The Inner Room '' ( 1898 ) The Vital Message ( 1919 ) Related Charles Altamont Doyle James Doyle Richard Doyle John Doyle The Great Wyrley Outrages Undershaw ( home ) Arthur Conan Doyle 's Sherlock Holmes Canon Adaptations Popular culture Novels A Study in Scarlet ( 1887 ) The Sign of the Four ( 1890 ) The Hound of the Baskervilles ( 1902 ) The Valley of Fear ( 1915 ) Story collections The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ( 1892 ) The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes ( 1894 ) The Return of Sherlock Holmes ( 1905 ) His Last Bow ( 1917 ) The Case - Book of Sherlock Holmes ( 1927 ) Characters Sherlock Holmes Dr. Watson Professor Moriarty Sebastian Moran Irene Adler Inspector Lestrade Mycroft Holmes Baker Street Irregulars Minor characters Uncollected stories `` The Lost Special '' `` How Watson Learned the Trick '' Lists List of cases List of investigators Universe 221B Baker Street Baritsu Diogenes Club The Dynamics of an Asteroid A Treatise on the Binomial Theorem Related Sherlock fandom Sherlockian game Sherlockiana Sherlock Holmes Museum The Sherlock Holmes The Baker Street Irregulars Holmesian studies The Strand Magazine Naked Is the Best Disguise Undershaw Associated subjects Arthur Conan Doyle 's The Lost World ( 1912 ) Characters Professor Challenger Lord John Roxton Film adaptations The Lost World ( 1925 ) The Lost World ( 1960 ) The Lost World ( 1992 ) Return to the Lost World ( 1992 ) The Lost World ( 1998 ) Dinosaur Island ( 2002 ) King of the Lost World ( 2005 ) Television The Lost World ( 1999 ) episodes `` Heart of the Storm '' The Lost World ( 2001 ) Related The Valley of Gwangi Dinosaur Summer Sequels The Poison Belt ( 1913 ) The Land of Mist ( 1926 ) When the World Screamed ( 1928 ) The Disintegration Machine ( 1929 ) Others Lost Continent Buddy 's Lost World Other Sherlock Holmes related articles Literature adaptations of Sherlock Holmes Young Sherlock Holmes by Andy Lane Death Cloud ( 2010 ) Red Leech ( 2010 ) Black Ice ( 2011 ) Fire Storm ( 2011 ) The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes by Adrian Conan Doyle and John Dickson Carr `` The Adventure of the Seven Clocks '' ( 1954 ) `` The Adventure of the Gold Hunter '' ( 1954 ) `` The Adventure of the Wax Gamblers '' ( 1954 ) `` The Adventure of the Highgate Miracle '' ( 1954 ) `` The Adventure of the Black Baronet '' ( 1954 ) `` The Adventure of the Sealed Room '' ( 1954 `` The Adventure of Foulkes Rath '' ( 1954 ) `` The Adventure of the Abbas Ruby '' ( 1954 ) `` The Adventure of the Dark Angels '' ( 1954 ) `` The Adventure of the Two Women '' ( 1954 ) `` The Adventure of the Deptford Horror '' ( 1954 ) `` The Adventure of the Red Widow '' ( 1954 ) by Nicholas Meyer The Seven - Per - Cent Solution ( 1974 ) The West End Horror ( 1976 ) The Canary Trainer ( 1993 ) Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King The Beekeeper 's Apprentice A Monstrous Regiment of Women A Letter of Mary The Moor O Jerusalem Justice Hall The Game Locked Rooms The Language of Bees The God of the Hive Pirate King Garment of Shadows Dreaming Spies by David Stuart Davies Sherlock Holmes and the Hentzau Affair ( 1991 ) The Tangled Skein ( 1995 ) The Scroll of the Dead ( 1998 ) Shadow of the Rat ( 1999 ) The Veiled Detective ( 2004 ) The Devil 's Promise ( 2014 ) The Ripper Legacy ( 2016 ) by Barrie Roberts Sherlock Holmes and the Man from Hell ( 1997 ) Sherlock Holmes and the Railway Maniac ( 2002 ) by Anthony Horowitz The House of Silk ( 2011 ) Moriarty ( 2014 ) by James Lovegrove Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell Shadows ( 2016 ) Sherlock Holmes and the Miskatonic Monstrosities ( 2017 ) Other works The Pursuit of the House - Boat ( 1897 ) A Double Barrelled Detective Story ( 1902 ) Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street ( 1962 ) The Ultimate Crime ( 1976 ) The Last Sherlock Holmes Story ( 1978 ) `` The Doctor 's Case '' ( 1987 ) The Whitechapel Horrors ( 1993 ) All - Consuming Fire ( 1994 ) The Strange Case of Mrs. Hudson 's Cat ( 1997 ) The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes ( 1999 ) Shadows Over Baker Street ( 2003 ) `` A Study in Emerald '' ( 2003 ) Sherlock Holmes : The Way of All Flesh ( 2004 ) The Final Solution ( 2004 ) A Slight Trick of the Mind ( 2005 ) The Italian Secretary ( 2005 ) Erasing Sherlock ( 2006 ) Sherlock Holmes : The Unauthorized Biography ( 2006 ) The Enola Holmes Mysteries ( 2006 -- 10 ) Sherlock Holmes Was Wrong ( 2007 ) The Boy Sherlock Holmes ( 2007 -- 12 ) Gaslight series ( 2008 ) Dust and Shadow ( 2009 ) The Devil and Sherlock Holmes ( 2010 ) Sherlock Holmes : The Breath of God ( 2011 ) Dead Man 's Land ( 2013 ) The Albino 's Treasure ( 2015 ) Sherlock Holmes and the Servants of Hell ( 2016 ) A Study in Scarlet Women ( 2016 ) Parody Everybody 's Favorite Duck The Adventure of the Peerless Peer The Fossil Island Lizzie Newton : Victorian Mysteries Sherlock Bones Solar Pons Stoker and Holmes Thuppariyum Sambu Related Sherlock Holmes : Consulting Detective The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes Screen adaptations of Sherlock Holmes Silent films Sherlock Holmes Baffled ( 1900 ) Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ; or, Held for Ransom ( 1905 ) Sherlock Holmes in the Great Murder Mystery ( 1908 ) Arsène Lupin contra Sherlock Holmes ( 1910 ) Der Hund von Baskerville ( 1914 ) Detektiv Braun ( 1914 ) A Study in Scarlet ( 1914 British film ) A Study in Scarlet ( 1914 US film ) The Valley of Fear ( 1916 ) Sherlock Holmes ( 1916 ) Sherlock Holmes ( 1922 ) The Hound of the Baskervilles ( 1929 ) Stoll series The Dying Detective ( 1921 ) The Devil 's Foot ( 1921 ) The Man with the Twisted Lip ( 1921 ) The Hound of the Baskervilles ( 1921 ) The Sign of Four ( 1923 ) Wontner series The Sleeping Cardinal ( 1931 ) The Missing Rembrandt ( 1932, lost ) The Sign of Four ( 1932 ) The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes ( 1935 ) Silver Blaze ( 1937 ) Rathbone -- Bruce series The Hound of the Baskervilles ( 1939 ) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ( 1939 ) Voice of Terror ( 1942 ) Secret Weapon ( 1942 ) Sherlock Holmes in Washington ( 1943 ) Sherlock Holmes Faces Death ( 1943 ) The Spider Woman ( 1944 ) The Scarlet Claw ( 1944 ) The Pearl of Death ( 1944 ) The House of Fear ( 1945 ) The Woman in Green ( 1945 ) Pursuit to Algiers ( 1945 ) Terror by Night ( 1946 ) Dressed to Kill ( 1946 ) By actor Clive Brook The Return of Sherlock Holmes ( 1929 ) Sherlock Holmes ( 1932 ) Peter Cushing The Hound of the Baskervilles ( 1959 ) The Masks of Death ( 1984 ) ( TV ) Christopher Plummer Silver Blaze ( 1977 ) ( TV ) Murder by Decree ( 1979 ) Christopher Lee The Deadly Necklace ( 1962 ) The Leading Lady ( 1991 ) ( TV ) Incident at Victoria Falls ( 1991 ) ( TV ) Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes ( 2009 ) A Game of Shadows ( 2011 ) Other films The Speckled Band ( 1931 ) The Hound of the Baskervilles ( 1932 ) A Study in Scarlet ( 1933 ) The Hound of the Baskervilles ( 1937 ) A Study in Terror ( 1965 ) The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes ( 1970 ) The Seven - Per - Cent Solution ( 1976 ) The Case of Marcel Duchamp ( 1984 ) Young Sherlock Holmes ( 1985 ) Sherlock Holmes ( 2010 ) Holmes & Watson. Madrid Days ( 2012 ) Mr. Holmes ( 2015 ) Television films Ian Richardson The Sign of Four ( 1983 ) The Hound of the Baskervilles ( 1983 ) Maslennikov series Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson ( 1979 ) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson ( 1980 ) The Hound of the Baskervilles ( 1981 ) The Treasures of Agra ( 1983 ) The Twentieth Century Approaches ( 1986 ) Matt Frewer The Hound of the Baskervilles ( 2000 ) The Sign of Four ( 2001 ) The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire ( 2002 ) The Royal Scandal ( 2003 ) Ian Hart ( as Watson ) The Hound of the Baskervilles ( 2002 ) The Case of the Silk Stocking ( 2004 ) Other films The Three Garridebs ( 1937 ) The Hound of the Baskervilles ( 1972 ) The Longing of Sherlock Holmes ( 1972 ) Sherlock Holmes in New York ( 1976 ) The Hound of the Baskervilles ( 1982 ) Sherlock Holmes and the Baskerville Curse ( 1983 ) The Return of Sherlock Holmes ( 1987 ) Hands of a Murderer ( 1990 ) The Crucifer of Blood ( 1991 ) 1994 Baker Street : Sherlock Holmes Returns ( 1993 ) The Hound of London ( 1993 ) Sherlock : Case of Evil ( 2002 ) Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars ( 2007 ) Comedies, pastiches, and parodies The Mystery of the Leaping Fish ( 1916 ) The Limejuice Mystery or Who Spat in Grandfather 's Porridge ? ( 1930 ) Lelíček ve službách Sherlocka Holmese ( 1932 ) The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes ( 1937 ) Deduce, You Say ! ( 1956 ) They Might Be Giants ( 1971 ) The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes ' Smarter Brother ( 1975 ) The Return of the World 's Greatest Detective ( 1976 ) Sherlock Pink ( 1976 ) The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It ( 1977 ) The Hound of the Baskervilles ( 1978 ) The Great Mouse Detective ( 1986 ) Without a Clue ( 1988 ) The Adventures of Shirley Holmes ( 1997 ) Zero Effect ( 1998 ) A Samba for Sherlock ( 2001 ) Sheerluck Holmes and the Golden Ruler ( 2006 ) Aria the Scarlet Ammo ( 2008 ) Tantei Opera Milky Holmes ( 2009 ) Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes ( 2010 ) The Empire of Corpses ( 2015 ) Sherlock Gnomes ( 2018 ) Holmes and Watson ( 2018 ) Television series Sherlock Holmes ( 1951 ) Sherlock Holmes ( 1954 ) Sherlock Holmes ( 1965 -- 68 ) Sherlock Holmes ( 1967 -- 68 ) Sherlock Holmes ( 1968 ) Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson ( 1979 -- 80 ) Young Sherlock : The Mystery of the Manor House ( 1982 ) The Baker Street Boys ( 1983 ) Sherlock Hound ( 1984 -- 85 ) Sherlock Holmes ( 1984 -- 94 ) episodes Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century ( 1999 -- 2001 ) Sherlock ( 2010 -- present ) Elementary ( 2012 -- present ) Sherlock Holmes ( 2013 ) Sherlock Holmes ( 2014 ) others articles List of actors who have played Sherlock Holmes List of actors who have played Dr. Watson List of actors who have played Inspector Lestrade List of actors who have played Mycroft Holmes List of actors who have played Professor Moriarty Minor Sherlock Holmes characters Video game adaptations of Sherlock Holmes Individual games Sherlock Robin of Sherlock Sherlock Holmes : Hakushaku Reijō Yūkai Jiken Young Sherlock : The Legacy of Doyle 221B Baker Street Sherlock : The Riddle of the Crown Jewels Meitantei Holmes : M - Kara no Chousenjou Consulting Detective series Consulting Detective Consulting Detective Vol. II Consulting Detective Vol. III Sherlock Holmes series The Mystery of the Mummy The Case of the Silver Earring The Awakened Sherlock Holmes Versus Arsène Lupin Sherlock Holmes Versus Jack the Ripper The Testament of Sherlock Holmes Crimes & Punishments The Devil 's Daughter Casual games Frogwares The Mystery of Osborne House The Hound of the Baskervilles Other games The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes series Dai Gyakuten Saiban series Sherlock Holmes franchise media Authors Stage Sherlock Holmes ( 1899 play ) The Burglar and the Lady ( 1905 play ) The Return of Sherlock Holmes ( 1923 play ) Baker Street ( 1965 musical ) Sherlock Holmes : The Musical ( 1988 musical ) Baskerville : A Sherlock Holmes Mystery ( 2015 play ) Radio The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ( 1939 -- 47 ) BBC Radio ( 1989 -- 98 ) The Newly Discovered Casebook of Sherlock Holmes ( 1999 ) The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ( 2002 -- 10 ) Music `` The Tiger of San Pedro '' The Tale of the Giant Rat of Sumatra ( 1974 parody album ) Sherlock Holmes ( 2009 soundtrack ) Sherlock Holmes : A Game of Shadows ( 2011 soundtrack ) Art Statue in London Comics Baker Street Victorian Undead Other works 221B Baker Street ( board game ) Spiritualism and spiritism History and beliefs Apport Automatic writing Cross-correspondences Ectoplasm Materialization Mediumship Séance Spirit guides Spiritual healing Spirit obsession Spirit photography Spirit possession Spirit world Table - turning Theism Spiritualists Derek Acorah Rosemary Altea Charles Bailey Ada Besinnet Eddy Brothers Bangs Sisters Stephen E. Braude Rosemary Brown Sylvia Browne Eva Carrière Doris Collins Florence Cook Mina Crandon William Crookes Geraldine Cummins Pearl Curran Frank Decker Arthur Conan Doyle Helen Duncan Harry Edwards John Edward William Eglinton Colin Evans Fox sisters Leslie Flint Arthur Ford Colin Fry Eileen Garrett Kathleen Goligher Rita Goold Jan Guzyk Robert Hare Alec Harris Gordon Higginson Richard Hodgson Daniel Dunglas Home Elizabeth Hope William Hope Cecil Husk Swami Laura Horos James H. Hyslop Allan Kardec Franek Kluski Gladys Osborne Leonard Oliver Lodge Heinrich Melzer Carmine Mirabelli Francis Ward Monck William Usborne Moore William Stainton Moses Einer Nielsen Eusapia Palladino Leonora Piper Ethel Post-Parrish James Van Praagh Bert Reese Estelle Roberts Jane Roberts William Roy Rudi Schneider Maria Silbert Henry Slade Doris Stokes Emanuel Swedenborg Rosina Thompson Stanisława Tomczyk Ena Twigg George Valiantine Jack Webber Etta Wriedt Organizations List of Spiritualist organizations Spiritualist churches Spiritist centres London Spiritualist Alliance National Spiritualist Association of Churches Spiritualists ' National Union Spiritualist Association of Great Britain Spiritual Church Movement Arthur Findlay College International Spiritualist Federation Skeptics David Abbott John Henry Anderson George Miller Beard Ruth Brandon Lionel Branson Derren Brown William Carpenter Milbourne Christopher Edward Clodd Edmund Smith Conklin Millais Culpin Stuart Cumberland Eric Dingwall Joseph Dunninger Henry Evans Chris French Martin Gardner G. Stanley Hall Trevor H. Hall William A. Hammond C.E.M. Hansel Carlos María de Heredia Carl Hertz Terence Hines Harry Houdini Joseph Jastrow Stanley LeFevre Krebs Rose Mackenberg David Marks John Nevil Maskelyne Henry Maudsley Joseph McCabe Henry C. McComas Georgess McHargue Charles Arthur Mercier Albert Moll John Mulholland Fulton Oursler Joe Nickell E. Clephan Palmer Ronald Pearsall Frank Podmore Massimo Polidoro Harry Price Julien Proskauer James Randi Donovan Rawcliffe Joseph Rinn C.E. Bechhofer Roberts Chung Ling Soo Gordon Stein Amy Tanner Ivor Lloyd Tuckett Lyttelton Winslow Richard Wiseman VIAF : 65283845 LCCN : n79082292 ISNI : 0000 0001 2281 0491 GND : 11852710X SELIBR : 184005 SUDOC : 026836645 BNF : cb119005545 ( data ) BIBSYS : 90059591 MusicBrainz : 0568c60f - 9852 - 4708 - 82ab - 1afb8bb1342f NLA : 35044052 NDL : 00438206 NKC : jn19990001842 ICCU : IT ICCU CFIV 017594 BNE : XX908424 CiNii : DA00984486 SNAC : w6d221f7 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arthur_Conan_Doyle&oldid=828137967 '' Categories : Arthur Conan Doyle 1859 births 1930 deaths 19th - century British novelists 19th - century Scottish medical doctors 19th - century Scottish writers 19th - century British short story writers 20th - century British novelists 20th - century Scottish medical doctors Alumni of the University of Edinburgh British children 's writers British crime fiction writers British detective writers British dramatists and playwrights British essayists British fantasy writers British historical novelists British memoirists British mystery writers British non-fiction writers British male novelists British occult writers British opera librettists British male poets British science fiction writers British short story writers Deputy Lieutenants of Surrey Edinburgh University RFC players Former Roman Catholics Knights Bachelor Knights of Grace of the Order of St John Legion of Frontiersmen members Liberal Unionist Party parliamentary candidates Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Mystics Mythopoeic writers People connected with Plymouth People educated at Stonyhurst College Scottish cricketers Scottish Freemasons Scottish people of Irish descent Spiritualists Victorian novelists Writers from Edinburgh Writers of Gothic fiction Writers of historical fiction set in Modern Age 19th - century male writers 20th - century male writers Hidden categories : CS1 : Julian -- Gregorian uncertainty Pages containing links to subscription - only content Webarchive template wayback links Use British English from August 2016 Use dmy dates from August 2016 Articles with Bibliowiki links Articles with Curlie links Articles with Project Gutenberg links Articles with Internet Archive links Articles with LibriVox links AC with 16 elements Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLA identifiers Wikipedia articles with SBN identifiers Wikipedia articles with SNAC - ID identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikiquote Wikisource Afrikaans አማርኛ Aragonés Asturianu Aymar aru Azərbaycanca تۆرکجه বাংলা Bân - lâm - gú Башҡортса Беларуская Беларуская ( тарашкевіца ) ‎ Bikol Central Български Bosanski Brezhoneg Català Cebuano Čeština Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Eesti Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français Frysk Gaeilge Gàidhlig Galego 한국어 Հայերեն हिन्दी Hrvatski Ido Bahasa Indonesia Ирон Íslenska Italiano עברית ಕನ್ನಡ ქართული Қазақша Кыргызча Кырык мары Latina Latviešu Lëtzebuergesch Lietuvių Magyar Македонски Malagasy മലയാളം Malti मराठी მარგალური مصرى Bahasa Melayu Монгол Nāhuatl Nederlands नेपाल भाषा 日本 語 Norsk Norsk nynorsk Occitan Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Piemontèis Polski Português Română Rumantsch Runa Simi Русский Саха тыла Scots Shqip සිංහල Simple English Slovenčina Slovenščina کوردی Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Tagalog தமிழ் Татарча / tatarça తెలుగు ไทย Türkçe Українська اردو Tiếng Việt Winaray ייִדיש 粵語 Žemaitėška 中文 96 more Edit links This page was last edited on 28 February 2018, at 19 : 53. 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Question: when did sir arthur conan doyle wrote his first book
Answer: 1887