A lot of people seem to talk as though Holmes really lived. Well, yes and no. In reality, of course, Sherlock Holmes is the purely fictional creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Precise information appears in various bibliographical and reference works.
William S. Baring-Gould in The Annotated Sherlock Holmes uses the dates he devised in his own earlier book, The Chronological Holmes. Many scholars prefer the approaches of Ernest B. Zeisler, Harold W. Bell, Henry T. Folsom or others. They differ repeatedly, especially over such choice questions as the date of Watson's marriage to Mary Morstan. Two cases are set following Holmes's official retirement. The oldest feature of the Sherlockian weekend in New York each January is the annual dinner of the Baker Street Irregulars.