JULY 7

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Born on May 11, 1859 in Edinburgh, Scotland
Died on July7, 1930 in Edinburgh, Scotland
Writer, physician

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Original Name - Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle
Despite being raised in an Irish-Catholic household and attending Catholic schools, Conan Doyle emerged an agnostic. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and opened a private practice in Portsmouth. Business was slow, however, and he began writing short stories to fill his time.

In 1887, Conan Doyle’s first significant work, A Study in Scarlet, was published in Beeton’s Christmas Annual. The story introduced the super-observant, deductive Sherlock Holmes, his good-natured question-raising friend, Dr. Watson, and the whole apparatus of detection mythology associated with Baker Street, Holmes's fictitious home. Though the Sherlock Holmes novels are widely considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction, Conan Doyle himself set greater stock by his historical romances, such as The White Company.

After The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes was serialized in Strand Magazine, the author tired of his popular creation, and tried to kill off his hero, but was compelled in 1903 to revive him. In all, Holmes appeared in 56 of Conan Doyle’s short stories and four of his novels. Other works include science fiction stories, historical novels, plays, romances, poetry and non-fiction.

From 1899 to 1902, Conan Doyle served as a physician in the Boer War, and his 1902 pamphlet, The War in South Africa, earned him a knighthood. He also became actively involved in the plight of the Congo, and his 1909 pamphlet, The Crime of the Congo, denounced the country’s horror. In addition, Conan Doyle launched campaigns for justice, eventually freeing two wrongly accused men from prison.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle also wrote on Spiritualism, to which he became a convert in later life after suffering from depression. The subject caused a deep rift between him and magician and friend Harry Houdini, who was a prominent opponent of the Spiritualist movement.

In 1885, Conan Doyle married Louisa Hawkins, who died from tuberculosis in 1906. He married Jean Leckie in 1907. Conan Doyle had five children, two with his first wife and three with his second. He died from a heart attack in his family garden in 1930.