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May 15, 2018 by Alexander Meldrum
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Born Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle
22 May 1859
Edinburgh, Scotland
Died 7 July 1930 (aged 71)
Crowborough, England
Spouse
Louisa Hawkins
(m. 1885; d. 1906)
Jean ...Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Born Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle
22 May 1859
Edinburgh, Scotland
Died 7 July 1930 (aged 71)
Crowborough, England
Spouse
Louisa Hawkins
(m. 1885; d. 1906)
Jean Leckie
(m. 1907)
Children 5
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)
Honours and awards
Knight-Bachelor.ribbon.png Knight Bachelor (1902)
Order of St John (UK) ribbon -vector.svg Knight of Grace of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (1903)
Queens South Africa Medal BAR.svg Queen's South Africa Medal (1901)
Cavaliere OCI BAR.svg Knight of the Order of the Crown of Italy (1895)
Order of the Medjidie lenta.png Order of the Medjidie – 2nd Class (Ottoman Empire) (1907)
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle KStJ DL (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a Scottish-born 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.
He also did 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.
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.
Literary career
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.
Sporting career
While living in Southsea, the seaside resort of Portsmouth, 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.
Political campaigning
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.
Justice advocate
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.
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.
Architecture
Doyle commissioned a newly-built home from Joseph Henry Ball, an architect friend, in 1895, and played an active part of the design process.[95
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.
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