Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (1859 – 1930), known as Artie in his younger years, was a Scottish writer and physician, famous for his fictional stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes.
Biography[edit | edit source]
Aiding Jacob and Evie Frye[edit | edit source]
Born on 22 May 1859 in Edinburgh, Scotland, Arthur was sent to study at Hodder Place, a preparatory school in England.[1] There, he developed an interest and love for detective stories, which led him to team up with the penny dreadful writer Henry Raymond and the Assassins Jacob and Evie Frye to solve murders.[2]
Eventually, Arthur began to consider that every crime that Raymond and the Fryes had investigated was related. He used invisible ink in his notes that could only be revealed by smoke. As Arthur came close to uncovering the truth, he was abducted by Raymond, who was really a criminal mastermind plotting to steal the Scepter of the Dove from Buckingham Palace.[3]
After his plot was discovered, Raymond used Arthur as a human shield on the palace's roof as he confronted the Frye twins. While one of the siblings distracted Raymod, the other snuck up from behind and killed him, saving Arthur. In the aftermath, Arthur lamented that, despite Raymond's insanity, he and his friends would miss his penny dreadfuls. Jacob suggested that he start writing crime novels himself and Evie added that he should use his full name, Arthur Conan Doyle.[3]
Later years[edit | edit source]
After the incident, Arthur resumed his studies at Hodder Place and became increasingly interested in spiritualism following the murder of the psychic Thaddeus Smith. In 1876, he returned to Scotland and studied at the University of Edinburgh, earning a medical degree. He then served as a ship's doctor on expeditions to both the Arctic Circle and Africa before settling in Plymouth and then Portsmouth in England. Around this time, he gave up his medical career to struggle as a writer. While in Portsmouth, he briefly took up the role of goalkeeper for an amateur football club.[1]
Arthur eventually moved to Upper Wimpole Street in London where he began to compose a series of mystery novels featuring a tweedy detective and joined the Ghost Club after the death of his first wife.[1]
Gallery[edit | edit source]
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Arthur, Raymond, and the Frye twins investigating a crime scene -
Arthur and Jacob at a crime scene
Appearances[edit | edit source]
References[edit | edit source]