Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 - 1930)

Born: 22 May 1859
Birthplace: Edinburgh, Scotland
Died: 7 July 1930 (heart attack)
Best Known As: The creator of Sherlock Holmes

Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan (1859-1930), British physician, novelist, and detective-story writer, creator of the unforgettable master sleuth Sherlock Holmes.

Conan Doyle was born on May 22, 1859, in Edinburgh and educated at Stonyhurst College and the University of Edinburgh. From 1882 to 1890 he practiced medicine in Southsea, England. A Study in Scarlet, the first of 60 stories featuring Sherlock Holmes, appeared in 1887. The characterization of Holmes, his ability of ingenious deductive reasoning, was based on one of the author's own university professors. Equally brilliant creations are those of Holmes's foils: his friend Dr. Watson, the good-natured if bumbling narrator of the stories, and the master criminal Professor Moriarty. Conan Doyle was so immediately successful in his literary career that approximately five years later he abandoned his medical practice to devote his entire time to writing.

Some of the best known of the Holmes stories are The Sign of the Four (1890), The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902), and His Last Bow (1917). They made Conan Doyle internationally famous and served to popularize the detective-story genre (Detective Story; Mystery Story). A Holmes cult arose and still flourishes, notably through clubs of devotees such as the Baker Street Irregulars. Conan Doyle's literary versatility brought him almost equal fame for his historical romances such as Micah Clarke (1888), The White Company (1890), Rodney Stone (1896), and Sir Nigel (1906), and for his play A Story of Waterloo (1894).

Conan Doyle served in the Boer War as a physician, and on his return to England wrote The Great Boer War (1900) and The War in South Africa: Its Causes and Conduct (1902), justifying England's participation. For these works he was knighted in 1902. During World War I he wrote History of the British Campaign in France and Flanders (6 volumes, 1916-20) as a tribute to British bravery. An advocate of spiritualism since the late 1880s, his lectures and writings on the subject increased markedly after the death of his eldest son in the war. His autobiography, Memories and Adventures, was published in 1924. Conan Doyle died in Crowborough, Sussex, England, on July 7, 1930.


Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Books

The Mystery of Sasassa Valley 1879
J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement 1883
The Mystery of Cloomber 1889
The Captain of the Polestar 1890
The Firm of Girdlestone 1890
The Doings of Raffles Haw 1891
Beyond The City 1892
Round the Red Lamp 1894
The Parasite 1894
The Stark Munro Letters 1895
Rodney Stone 1896
A Duet 1899
The Great Boer War 1900
The Adventures of Gerard 1903
Through the Magic Door 1907
The New Revelation 1918
The Vital Message 1919
Tales of Terror and Mystery 1923
A Visit to Three Fronts 1916
The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard 1896
The Green Flag 1900
The Last Galley 1911
The Tragedy of The Korosko 1898
The History of Spiritualism Vol I 1926
The History of Spiritualism Vol II 1926

Poems

Songs of Action 1898
Songs of the Road 1911
The Guards Came Through 1919
The Poems of Arthur Conan Doyle. Collected edition 1922
Historical Novels

Micah Clarke 1889
The White Company 1891
The Great Shadow and Other Napoleonic Tales 1892
The Refugees 1893
Uncle Bernac 1896
Sir Nigel 1906

Professor Challenger Books

The Lost World 1912
The Poison Belt 1913
The Land of Mist 1926
The Disintegration Machine 1927
When the World Screamed 1928

Sherlock Holmes Detective Stories - Click Here to Read