Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Essay, Research Paper
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was more than just an author. He was a knight, a
soldier, a spiritualist, a whaler, a doctor, a journalist, and most of all, he
was adventurous. He was not the quiet type of person, so he enjoyed
expressing himself. Arthur Conan Doyle was born on the 22nd of May
1859 in Picardy Place, Edinburgh. The second child of Charles Altamont
and Mary Foley, he was thought t have been named after the legendary
medieval king, Arthur, of the Round Table. Doyle was also named after his
granduncle, Michael Edward Conan. He was a descendant of the Irish, and
was of the Roman Catholic religion. Doyle had a grandfather, John Doyle.
He was political cartoonist, who, financially supported the family.1 Doyle
had a pretty rough home life because his father was an alcoholic. As he
grew up, Doyle had to take more of the responsibilities around the house
into his own hands, because his father was either too sick or drunk to
fulfill his daily work at home. Doyle?s mother, Mary Foley, was a
homemaker who took care of her son Arthur and his brothers and sisters,
and also worked and cleaned the house everyday.2 Doyle?s early
education started when he was about seven years old. His mother spent
lots of time reading with him and tutoring him, because this is what she
thought he needed to become a cultured gentleman. When Doyle was ten
years old he left home and went to the Jesuit Preparatory school named
Hodder House. This was a boarding school for young boys. Arthur hated
this school. Doyle once stated that Hodder House “was a little more
pleasant than being confined in a prison.” While attending Hodder House,
he studied chemistry, poetry, geometry, arithmetic, and grammar. After
his experiences at Jesuit Preparatory school, he left and applied for
Stonyhurst Academy. Doyle was accepted for enrollment into Stonyhurst
and remained there for about five more years. While at Stonyhurst,
Doyle, who excelled in cricket, demonstrated some very early signs of
literary talent. At the academy, he became quite good at telling stories
and reading aloud.3 Doyle started reading his old favorite books from his
childhood. His favorite childhood writer was Mayne Reid, who wrote The
Scalp Hunters. This was his favorite book while he was progressing
through life.4 During his last year before attending medical school, Doyle
went to Feldkirch, a school in Austria. While attending Feldkirch, he began
to question his faith in the Roman Catholic religion.5 Doyle decided finally
to become a doctor and went to Edinburgh University. While attending the
university Doyle met a Dr. Joseph Bell, upon whom the character Sherlock
Holmes was based. Also, he met the anatomist Professor Rutherford, who
was eventually made into the model for Professor Challenger in Arthur
Conan Doyle?s writings.6 While at Edinburgh University, Doyle took a
part-time job helping out another doctor. This was only one of the many
jobs that he had while he was a learning pupil during his school time.7 For
one of his assignments as a paid student at Edinburgh University, he
became the doctor on a whaling ship in the Arctic Ocean during a
seven-month voyage. When he returned to the University after his long
trip, Doyle received his Bachelor of Medicine degree in 1881. After his
graduation, Doyle decided to go back and make a second voyage as a
whaling ship?s doctor in the Arctic Ocean. While on the second voyage, he
nearly died of a high fever.8 When Doyle left Edinburgh University, he told
his family that he had changed his religion, and was no longer of the
Catholic faith.9 Doyle began his writing career and the public loved his
first professional work. The editor of the Cornhill Magazine approved of
the story and the author, accepting the story Habakuk Jephson?s
Statement for publication. Arthur Conan Doyle?s Sherlock Holmes novels
were huge successes in North America.10 The people enjoyed them so
much that Doyle wrote even more novels for the United States to publish,
such as The Sign of Four. Doyle?s first short story to be published was
The Mystery of Sasassa Valley in 1879.11 While he paid more attention
to his writing than his medical career, Doyle continued to practice
medicine for about two years. It was during this time that he met his
soon-to-be wife, Louise Hawkins,12 when her brother was diagnosed with
an incurable disease, cerebral meningitis. Jack, Louise?s brother, died a
couple of days later. Louise and Doyle were married several months later.
Louise?s nickname was “Touie,” one of the names Doyle later used in his
famous novel The Hound of the Baskervilles. The marriage lasted from
1885 until Louise?s death from tuberculosis in August of 1906. While
Doyle was married to Louise, they had one daughter, Mary Louise, born in
1889, and one son Alleyne Kingsley, born in 1902.13 After Louise?s
death, Doyle never talked about his wife or their long lasting marriage. A
year or so after her death, Doyle met a woman by the name of Jean
Leckie, who would soon be his second wife. Jean and Doyle met when they
ran into each other on the street. In 1907, they were married.14 His
inspiration to write even more in his spare time was brought on by his
marr
confined inside a nursing home in London, England because of alcoholism
and epilepsy. Jean Leckie and Doyle had three children, a son, Denis Percy
Stewart born in 1909, another son, Adrian Malcolm born in 1910, and a
daughter, Lena Jean Annette born in 1912.15 In 1883, The Captain of the
Pole Star was published, as well as some other minor pieces he had
written. Doyle was working on The Mystery of Cloomber. In 1884, Doyle
published J. Habakuk Jephson?s Statement, The Heiress of Glenmahowley,
and The Cabman?s Story.16 After all of these books and stories were
published, Doyle began to work on another piece called The Firm of
Girdlestone. In 1885, Doyle published another story, The Man from
Archangel. He then traveled with Jean to Ireland for their honeymoon.17
After writing all of these stories, he finally became involved in writing all
of his Sherlock Holmes novels and other short stories. The first Sherlock
Holmes novel was A Study in Scarlet in 1887, which was a great
accomplishment in the United States. The second Sherlock Holmes novel
was The Sign of the Four. In 1888, the first book edition of A Study in
Scarlet was published by Ward Lock. In December, The Mystery of
Cloomber was published.18 The Holmes stories became so popular that
people actually pictured Sherlock Holmes as an imaginary fairy tale super
hero.19 After twelve short stories and two series of Sherlock Holmes
novels, Doyle made an important decision to kill off Sherlock Holmes in
the novel The Final Problem, published in 1883. About ten years after
Sherlock Holmes “died”, Doyle wrote The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
This was published in sections at a time in The Strand magazine in
1903.20 Some of Arthur Conan Doyle?s later writings consisted of two
medical short story collections, Round the Red Lamp and Round the Fire
Stories. In 1894, a fictional autobiography, The Stark Munro Letters, was
published in 1894.21 The Parasite and The Medal Brigadier Gerard were
published in The Strand magazine in 1894. The very famous Arthur Conan
Doyle novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles, was published different
sections at a time in The Strand magazine in 1901. Conan Doyle wrote a
true autobiography, Memories and Adventures in 1924. Arthur?s last
published book; Edge of the Unknown, was published in 1930.22 World
travel played a big role in the backgrounds for Doyle?s stories and novels.
The Doyle family visited Berlin, Germany in 1890 to investigate
bacteriologist Robert Koch?s claim to have possibly have found the cure
for tuberculosis. In 1892, the Doyles traveled to Norway, where Conan
Doyle went skiing for the first time. Shortly after this trip, Doyle helps
introduce the sport of snow skiing in Switzerland.23 In 1895, Doyle and
his wife traveled to Egypt for the winter season. A doctor told them that
she would benefit from the therapeutic surrey air. Then they traveled up
the Nile River to Sudan, an East African country. This trip later provided
the background for The Tragedy of Korosko. They traveled to South
Africa during the Boer War in 1900, because Doyle was acting as a war
correspondent. While in South Africa, Doyle published a novel called The
Great Boer War in 1900. Then other short stories appeared in Cornhill
Magazine, such as Some Military Lessons of War, in 1900.24 Following
the end of the war, they returned home to Windlesham, Crowborough,
Sussex. About two years later, Doyle traveled to Buckingham Palace in
London to be knighted.25 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle took his family to
Australia to spread the word about spiritualism.26 In 1926, The Land of
Mist was published. Doyle had officially declared himself a spiritualist. He
then wrote his first spiritualism book called The New Revelation, and a
two-volume history book about spiritualism. In 1927, the death of Mary
Foley Doyle, Arthur?s mother, touched the entire family.27 In 1929, The
Maracot Deep and other stories were published.28 This was Doyle?s last
collection of works and it was published in July, exactly one year before
his death.29 On July 7, 1930 at 8:30 A.M. the final tragedy struck. Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle died of a heart attack at his home in Windlesham,
Crowborough, weighing 243 pounds.30 He was survived by Jean Doyle and
their three children. His death greatly saddened the world and all of his
faithful followers. Although Doyle was a very clumsy person, he was still
a lover of sports, who played rugby and billiards like a paid professional.
Doyle was a person everyone had doubted would ever turn out to be
someone with a great deal of talent and use it to his ability. Doyle?s life
was similar to a mixture of all of his characters, because of his high
drama talent, energy by the truckload, and a very creative imagination.
Conan Doyle?s own story was also one of personal adventure. He was the
kind of man who never had too much fun and excitement. Julian Symons
once said in one of her books that Arthur probably died right in the middle
of writing another great collection of works. Doyle was one of the
world?s most topclass writers in his time. The story of Doyle reminds us
that we all have some adventure running through our veins and a
distinctive imagination inside our brains.