Was Sherlock Holmes a real person

A drawing of Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is one of the most popular fictional characters that has ever been created. His name has become synonymous with the detection of crime and the solving of mysteries. Holmes is widely viewed as the epitome of what a detective should be. Since his introduction to the world, he has appeared many times on screen and stage.

Holmes is so popular that many people assume he was a real-life figure. This is not the case. This article will examine if the character was based on a historical crime fighter or real-life detective. It investigates the character's development, a biography of the fictional character, and then evaluates the likely candidates for the original model for the most famous detective in history.

When did Arthur Conan Doyle create Sherlock Holmes?

Arthur Conan Doyle

The British writer Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) created Sherlock Holmes. Doyle was a remarkable man, the son of an alcoholic Irish artist. He became a medical doctor, writer, freemason, and spiritualist. Conan Doyle created the character of Holmes when he was 27. Initially, found it very difficult to find a publisher.

The first Sherlock Holmes story was A Study in Scarlet (1887), and it proved a minor success. Later stories soon followed, and they became a sensation and made their author a celebrity. Soon the British public had an insatiable demand for the stories of Conan-Doyle.

Why did Arthur Conan Doyle kill Sherlock Holmes?

Doyle wrote over a dozen stories and two novels, but soon he became bored with Holmes and his assistant Dr. Watson's adventures. Despite pleas from his publishers, he killed off Sherlock Holmes in 1893. This led to a public outcry, and many fans of the investigator allegedly cried when they heard that Holmes had died.

For ten years, Conan-Doyle concentrated on historical fiction, which was well received. In 1901 he returned to writing stories about Holmes, after pressure from his writing public and lucrative offers from publishers. In total, Doyle wrote four novels and 57 short stories over his career. He wrote the last story about his most famous creation was in 1927.

Sherlock Holmes in movies and television

Since the death of Conan Doyle, many authors and filmmakers have continued to write stories and make movies and television series based on Conan Doyles’s creation. This is not surprising because Sherlock Holmes is currently in the public domain.

There have been many movies about the detective, and perhaps the most popular was Basil Rathbone, who portrayed the detective on the silver screen in Hollywood’s Golden era (the 1930s and 1940s). Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal of Holmes was very well received in 2009 and a sequel in 2011.

Many movies are not based on the Conan Doyle stories but only use the unforgettable character in new plots. An excellent example of this was Mr. Holmes (2015), a re-imagining of the detective's later years in retirement. In recent decades there have been numerous television series based on the character, including Sherlock, which has the master-investigator living in modern London and stars Benedict Cumberbatch (2010-2017). Many believe that Jeremy Brett’s portrayal of the detective in the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984-1994) was the greatest ever.

In 2020, Enola Holmes starring Millie Bobby Brown and Henry Cavil, based on a novel by Nancy Springer about Sherlock Holmes' sister, was streamed by Netflix. The Conan Doyle estate even filed a lawsuit regarding the Cavil's interpretation of Holmes even though the character is undeniably in the public domain.

Other television shows and movies have also been clearly inspired by Holmes. Two of the more interesting are Zero Effect (starring Ben Stiller and Bill Pullman) and the television medical drama House (starring Hugh Laurie, Robert Sean Leonard and Omar Epps). Each of these shows renamed the Holmes character, but sought inspiration from the unique characteristics of Holmes.

What was Holmes' story in Arthur Conan Doyle's books?

The cover of the Hounds of the Baskervilles

There are a few references to Holmes's early life. It appears that he was born in the 1850s and that he came from the English gentry and that his mother may have been part-French. It has been speculated that Holmes, who never married, had a cruel governess in his youth, and this is why he never had a lasting relationship with a female. Sherlock had an older brother called Mycroft, a genius who worked for the government and is often referred to in the stories. The future detective went to Oxford, and it was here that he acquired his formidable powers of deduction. He became an amateur detective after he visited a university friend during his summer vacation.

Holmes solved a mystery revolving around secrets from his friend’s father's dubious past. The young man later became what is known as a consultant, and he worked on many criminal cases. Holmes lived in London in 221 B Baker Street and eventually took in a lodger Dr. Watson a veteran of the British Indian Army, and they became partners. The two Batchelor's lived in an apartment that was maintained by Mrs. Hudson. Holmes was already an experienced detective by the time he met the doctor. Sherlock became a very well-known detective and was consulted by aristocrats, politicians, monarchs, and Scotland Yard. Watson later married and left Baker Street but returned to live with his old friend and partner after she died.

At some point, Sherlock became addicted to morphine, a common problem in the 19th century, and also occasionally took cocaine. Holmes was also an expert on forensic science and a master of disguise. He was also a polymath and was very knowledgeable of several scientific subjects, and was an accomplished violinist. The investigator had many wits with criminal masterminds, and his greatest enemy was the evil genius Professor James Moriarty.

In a fight with Moriarty, also known as the ‘Napoleon of Crime,’ the two men plunged into the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland, and it appeared that Holmes had died. Years later, he returned to the amazement of many and announced that he had faked his own death. He once again helped British police with some of their most perplexing cases, such as the mystery involving the Baskervilles' Hounds. The great criminal investigator never married, but he apparently had a romantic interest in one of his many criminal foes, Irene Adler.

In about 1904, Holmes retired and took up beekeeping, but the police still sought out his help. During the First World War, his advice was sought out concerning German spies in London.

Who were the Literary antecedents of Sherlock Holmes that Conan Doyle may have used?

At the time of the stories’ publication, many critics came to believe that Holmes was inspired not by a real-life detective but by fictional ones. Some critics believe that Conan-Doyle was inspired by the works of the English mystery writer Wilkie Collins. However, undoubtedly, one of the main influences on creating the world’s most famous fictional detective was Edgar Alan Poe (1809-1849). He created the world’s first fictional detective, Auguste Dupin. He is a very logical and rational thinker who used reason to solve impossible mysteries.

For example, in ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’ (1841), he solved a murder that took part in a locked and inaccessible room. The creator of the world’s best-known fictional crime fighter was a great admirer of the Baltimore born poet and short-story writer. The stories of Dupin certainly influenced the writer and doctor. Another potential model for Holmes was the fictional French detective M. Lecoq, created by Emile Gaboriau (1832–1873). This Parisian criminal, like Holmes, is an opium addict, and there are several other similarities to the most famous creation of Conan-Doyle.

Was Joseph Caminada an inspiration for the real Holmes?

Another potential model for the hero who solves so many mysteries was Joseph Caminada (1854-1914). There are many undeniable similarities between this real-life detective and the one who operated out of Baker Street. Caminada was born in Manchester and was the son of an Italian immigrant. He joined the police force at an early age and studied criminals to catch them; this is something that Holmes also did during his many visits to London’s Underworld. Caminada was like Conan Doyle's literary figure, a master of disguise, and used a scientific method to catch criminals, which resulted in him apprehending over 1000 offenders.

The Manchester-based detective was also like Holmes regularly consulted by the police when he became a ‘consultant.’ Then, as was the case with the man who solved the Mystery of the Hounds of the Baskervilles, Caminada had a nemesis, who was a criminal mastermind. His enemy was not some egocentric Professor like Moriarty, but a young man who swore revenge on Caminada for arresting him.

Was Sir Henry Duncan Littlejohn an inspiration for Holmes?

Sir Henry Duncan Littlejohn (1826-1914) was a Scottish medical doctor, a public health advocate, and a social reformer. Doyle knew him because Littlejohn taught him at medical school in Edinburgh. He was one of the earliest experts in the new forensic science, and like Holmes, he was regularly consulted by the police, especially in Scotland.

Littlejohn was frequently used as an expert witness in court cases, which brought him a measure of fame. He was a very logical man and was a pioneer in using science to solve difficult cases. There are many differences between Littlejohn and Holmes, especially in their character. Littlejohn was a rather dour, religious man who played a very active role in his Church.

He was also a happily married man with a large family. This was very dissimilar to Sherlock's life, a committed bachelor and an opium addict. Moreover, Holmes is portrayed by Doyle as rejecting the opportunity to be knighted, while Littlejohn was knights by Queen Victoria for his medical services.

Was Joseph Bell Conan-Doyle's primary inspiration for Holmes?

It is widely held by scholars of the works of Conan Doyle that the main model for Sherlock Holmes was Joseph Bell (1837 – 1911). He was a doctor and a lecturer and lived in Edinburgh, Scotland, and that Doyle was taught by Bell and later became his assistant, for a while. Bell believed that observation was essential for correct diagnosis. This made him a very successful doctor and surgeon.

He later applied his system of close observation to difficult criminal cases. The deductive method, so famously used by Sherlock, seems to have been based on Bell's techniques. Like the great detective, he had an uncanny ability to identify a strangers’ occupation, home, and even past, based on simple clues. Bell was also involved in some famous criminal cases and was regularly consulted by the police. In the 1890s, he was consulted by the London Police about the most famous case in British criminal history - Jack the Ripper. Jack Ripper was a serial killer who brutally murdered five women in London.

However, Bell did not have any of the eccentricities of Holmes and was a rather respectable figure. He even served as Queen Victoria’s personal medic when she visited Scotland.

Sherlock Holmes was most likely inspired by both literary detectives and the real life detective Joseph Bell

Conan Doyle created not only one of the great figures in crime fiction; he fashioned one of the most significant figures in popular culture. Sherlock Holmes's creator, Conan Doyle, was influenced by other writers' work, especially that of Poe. However, there is a great deal of evidence that suggests that he based his classic character on a historical figure. It is not likely that Joseph Caminada was used as a model by the Edinburgh born writer for his most famous creation. Sir Henry Duncan Littlejohn was probably someone who inspired the young writer to conceive Holmes's famous powers of deduction.

Certainly, the fictional detective's logic and rationality are very similar to the approach advocated by Littlejohn. However, the main influence on Conan Doyle when conceiving his immortal character was Joseph Bell, and he even admitted it in letters to friends and also publicly in interviews. The Scottish medic was one of the pioneers of forensic science and modern investigation techniques. The writer for his character clearly adopted his analytical method. Then there were his frequent consultations with the police and his involvement in mysterious cases, which no-doubt inspired the young writer.

It appears that the author mainly based on Sherlock on Bell but also used some of the characteristics of Littlejohn. However, undoubtedly, Conan Doyle added much to the character. His imagination added memorable details such as the deerstalker hat and phrases such as ‘Elementary, Dear Watson’, which have made the criminal investigator such a beloved hero.

Further Reading

• Foxcroft, Louise. The Making of Addiction: The 'Use and Abuse' of Opium in Nineteenth-Century Britain (Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2007)
• Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Complete Sherlock Holmes. Volumes I and II. Introduction and Notes by Kyle Freeman. (New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2003).
• Knight, Stephen Thomas. Crime fiction 1800-2000: Detection, death, diversity (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003).

References