Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur

Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, detail of a portrait by H.L. Gates, 1927; in the National Portrait Gallery, …

(credit: Courtesy of The National Portrait Gallery, London)

(born May 22, 1859, Edinburgh, Scot.—died July 7, 1930, Crowborough, Sussex, Eng.) Scottish writer. He became a doctor and practiced until 1891, studying with Dr. Joseph Bell, who was the model for his fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle was knighted for his medical work in the second South African War and his public defense of the war. Holmes first appeared in “A Study in Scarlet” (1887). Collections of Holmes stories began with The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892). Tiring of Holmes, Conan Doyle devised his death in 1893, only to be forced by public demand to restore him to life. His other Holmes novels include The Sign of Four (1890), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902), and The Valley of Fear (1915). His historical romances include The White Company (1890). Late in life, Conan Doyle devoted himself to spiritualism.