Arthur Conan Doyle

Was born the third of ten siblings on 22 May 1859 in Scotland. He was the son of Charles Altamont Doyle and Mary Foley, both of Irish descent.

His father suffered from epilepsy and alcoholism throughout his life. He was institutionalized eventually died in an asylum in 1893.

Conan Doyle was educated in Jesuit schools. He studied medicine at Edinburgh University and in 1884 he married Louise Hawkins. After his wifes death he remarried and between both wives he had a total of five children.

While studying, he also wrote short stories. Following his term at university, he was employed as a ship's surgeon during a voyage to the West African coast.

After that he practiced medicine as an eye specialist at Southsea near Porsmouth in Hampshire until 1891 when, because of his lack of patients, he became a full time writer.

First story about Holmes, A STUDY IN SCARLET, was published in 1887 in Beeton Christmas Annual. The novel was actually written in just three weeks the year before. It introduced Sherlock Holmes, his associate and friend Dr. Watson, the beautiful opera singer Irene Adler and their major opponent Moriarty.

The second Sherlock Holmes story, THE SIGN OF FOUR, was written for the Lippincotts Magazine in 1890. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes then began to be published in serial form in the Strand Magazine.

In December 1893, in order to dedicate more of his time to more "important" works Conan Doyle decided to finish off Holmes and Moriarty in the story The Final Problem but because of pressure from his fans he brought them back in his 1902 prequel The Hound of the Baskervilles.

That year he was also knighted (Sir Arthur) for his work in the Boer War propaganda (particularly the pamphlet The War in South Africa: Its Cause and Conduct) and, some said, because of the publication of THE HOUND OF BASKERVILLES.

In 1903, Conan Doyle published "The Adventure of the Empty House", his first Holmes short story in ten years. This character was featured in 56 short stories and four novels.

Because of all the loses he suffered throughout his life (his wife, his son, his father, his brother and two of his brother-in-laws and his two nephews all died) he became very involved in spiritualism and even joined the Ghost Club which was an association dedicated to the study of paranormal activity.

He also seemed to believe in fairies and was the magician Harry Houdini. Besides spiritualism and magic, he was also interested in justice and helped to solve two closed cases where men had been convicted unjustly. Conan Doyle died from a heart attack at the age of 70 in July of 1930.

He wrote series, novels, short-stories and non-fiction novels but his novels about Holmes where:

A Study in Scarlet (1887) The Sign of Four (1890) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894) "The Field Bazaar" (short-story) (1896) "The Adventure of the Tall Man" (unfinished short-story) (perhaps 1900) The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902) The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905) The Valley of Fear (1915) His Last Bow (1917) "How Watson Learned the Trick" (short-story) (1924) The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927)