Close To Holmes

by Alistair Duncan

  Charles Edward Howard Vincent – First Director of Criminal Investigation

  The position was an awkward one as its incumbent reported directly to the Home Secretary as opposed to the commissioner. This had the effect of creating a force within the force but the situation was resolved in late 1888 when the department began to report to the commissioner.

  Vincent is of interest to the Sherlockian by virtue of the date attributed by scholars to the events of A Study in Scarlet. This story is said to be set in 1881 which means that Vincent would have been the superior of Inspectors Lestrade and Gregson during the events of that particular case. Vincent left the post in 1884 and was succeeded by James Monro (1838 – 1920).

  James Monro – Second head of C.I.D. between 1884 and 1888

  Monro served in the post for a shorter period of time than Vincent but his tenure covered a period in which a number of Holmes’s cases would have taken place. Monro was also heavily involved in the investigation into the murders of Jack the Ripper and was the sole senior man who did not publish any memoirs of his involvement in that infamous case. It was also during Monro’s tenure that the title of the post changed to Assistant Commissioner (Crime).

  Monro resigned in September 1888 after a clash with Commissioner Sir Charles Warren. The clash concerned certain police appointments that Warren wished to make and which Monro disagreed with. Unlike Warren he was popular with the then Home Secretary Henry Matthews (1826 – 1913) who promptly moved him to a new post in the Home Office. He was given the title Head of Detectives and was permitted to retain control of the Special Branch83. When Warren resigned as Commissioner in November 1888, in the wake of the bad public reaction to Scotland Yard’s handling of the Ripper investigation, Monro was appointed by Matthews to succeed him.

  Henry Matthews – Home Secretary from 1886 to 1892

  Over half of the cases investigated by Holmes would have taken place during the tenure of the third head of the C.I.D. This was Sir Robert Anderson (1841 – 1918).

  Sir Robert Anderson. Third head of C.I.D from 1888 – 1901

  Anderson was a recognised authority on Fenian84 activities and he became attached to the Home Office as an advisor on political crime. In addition to intelligence gathering he was also the handler for the spy Thomas Miller Beach who had infiltrated the Fenian organisation. He remained involved heavily in the fight against the Fenians until August 1888 when he was appointed as Monro’s successor at the C.I.D.

  London Embankment 1905 New Scotland Yard can be seen on the left

  Anderson resigned his post in 1901 and nine years later published his memoirs entitled The Lighter Side of My Official Life. His successor was Edward Richard Henry (1850 – 1931) who on July 1st 1901 established the Metropolitan Police Fingerprint Bureau. This relatively new science was based largely on the work of Sir Francis Galton (1822 – 1911). Galton was by no means the first man to suggest that fingerprints could be used as a means of identification (there had been previous research by Sir William Herschel and Dr Henry Faulds) but his work placed the idea on a more scientific footing which in turn led to it being accepted by the courts as recognisable evidence. Galton and Henry had communicated on the subject when the latter was serving in India as the Inspector-General of Police in Bengal and he had subsequently developed a method of fingerprint classification called the Henry Classification System. This was officially recognised as a means of identifying criminals in India in 1899. It was perhaps fitting therefore, upon his appointment to Scotland Yard, that Henry would be involved in the adoption of the same science for the Metropolis.

  The final remark on Henry is that he, like Conan Doyle, was a member of the Athenaeum Club in Pall Mall and even served on its governing committee.

  Edward Richard Henry – Fourth head of the C.I.D between 1901 and 1903 (from Spy magazine 1905)

  The period covered by Holmes’s investigations is generally accepted to be 187485 to 191486. This same period saw a massive rise in the number of serving members of the Metropolitan Police. In 1870 records show that there were only 9,160 serving officers. By 1910 this number had risen over one hundred percent to 19,41887.

  Sir Francis Galton – fingerprinting pioneer

  82 The Face of London.

  83 The unit of the police concerned with national security. It was originally founded in March 1883 to counter Irish republican groups such as the Fenians.

  84 The Fenian Brotherhood was a forerunner of the I.R.A. and had very similar goals.

  85 The Gloria Scot.

  86 His Last Bo.

  87 Source: The English Police – A Political and Social History by Clive Emsley.

  Royal College of Surgeons

  Plate 31 – Royal College of Surgeons of England (2006)

  The Royal College of Surgeons has occupied its present site since 1797 and was granted its present name by Royal Charter in 1843. Its claim on the interest of the Sherlock Holmes fan stems from The Hound of the Baskervilles. Doctor Mortimer, who brings the case to Holmes’s attention, is a member of the college and during his stay in London with Sir Henry he spends one afternoon at the college’s museum.

  As Mortimer himself points out to Holmes during their initial interview, he actually should be referred to as ‘Mister’ rather than ‘Doctor’. Members or Fellows of the college highly prize their ‘Mister’ prefix which is in contrast to some other countries, such as the United States, where surgeons are referred to as ‘Doctor’.

  Visitors to the college’s museum today can view a variety of collections but one that Mortimer could well have viewed during his visit would be the Hunterian collection which the college has held since 1799. One of this collection’s most outstanding exhibits is the skeleton of ‘The Irish Giant’ Charles Byrne (1761 – 1783). His body was purchased soon after his death and stands at seven feet seven inches tall. The collection was amassed by the Scottish surgeon John Hunter (1728 – 1793). He acquired the skeleton of Byrne for his collection against Byrne’s last wishes (he wanted to be buried at sea) by bribing a member of the funeral party. He went on to perform a thorough examination of the body and published his findings.

  After Hunter’s death the government of the day took possession of the collection and gave it to the Royal College of Surgeons after they moved to their present site at Lincoln Inn Fields. As an aside, it is interesting to note that Hunter, like Holmes, had briefly studied at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in the mid 1700s. A bust of Hunter can now be seen in Leicester Square where he had a house from 1783 (the same year he acquired Byrne’s body).

  Today’s visitors can view many other interesting collections including one entitled ‘Silver and Steel’ which is an exhibition of surgical instruments throughout the ages.

  The Hunterian Collection at the Royal College of Surgeons. The skeleton of Charles Byrne can be seen in the centre. Photo by Paul Dean (2007)

  Kennington Road

  Situated in the borough of Lambeth, Kennington Road was constructed in 1751 after the Westminster Bridge was opened. It formed part of the London to Brighton route and was used by King George IV when he travelled to and from that city. It later became popular as part of the London to Brighton Veteran Car run. The road can also boast a Hollywood connection as Charlie Chaplin lived at number 287 when he was a child.

  Charlie Chaplin (1889 – 1977) from 1920 (Aged 31)

  Chaplin shares a particularly strong theatrical link with Sherlock Holmes. William Gillette, for his play Sherlock Holmes – A Drama in Four Acts, had included the character of Billy the pageboy. When he took the play on tour in 1903 Chaplin was cast as Billy. He was to later repeat the role in Gillette’s other play The Painful Predicament of Sherlock Holmes. Originally the character only appeared in two Holmes stories88 (The Mazarin Stone and The Valley of Fear) but, thanks to Gillette, he gained extra importance and the part was revived in other Holmes adaptations. One of these occurred during Basil Rathbone’s series of films when the part was played by Terry Kilburn in The Adventures of Sherl
ock Holmes (1939). Another occurred in Jeremy Brett’s Granada series when the part was played by Dean Magri in The Problem of Thor Bridge (1991).

  For the Holmes fan the road is also interesting as it features in two of the stories. In The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax the coffin in which Lady Frances is almost buried comes from Stimson & Co. a firm of undertakers on Kennington Road.

  The other connection is that this road is described as the home of the shop belonging to Morse Hudson, a purveyor of pictures and statues. It is from this shop that the eponymous statues from The Six Napoleons are bought prior to being sought out and smashed. No less than two meet their end in Kennington Road. The very first to be destroyed is actually in Morse Hudson’s shop and the second is smashed in the home of a Dr Barnicot whose home was also on Kennington Road.

  Kennington Road – Here we see the more retail end where it is likely that Morse Hudson would have had his shop (2008)

  Morse Hudson’s shop and Stimson & Co. Undertakers are likely to have been situated in what might be described as the retail end of Kennington Road which is south of the crossing with Kennington Lane89 and more towards the Oval cricket ground. The road continues north of Kennington Lane where it becomes more residential and it is in this stretch of the road that it is likely that Dr Barnicot would have lived.

  The more residential section of Kennington Road (2008) Dr Barnicot would most likely have lived in one of these houses.

  88 According to our usual sources these two stories are set fifteen years apart. The Valley of Fear is said to be set in 1888 and The Mazarin Stone in 1903 (Klinger’s dates). Therefore it is hard to see how the same Billy could still be Holmes’s pageboy.

  89 Kennington Lane was travelled by Holmes and Watson in their pursuit of Jonathan Small in The Sign of Four.

  The Three Norwoods

  Outside of central London, South Norwood has the strongest claim on the attention of fans of both Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle. Despite this the area’s residents seem to have very little interest in the connection.

  12 Tennison Road – The English Heritage Plaque, which was erected in 1973, can just be seen on the right (2008)

  It is common for sites of interest to be signposted but this is not the case for Conan Doyle’s former house at 12 Tennison Road. This could well be down to a desire to discourage visitors as its present day use is as a residential facility for people suffering from autism which is a purpose quite apt for the former home of a one-time practicing doctor.

  12 Tennison Road during Conan Doyle’s residence (Strand Magazine August 1892)

  During his residence in the area between 1891 and 1894 Conan Doyle wrote approximately one third of all the Sherlock Holmes stories. Among those written in South Norwood were The Blue Carbuncle and The Speckled Band. The latter, as we have seen, was Conan Doyle’s favourite Sherlock Holmes story90. In November 1891, according to his own letters to his mother, Conan Doyle first admitted to the idea of killing Holmes. Less than two years later in April 1893 he wrote The Final Problem (published December 1893) in which Sherlock Holmes did indeed meet his end – albeit temporarily. So it would not necessarily be an exaggeration to say that South Norwood can lay claim to being the home of the most famous literary murder in history.

  Despite living in South Norwood, Conan Doyle only featured the area in one Holmes story and even then it was implied rather than being explicit. The story concerned was The Norwood Builder. The majority of events were actually set in Lower Norwood (today referred to as West Norwood – see later) and the link to South Norwood lay solely in the fact that the villain of the story took an express train from a station in Norwood to London Bridge. This is only possible from Norwood Junction Station in South Norwood91.

  The other story that may have a link is The Sign of Four and it concerns South Norwood police station. The Metropolitan Police took possession of the site in 187392 and a station still stands today. The events of The Sign of Four are set some fifteen years after the acquisition of the site and this is one of the possible police stations that Thaddeus Sholto came to, at Sherlock Holmes’s behest, in order to fetch the police after the discovery of his brother’s body at their late father’s house in Upper Norwood.

  Conan Doyle (right) and fellow author Robert Barr outside 12 Tennison Road in 1894. Two years earlier Barr had written a Holmes parody called The Adventures of Sherlaw Kombs (picture courtesy of Phil Cornell)

  Bernard Davies, in his magnum opus Holmes and Watson Country – Travels in Search of Solutions, makes an excellent case for Kilravock House being the model for the Sholto residence – Pondicherry Lodge93. This house (which has since been converted into flats) sits on the border of Upper and South Norwood and has at various times been regarded as being one side or the other depending on the official boundary of the day (it is today regarded as being in South Norwood but would have been classed as being in Upper Norwood during the 1880s).

  Kilravock House (2008) identified as a candidate for the ‘real’ Pondicherry Lodge by Bernard Davies

  If this were indeed the house it would lend weight to South Norwood being the visited station where Athelney Jones was present94. However it is only a possibility as there are other contenders as we shall see later.

  South Norwood Police station (2008)

  Jack Tracey, in his book Sherlock Holmes – The Published Apocrypha, suggested another link between South Norwood and Holmes / Doyle. The story goes that in 1898, five years after the ‘death’ of Holmes, the American stage actor William Gillette composed a stage play featuring Sherlock Holmes. This, as we have already mentioned in our look at the Lyceum Theatre, was based on a play originally composed by Conan Doyle. Before its debut in the United States Gillette travelled to England in order to meet Conan Doyle and receive his blessing. Conan Doyle arrived at the station to meet Gillette and the latter, for a joke, had dressed up as Sherlock Holmes. When he stepped down from the train dressed in, amongst other things, a deerstalker hat Conan Doyle was naturally rather taken aback. However the event was an excellent ice-breaker and the two men became firm friends.

  Station Road, South Norwood 1905. The station can be seen at the end of the road.

  Regrettably this story, although true in every other respect, has no connection with South Norwood. Tracey states that Conan Doyle met Gillette at South Norwood station (Norwood Junction – see above) but this cannot be the case. Conan Doyle had moved out of the area four years earlier and was living in his house Undershaw near Hindhead in Surrey. The nearest rail station to Hindhead is situated in Haslemere, approximately three miles away, and it is here that Conan Doyle and Gillette were most likely to meet.

  Norwood Junction Station (2008) – The view is towards central London. It is from here that Jonas Oldacre would have caught his train to London Bridge to meet John Hector McFarlane. Platform three is today where the express trains to London Bridge depart from.

  The possible argument that Conan Doyle travelled to South Norwood to meet Gillette is unlikely in the extreme as the two stations are not on the same route and Conan Doyle would have had to change trains several times. Assuming that Gillette was staying at a central London hotel it would be most probable that he travelled to Haslemere from London Waterloo. This journey today takes approximately forty minutes. This hypothesis is backed up by John Dickson Carr in his book The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in which he states that Conan Doyle met Gillette at a station a few miles from Undershaw. Any further doubt is dispelled by Conan Doyle’s own letters where, writing from Undershaw, he states that Gillette is going to be in England and that he hopes to get him ‘down here’ for a meeting. The implied location is clear.

  A close up view of Norwood Junction Station c1900 – Courtesy of Croydon Local Studies Library

  Conan Doyle’s son Kingsley was born during his residence in South Norwood. The date of his birth was November 15th 1892 and his baptism took place at St Marks Church on December 22nd. The ceremony was performed by Stuart Yardley and
Conan Doyle’s occupation was listed as ‘Gentleman’. The full name given to his son was Arthur Alleyne Kingsley Conan Doyle but he was known as Kingsley. Sadly he was to die from pneumonia in October 1917 which he contracted after being wounded at the battle of the Somme in 1916.

  Louise Conan Doyle (died 1906) was mother to Conan Doyle’s first two children Marie Louise (born 1889) and Kingsley (born 1892). Kingsley was the only child of Conan Doyle to be born in South Norwood.

  Today there are several churches in South Norwood and visitors to the area may be confused by the fact that the Holy Innocents church is closer to Conan Doyle’s house than St Marks. The explanation for this is simple. The Holy Innocents church was actually built between 1894 and 189595 so did not exist at the time96.

  The man for whom South Norwood has the most regard and one of the reasons that Conan Doyle is relatively ignored is another non-native by the name of William Stanley. He arrived in 1867 and threw himself into local life founding a technical college in 1907, serving as a school governor and arranging the construction of a community hall which is still in use today. Such was the high regard in which he was held, the residents arranged for the erection of a clock tower in honour of Mr and Mrs Stanley’s 50th wedding anniversary.