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Conan Doyle (SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE)

SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE was born on May 22, 1859, in Edinburgh, and died on July 8, 1930. His father, Charles Doyle, was an artist of fantastic imagination. The boy went to Stonyhurst College, studied in Germany, and returned to take his degree at Edinburgh University in 1885. He signed as ship's doctor for a two years' whaling trip in the Arctic, traveled in West Africa, and finally settled as a doctor in Southsea. His restless imagination found constant expression in short stories. Sherlock Holmes made his first appearance in "A Study in Scarlet" (1887) but won his immense popularity in "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes." The original of the genius-detective was Doctor Bell of Edinburgh University. The popular hero lived again in "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes," "The Hound of the Baskervilles," and "The Return of Sherlock Holmes."

Doctor Doyle drew abundantly from historical sources for his novels and plays. "The White Company," a stirring romance, first introduced Sir Nigel as an old man. In 1905 his youth was portrayed in the book named for him. Conan Doyle served in a field-hospital in the South African war, wrote two books in defense of the British army in the war, and was knighted in 1902. He wrote a three-volume history of the Great War.