Biography of Conan Doyle in Russian. Photo and biography of Arthur Conan Doyle

He happened to be a doctor, an athlete, participate in the war, seek the release of innocently convicted people, fight for vaccination, test new drugs, write scientific papers, historical and science fiction novels, give lectures ... And all this - in addition to creating the immortal image of Sherlock Holmes. Own convictions and honor have always been for this knight without fear and reproach more than public opinion. "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a man of great heart, great stature and great soul," Jerome K. Jerome said of him.

Eight thousand people - men in evening suits and women in long strict dresses - gathered on July 13, 1930 at the Royal Albert Hall in London to honor the memory of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who died 5 days ago. Over the past few days there have been many articles in the newspapers under catchy headlines: “Lady Doyle and her children await the return of the spirit of Conan Doyle”, “The widow is sure that she will soon receive a message from her husband”, the Daily Herald wrote about a secret code that before by death, the writer gave to his wife in order to avoid being deceived by a medium who came into contact with him. There were many in the public who did not understand how the famous author of Sherlock Holmes adventures, M.D. and materialist, could become one of the world's most famous propagandists of the "spiritual religion." And today Sir Arthur had to come into this crowded hall and resolve the contradiction of his life.

The rustling of silk and excited whispers ceased as Lady Conan Doyle appeared. She walked with her head raised majestically, surrounded by her sons Adrian and Denis, her daughter Jean and her adopted daughter Mary. Jean sat next to the children on stage, but one of the chairs between her and Denis was left empty. It had a sign saying "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle". Mrs. Roberts entered the stage, a frail woman with huge brown eyes, a well-known medium. The session began - squinting her eyes and peering into the distance, like a sailor on the deck of a ship guessing the horizon line during a storm, Mrs. Roberts broke into a monologue, passing messages from the spirits who had come into contact with her to the people sitting in the hall. Before pointing out to whom exactly the spirit is addressing, she described the clothes of the departed, their habits, family ties, facts and little things that could be known only to relatives. But when the indignant skeptics began to leave the hall, Mrs. Roberts exclaimed: “Ladies and gentlemen! Here he is, I see him again!” In the ringing silence, all eyes were again riveted to the empty chair. And the medium, in a state of trance, in a quick choking voice, shouted out: “He was here from the very beginning, I saw him sit in a chair, he supported me, gave me strength, I heard his unforgettable voice!” Finally, Mrs. Roberts turned to Lady Jean, "Darling, I have a message for you." Mrs. Doyle's eyes had a distant, radiant expression, and a smile of satisfaction flickered across her lips. The message from Doyle was drowned out by the noise and the roar, the excited screams and the sounds of the organ - someone decided to interrupt this scene with musical chords. Lady Doyle refused to divulge the words that her husband gave her that evening, she only repeated: "Believe me, I saw him as clearly as I see you now."

Code of honor

“Arthur, do not interrupt me, but rather repeat it again: who was your relative Sir Denis Pack to Edward III? When did Richard Pack marry Mary of the Irish branch of the Northumberland Percy, bringing our family into the royal family for the third time? And now look at this coat of arms - this is the weapon of Thomas Scott, your great uncle, who was related to Sir Walter Scott. Don't forget about it, my boy," during these heraldry lessons and mother's stories about the genealogical tree of their ancient Irish family, Arthur's heart sank sweetly with delight and excitement. ... Mary Foyley married at the age of 17 Charles Doyle, the youngest son of the famous artist, the first English cartoonist John Doyle. Charles came from London to Edinburgh to work in one of the government offices and stayed as a guest at her mother's house. He left for the capital of Scotland, far from secular life, in order to finally emerge from the shadow of his father and two successful brothers. One of them, James, was the chief artist of the humor magazine Punch, published his own magazine and illustrated the works of William Thackeray and Charles Dickens. Henry Doyle became director of the National Art Gallery of Ireland.

For Charles, fate was less favorable. In Edinburgh, he received a little over 200 pounds a year, was engaged in routine paper work and did not even really know how to properly sell his watercolor paintings, talented and full of bizarre imagination.

Of the 9 children his wife bore him, seven survived, Arthur appeared in 1859 and was their first son. Mother spent all her mental strength on instilling in him the concepts of chivalrous behavior and a code of honor. The real picture in the Doyle house was far from so lofty. Charles, melancholy by nature, passively watched as his wife struggled unsuccessfully with poverty. After the visit of a friend of the London Doyles - Thackeray, when Charles could not properly receive the guest of honor, he finally fell into depression and became addicted to Burgundy. Fortunately, his wealthy relatives sent money so that Mary could send her 9-year-old son to England, to a closed Jesuit school in Stonyhurst, away from the unlucky father - an unlikely role model.

Family portrait. 1904 Arthur Conan Doyle, top row, fifth from right. Mary Foyley, the writer's mother, in the center of the front row.

Universities

At school, and then at the Jesuit College, Arthur spent 7 years. Severe discipline, meager food and cruel punishments reigned here, and the dogmatism and dryness of the teachers turned any subject into a set of dull and boring platitudes. The love of reading and sports instilled by the mother helped out. After graduating with honors, Arthur returned home and, under the influence of his mother, decided to get a medical education - the noble mission of the doctor is the best fit for a man whose intentions include the worthy fulfillment of his duty. Especially now, when my father was sent to a hospital for alcoholics, and then - to an even more woeful institution - an asylum for the insane ...

The University of Edinburgh, looking like a gloomy medieval castle, was famous for its medical faculty. James Barry (the future author of Peter Pan) and Robert Lewis Stevenson studied here with Doyle. Among the professors shone James Young Simpson, who pioneered the use of chloroform, Sir Charles Thompson, who recently returned from the famous zoological expedition on board the Challenger, Joseph Lister, who gained fame in the fight for antiseptics and headed the Department of Clinical Surgery. One of the strongest impressions of university life was the lectures of the famous surgeon Professor Joseph Bell. An aquiline nose, close-set eyes, eccentric mannerisms, a resolute sharp mind - this man would become one of the main prototypes of Sherlock Holmes. “Come on, gentlemen, students, use not only your scientific knowledge, but also your ears, nose and hands ...” - Bell said and invited another patient to the huge audience. “So, before you is a former sergeant of the Highland Regiment, recently returned from Barbados. How do I know? This respected gentleman forgot to take off his hat, because this is not accepted in the army, and he had not yet had time to get used to civil manners. Why Barbados? Because the fever symptoms he complains about are typical of the West Indies. The deductive method of identifying not only the disease, but also the profession, origin and personality of the patient, astounded students who were ready to undernourish, just to get to Bell for his almost magical performance.

For each lecture at the university, you had to pay money, and a lot of it. Due to their absence, Arthur had to halve each of the four years of study, and during the holidays to do the most boring and thankless work - pouring and packaging potions and powders. Without a moment's hesitation, in his third year of study, he agreed to take the place of a ship's surgeon on the whaling ship Nadezhda, bound for Greenland. He did not have to apply his medical knowledge, but along with everyone else, Arthur participated in catching whales, deftly wielded a harpoon, exposing himself to mortal danger along with other hunters. “I became a grown man at 80 degrees north latitude,” Arthur will proudly say upon his mother's return and give her the earned 50 pounds.

Dr. Doyle

It seemed that even from the bright fire in the fireplace, it suddenly blew cold. James and Henry Doyle - Arthur's uncles - froze with faces petrified with disappointment and resentment. Just now the nephew not only refused the help offered out of the best of intentions, but also offended their religious feelings in an incredible way. They were ready to find him a place as a doctor in London, using their extensive connections, with only one condition - he would become a Catholic doctor. “You yourself would consider me the worst villain if I, being an agnostic, agreed to treat patients and not share their beliefs with them,” Arthur told them with completely inappropriate vehemence. The rebellion against religious education in the Jesuit school, the study of medicine in one of the then most progressive universities in Europe, a careful reading of the works of Charles Darwin and his followers - all this influenced the fact that by the age of 22, Arthur ceased to consider himself a believing Catholic.

... On the steps of a brick house, a tall man in a long raincoat, in the faint bluish light of a small gas lamp, was rubbing a brand new copper plate with the inscription "Arthur Conan Doyle, M.D. and Surgeon." Arthur came to the port city of Portsmouth to start a settled life here and try to establish his own practice. He could not afford to hire a servant, and therefore only under cover of darkness did household chores: it is not good if future patients see a doctor sweeping dirt from the porch or buying food in the poor port shops of the city. For several months in the city, the only patient was a heavily drunk sailor - right under the windows of his house he tried to beat his wife. Instead, he himself had to dodge the strong fists of the angry doctor who jumped out at the noise. The next day the sailor came to him for medical help. In the end, Arthur realized that it was pointless to watch patients all day long. No one will knock on the door of an unknown doctor, you need to become a public person. And Doyle became a member of a bowling club, a cricket club, played billiards in a nearby hotel, helped organize a football team in the city, and most importantly, joined the Literary and Scientific Society of Portsmouth. Often at this time his diet consisted of bread and water, and he learned how to save gas by frying thin slices of bacon in the flame of a gas lantern. But things went uphill. Patients slowly began to arrive. And the short stories "My Killer Friend" and "Captain of the North Star", composed in passing, were bought by one of the Portsmouth magazines for 10 guineas each. Inspired by the first success, the newly minted writer created at a crazy speed, then folded the sheets of paper into cardboard cylinders and sent them to various magazines and publishing houses - most often these literary “parcels” returned to the author like a boomerang. But one day in 1883, the prestigious Cornhill Magazine (who prided themselves on printing not cheap pulp fiction, but real samples of literature) published (albeit anonymously) Doyle's essay "The Message of Hebekuk Jephson" and paid the author as much as 30 pounds. Detractors attributed the writing to Stevenson's pen, while critics compared it to Edgar Allan Poe. And this, in fact, was a confession.

Tui

Once a doctor friend asked Arthur to see a patient suffering from severe attacks of fever and delirium. Doyle confirmed the diagnosis - young Jack Hawkins was dying of cerebral meningitis. His mother and sister could not find an apartment - no one wanted to accept a sick tenant. Doyle invited them to take a few rooms in his house. The death of Jack, for whom he did everything he could, had a hard effect on the impressionable doctor. The only outlet was the gratitude in the sad eyes of his sister Louise. A thin 27-year-old girl with a surprisingly calm and gentle disposition awakened in him a desire to protect her, to take her under his wing. After all, he was strong, and she was helpless. Knightly intentions also underlay the feelings that Arthur sincerely took for love for Tui (as he would call Louise). In addition, it is much easier for a married doctor in a provincial society to win the trust of patients, and it was high time for Arthur to get a wife - after all, due to his upbringing and principles, temperamental and full of vitality, he could only afford gallant courtship in a women's society. Mary Doyle approved of her son's choice, and the wedding took place in May 1885. After the marriage, the pacified Arthur began to combine medical practice and writing even more actively. Even then, a public figure and propagandist woke up in him: Doyle was not too lazy to write letters, articles and pamphlets to newspapers, discussing the value of American medical diplomas, the construction of a city recreation area, or the benefits of vaccination. He submitted articles to medical journals on serious medical issues. But it was not the desire to make a scientific career, but only the desire to achieve the truth and protect it that forced Arthur to study thick volumes and even volunteer to act as a guinea pig: he tested drugs several times that were not yet listed in the British Pharmacological Encyclopedia.

How to end Holmes

The idea to write a detective story came to Conan Doyle when he re-read his beloved Edgar Allan Poe, because it was he who first introduced the word "detective" (in 1843 in the story "The Gold Bug"), but also made his detective Dupin the main character storytelling. Arthur went further than Poe, his Sherlock Holmes was perceived not as a literary character, but as a real person, made of flesh and blood, "a detective with a scientific approach who relies only on his own abilities and deductive method, and not on the criminal's mistakes or chance" . His hero will investigate the crime with the same methods by which Dr. Joseph Bell identified the disease and made a diagnosis. "A Study in Scarlet" first experienced the fate of many of Doyle's early stories - the postman regularly returned slightly frayed cardboard cylinders to him. Only one publisher agreed to publish the story just because the publisher's wife liked it. However, the Strand magazine, which recently appeared in London, shortly after this publication in 1887, ordered the writer 6 more stories about the detective (they appeared between July and December in 1891) and did not fail. The circulation of the magazine with 300,000 copies increased to half a million. From early morning on the day of the release of the next issue, huge queues gathered near the editorial building. On the Channel ferry, the English were now recognizable not only by their plaid mackintosh but also by the Strand magazines tucked under their arms. The editor ordered Doyle 6 more stories about Holmes. But he refused. His mind was completely different - he was writing a historical novel. Through his agent, he decided to demand 50 pounds for the story, convinced that this was too high a price, but received an immediate consent and was forced to take up Sherlock Holmes again. But all his life Conan Doyle will consider the genre of the historical novel to be the most important in his literary career. Micah Clark (about the struggle of the English Puritans of the time of King James II), The White Company (a romantic epic from the time of medieval England of the 14th century), Sir Nigel (the historical sequel to The White Company), The Shadow of a Great Man (about Napoleone). The most good-natured critics were perplexed: did Conan Doyle really think he was a historical novelist? And for himself, the grandiose success of laconic stories about Holmes was only the work of an artisan, but not a real writer ...

In May 1891, Conan Doyle hovered between life and death for a week. In the absence of antibiotics, influenza was a real killer. When his mind cleared up a little, he thought about his future. What poor Louise took for another bout of fever was actually a moment of crisis, not only in the medical sense. After recovering, Arthur informed Louise that they were leaving Portsmouth for London and that he was becoming a professional writer.

Now only Sherlock Holmes interfered with him, the one who brought him fame and fortune, allowed him to become the head and support of the family. “He is taking me away from much more important things, I intend to end him,” Doyle complained to his mother. Mother, a passionate admirer of Holmes, begged her son: “You have no right to destroy him. You can not! You must not!" And the editors of the Strand demanded more stories. Arthur again refused, just in case, asking for a thousand pounds for a dozen - an unheard-of fee in those days. The conditions were accepted, and he could not let the publisher down.

special gift

In August 1893, Louise began to cough and complain of chest pains. The husband invited a doctor friend, and he unequivocally stated - tuberculosis, and the so-called galloping, which meant that she had no more than 3-4 months to live. Looking at his haggard, pale wife, Doyle went crazy: how could he, a doctor, not recognize the signs of the disease himself much earlier? Guilt catalyzed energy and a passionate desire to save his wife from certain death. Doyle dropped everything and took Louise to a pulmonary sanatorium in Davos, Switzerland. Thanks to proper care and the colossal funds that he spent on her treatment, Louise lived for another 13 years. The illness of his wife coincided with the news of the lonely death of his father in a private department of a hospital for the insane. Conan Doyle went there to collect his belongings, and found among them a diary with notes and drawings that shocked him to the core. Perhaps this was the second turning point in his life. Charles turned to his son and sadly joked that only an Irish sense of humor could attribute an insane diagnosis to him just because he "hears voices."

Meanwhile, in London, the people were seething with indignation - in the "Strand" appeared "The Last Case of Holmes." The detective died in a fight with Professor Moriarty over the Reichenbach Falls, which Doyle recently admired in Switzerland when he visited his wife. Some especially radical readers tied black mourning ribbons to their hats, and the editorial office of the magazine was constantly bombarded with letters and even threats. In a certain sense, the murder of Holmes psychologically relieved Doyle's state of mind a little, as if, along with Holmes, who was so obsessively mistaken for his alter ego, part of the heavy burden that Arthur was carrying fell into the abyss. It was a kind of unconscious suicide. One of the critics at the end of the writer's life, not without bitter insight, noted that after the murder of Holmes, Conan Doyle himself will never be the same ... Even after he brings him back to life again.

Jean Lecky. Photo from 1925

Defeat the demons

In the meantime, fate has prepared for him another test. On March 15, 1897, 37-year-old Doyle met 24-year-old Jean Lecky, the daughter of wealthy Scots from an ancient family, dating back to the famous Rob Roy, at his mother's house. Huge green eyes, a wave of dark blond curls shimmering with gold, a thin delicate neck - Jean was a real beauty. She studied singing in Dresden and possessed a wonderful mezzo-soprano, was an excellent equestrian and sportswoman. They fell in love with each other at first sight. But the situation was hopeless and therefore especially painful - the conflict between a sense of duty and passion had never tormented his soul with such destructive force. He had no right to even think about divorcing his disabled wife, nor could he become Jean's lover. “I think you attach too much importance to the fact that your relationship can only be platonic. What difference does it make if you don't love your wife anyway?" his sister's husband asked him one day. Doyle shouted back, "That's the difference between innocence and guilt!" He already reproached himself too much and fought more and more fiercely with the demons who tried to make a hole in his knightly chain mail of loyalty. Louise did not bother her husband, she stoically endured suffering, but Arthur could not bring himself to inhale the smell of drugs for a long time, he rushed about like a tiger in a cage, healthy, overflowing with energy, voluntarily dooming himself to abstinence.

To get rid of depression, he filled all his free time with a variety of activities. What he did in those years, it seems, would be more than enough for several lives. When he was approached by a certain George Edalji, sentenced to life imprisonment for damaging livestock, Conan Doyle managed to prove his innocence. And then he took up another business - Oscar Slater. A gambler and adventurer, he was in vain, as shown by the investigation conducted by Doyle, together with his lawyer, accused of killing an elderly lady. Arthur made dangerous climbing expeditions, in the company of the same desperate daredevils set off in search of an ancient monastery in the Egyptian desert, flew in a balloon, judged boxing matches. In the meantime, he wrote a play about Holmes, a love story "Duet", which critics smashed to smithereens for sentimentality. He became interested in motorsport - a brand-new sports car "Wolseley" of dark red color with red tires appeared in his stable. He drove it at crazy speed, rolled over several times and miraculously escaped death. He took part in the parliamentary elections, but lost - Doyle did not consider it necessary to talk with voters about their interests, while England entered the war with the Boers. A few years later, Lord Chamberlain himself would ask Doyle to take part in the elections again, although he had vowed never to engage in politics again. Chamberlain knew how to persuade him: England was no longer a great empire, her own colonies were becoming more powerful, taxes on imported goods had to be raised and the home market had to be protected. But, having agreed, he again lost. Imperial sentiments, even economically justified ones, were not in fashion, however, could the risk of being branded as a radical and harming one's reputation really stop him?

Sir Arthur

He was lucky - one of the many attempts to get into the war with the Boers in South Africa was successful, and Arthur went there as a surgeon. Death, blood, human suffering and his own fearlessness completely overshadowed his personal problems for several months. King Edward VII granted him a knighthood and the title of sir. Arthur, filled with patriotism, wanted to refuse, believing it immodest to receive a reward for serving his country. But his mother and Jean persuaded him - he doesn't want to offend the king, does he? Envious writers sarcastically remarked that the king granted him the title not at all for services to England, but because, according to rumors, he had not read a single book in his life, except for stories about Sherlock Holmes.

He was forced to continue the adventures of the detective by inflation and the ever-increasing expenses for the treatment of his wife. 100 pounds for 1,000 words - the Strand editor, as usual, did not skimp. Never before have newsstand sellers faced such pressure, literally attacked, to get their hands on the coveted issue featuring the first of a dozen new Holmes stories, The Adventure in the Empty House. The plot was suggested to Arthur by Jean, she also figured out how to believably resurrect Holmes. Baritsu - the techniques of Japanese wrestling, which, it turns out, the detective owned, helped him avoid death ...

Suddenly Louise's health took a turn for the worse and she died in July 1906. And in September 1907, Conan Doyle married Jean Lecky. They bought a house in Windelsham, one of the most picturesque corners of Sussex. Jean had planted a rose garden in front of the façade, Arthur's office had a magnificent view of the green valleys leading straight to the strait ...

Sometime in early August 1914, when it became clear that war could not be avoided, Conan Doyle received a note from the village plumber, Mr. Goldsmith: "Something must be done." On the same day, the writer began to create a detachment of volunteers from nearby villages. He asked to be sent to the front, too, but the War Department responded to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Private of the 4th Royal Volunteers (of course, he refused a higher rank) with a polite, decisive refusal.

Last trip

The first to die in the war was Jean's beloved brother Malcolm Leckie, then the brother-in-law and two nephews of Conan Doyle. A little later - the eldest son of Arthur Kingsley and brother Innes. Arthur wrote to his mother: “I am only pleased that from all these beloved and dear people I receive obvious evidence of their posthumous existence ...”

His belief in the existence of the souls of the dead and the possibility of communicating with them was strengthened by Jean, a convinced spiritualist. That is why a young and beautiful woman has been waiting for him for so long. After all, she believed that even death could not separate them, which means that one should not be afraid of the transience of earthly life. She discovered the abilities of a medium for automatic writing (writing under the dictation of spirits in a state of meditative trance) in herself shortly before the war. And then one day, behind the tightly curtained windows of the office, something happened that Conan Doyle had hoped for for many years, studying the occult sciences and looking for evidence. During one of the sessions, his wife contacted the spirit, first of his deceased sister Annette, then of Malcolm, who died in the war. Their messages contained details that even Jean could not have known. For Conan Doyle, this was a long-awaited and indisputable proof, primarily because it was provided to him by his wife, whom he considered an ideal and purest woman in her thoughts.

In October 1916, an article by Conan Doyle appeared in a magazine devoted to the occult sciences, where he publicly and officially admitted that he had acquired a "spiritual religion." Since then, Sir Arthur's last crusade began - he believed that there was no more important mission in his life: to alleviate the suffering of people, convincing them of the possibility of communication between the living and those who had gone to another world. In the writer's office, another (except military) card appeared. Arthur marked with flags the cities in which he gave lectures on spiritualism. Australia, Canada, South Africa, Europe, 500 talks in America lecture tour alone. He knew that only his name could attract people, and he did not spare himself. Crowds gathered to hear the great Conan Doyle, although often the elderly giant, whose once athletic figure of an athlete grew fat and clumsy, and his gray drooping mustache gave a resemblance to a walrus, at first did not recognize the famous Englishman. Conan Doyle was aware that he was bringing reputation and glory to the altar of his faith. Journalists mercilessly quipped: “Conan Doyle is crazy! Sherlock Holmes lost his clear analytical mind and believed in ghosts." He received threatening letters, close friends begged him to stop, return to literature and stories about the detective, instead of paying for the publication of his spiritualistic works. The famous magician Harry Houdini, who had been friends with Arthur for many years, publicly slandered him and accused him of charlatanism after attending a session conducted by Jean ...

Early on the morning of July 7, 1930, 71-year-old Conan Doyle asked to be seated in a chair. Next to him were the children, and Jean held her husband's hand. "I am embarking on the most exciting and glorious journey that has ever been in my adventurous life," whispered Sir Arthur. And he added, already moving his lips with difficulty: "Jin, you were gorgeous."

He was buried in the garden of their house in Windelsham, not far from his wife's rose garden. A memorial service was also held in the rose garden, which was conducted by a representative of the spiritualist church. A special train brought telegrams and flowers. Flowers carpeted a huge field next to the house. Jean was wearing a bright dress. During the funeral, according to eyewitnesses, there was no grief at all. The Strand magazine sent a telegram: "Doyle did an excellent job - in whatever field it may concern!" Another telegram read: "Conan Doyle is dead, long live Sherlock Holmes."

...After the requiem at the Albert Hall, mediums all over the world reported: a ray appeared in the "country" of spirits, sparkling like a diamond of pure water. Jean constantly came into contact with her husband, heard his voice and received from him advice and wishes for herself, children and his remaining true friends. Arthur asked her to urgently see a doctor: Jean had indeed been diagnosed with lung cancer. Ironically, in his earthly incarnation, he failed to warn his first wife in time. After the death of Lady Doyle in 1940, her children told Arthur that she, in turn, transmitted her messages to them through mediums ... After the sale of the house in Windelsham, the spouses were reburied. On Arthur's tombstone, his now-adult children asked him to engrave the words: Knight. Patriot. Doctor. Writer.

155 years ago, May 22, 1859, in the family of an Irish alcoholic, a descendant of kings Henry III and Edward III, there was an addition. The baby will be destined to become an ophthalmologist, a whaler, an organizer of ski resorts in Davos, an expert in the occult sciences, a virtuoso in playing the banjo and a knight. The newborn was baptized with the name Ignatius.

Subsequently, he would prefer to be called differently. Name Arthur was inherited by them. Second name, archaic conan, he took in honor of his uncle father. Surname Doyle was considered one of the most ancient and respected in Ireland and Scotland. Now she is also the most famous.

Body armor author

An incredible thing: almost the most important of the heroes of the books in the Library for Schools and Youth series was a drunkard, a drug addict, a dubious businessman and an inveterate smoker. Who is it? Allow me! After all, this is precisely the “Mr. Cherlock Holmtz”, as the “leading British detective” was called in domestic pre-revolutionary translations. He doesn’t let his pipes out of his mouth, he regularly drinks morphine and cocaine, and even whiskey, port wine and sherry brandy slip through even in sterile Soviet film adaptations.

Anyone remember Sir Nigel Loring? Or a character with a more than strange name Micah Clark? Hardly. But Sherlock Holmes is always with us. Even in pioneer camps. Andrey Makarevich in his memoirs he wrote: “Most often in the“ scary stories ”at bedtime they told about the adventures of a man named Sherlohomts.”

• © www.globallookpress.com
• © www.globallookpress.com / Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 1892
• © www.globallookpress.com / Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 1894
• © Flickr.com / Arturo Espinosa
• © www.globallookpress.com / Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini. Work no later than 1930.
• © www.globallookpress.com / Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 1911
• © www.globallookpress.com / Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 1921

Meanwhile, according to "serious" critics, it is Nigel Loring that we should remember. Because the work "White Squad", the main character of which is just this sir, was once called "the best historical novel in England, surpassing even Ivanhoe" Walter Scott».

Micah Clark is not remembered at all. And completely in vain. This character is worthy of a good word, if only for the reason that Conan Doyle, in a novel about his adventures, sang in every possible way "light bulletproof chest armor." During the First World War, the writer will remember this idea and will push it in the press. The result is a body armor that has saved many lives in our time.

“Yes, yes, of course,” answered our classic. “We remember both Professor Challenger from The Lost World and Brigadier Gerard. But only Sherlock Holmes became a hero for our children!

And, as if in retaliation for the rebuff, Chukovsky later nailed Doyle:

He wasn't a great writer...

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 1922 Photo: flickr.com/Boston Public Library

School Moriarty

Maybe he wasn't. However, the name Sherlock remained indelible on the tablets of history. And recognizable. And in the biographies of the author Holmes, any little things are now carefully preserved. And the fact that in college, little Arthur's least favorite subject was math - eternal cola. And the fact that in this very college he was terribly annoyed by Italian immigrants, the Moriarty brothers. An excellent lesson for those who arrange hard labor from their studies. And also those who poison their comrades. Because that's how the "genius of the underworld, professor of mathematics Moriarty" was born. Before the advent Hitler he was a model of the "cruelest villain" of all times and peoples.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in a field hospital during the Boer War. work not earlier than 1899. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

It is believed that the writer's biography is his books. In the case of Sir Ignat, this is not entirely true. How many writers voluntarily went to the front? And Conan Doyle at the very beginning of the Anglo-Boer War, already a forty-year-old writer of world renown, asks for a front line. And not just anywhere, but in South Africa.

He is denied. And then he goes to hell at his own expense. And on his own fees, including from the tired, hated "Mr. Holmes", he organizes an exemplary field hospital. By the way, it is for these military works, and not at all for literature, that Arthur Conan Doyle receives a knighthood and the Order of the British Empire.

Returning from the war, Sir Doyle remains the talk of the town. Is it a joke - having exchanged the fifth decade, to be the strongest amateur boxer in the British Empire? And at the same time still master racing cars? And draw diagrams of airplanes? And put forward a proposal to build a tunnel under the English Channel?

Then his hobbies seemed fantastic. But let's remember. The Channel Tunnel has been built. Let not by the project of Conan Doyle, but built. On airplanes with a fantastic swept wing, we now easily fly on vacation. But even at the dawn of aviation, it was he who proposed this wing shape.

And then there is the brilliant drug addict detective who never uttered the phrase “Well, this is elementary, Watson!” We owe this expression actor Vasily Livanov, which can also be called "sir".

By the way, it’s quite official - everyone who has been awarded the Order of the British Empire is only supposed to be called that. And the Russian Holmes and the Russian Watson performed Vitaly Solomin recognized as the best in Europe. Not in all, however, Europe, but only on the continent. Well. The British traditionally do not recognize water mixers, right-hand traffic and other tricks. They do not really recognize the real exploits of one of their most illustrious sons. At least we will remember.

Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was born on May 22, 1859 in Picardy Place, the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh, in the family of an artist and architect. His father Charles Altamont Doyle married, at the age of twenty-two, Mary Foley, a young woman of seventeen, in 1855. Mary Doyle had a passion for books and was the main storyteller in the family, and later Arthur very touchingly remembered her. Unfortunately, Arthur's father was a chronic alcoholic and therefore the family was sometimes in poverty, although he was, according to his son, a very talented artist. As a child, Arthur read a lot, having completely diverse interests. His favorite author was Mine Reed and his favorite book was The Scalp Hunters.

After Arthur reached his nine years of age, wealthy members of the Doyle family offered to pay for his education. For seven years he had to attend a Jesuit boarding school in England at Hodder, a preparatory school for Stonyhurst (a large closed Catholic school in Lancashire). Two years later he moved from Arthur Hodder to Stonyhurst. Seven subjects were taught there: alphabet, counting, basic rules, grammar, syntax, poetry, rhetoric. The food there was quite meager and did not have a great variety, which, nevertheless, did not affect health. Corporal punishment was severe. Arthur at that time was often exposed to them. The instrument of punishment was a piece of rubber, the size and shape of which resembled a thick galosh, with which they beat on the hands.

It was during these difficult years at boarding school that Arthur realized that he had a talent for storytelling, so he was often surrounded by a collection of admiring young students listening to the amazing stories he composed to entertain them. In his senior year, he publishes a college magazine and writes poetry. In addition, he played sports, mainly cricket, in which he achieved good results. He goes to Germany in Feldkirch to learn German, where he will continue to play sports with passion: football, football on stilts, sledding. In the summer of 1876, Doyle goes home, but on the way he stops by Paris, where he lives with his uncle for several weeks. Thus, in 1876, he was educated and ready to meet the world and wished to make up for some of the shortcomings of his father, who had by then gone mad.

The traditions of the Doyle family dictated to follow an artistic career, but still Arthur decided to go into medicine. This decision was influenced by Dr. Brian Charles, a wally, young lodger whom Arthur's mother had taken in to make ends meet. Dr. Waller was educated at the University of Edinburgh and so Arthur chose to study there as well. In October 1876, Arthur became a student at the Medical University, before which he faced another problem - not getting the scholarship he deserved, which he and his family needed so much. While studying, Arthur met many future authors, such as James Barry and Robert Louis Stevenson, who attended the university. But he was most influenced by one of his teachers, Dr. Joseph Bell, who was a master of observation, logic, inference, and error detection. In the future, he served as the prototype for Sherlock Holmes.

While studying, Doyle tried to help his family and earned money in his spare time, which he carved out by more accelerated study of disciplines. He worked both as an apothecary and as an assistant to various doctors...

Doyle reads a lot and two years after the start of education, Arthur decided to try his hand at literature. In 1879, he writes a short story, The Mystery of Sasassa Valley, in Chamber's Journal. In the same year, he publishes his second story, The American Tale, in the London Society magazine and realizes that this is how he can also make money. His father's health is deteriorating and he is committed to a psychiatric hospital, thus becoming the sole breadwinner of his family.Twenty years old, in his third year at university, in 1880, Doyle was offered a position as a surgeon on the whaler Hope under the command of John Gray in the Arctic Circle. "Hope" first stopped off the coast of Greenland, where the crew moved on to seal hunting. The young medical student was appalled by the brutality of this. But at the same time, he enjoyed the camaraderie aboard the ship and the subsequent whale hunt fascinated him. This adventure found a place in his first story touching the sea, the frightening tale of Captain of the Pole-Star.With little enthusiasm, Conan Doyle returned rushed to classes in the autumn of 1880, sailing a total of 7 months, earning about 50 pounds.

In 1881, after graduating from the University of Edinburgh, where he received a Bachelor of Medicine and a Master of Surgery, he began to look for a place to work. The result of this was a position as a ship's doctor on the ship Mayuba, which sailed between Liverpool and the west coast of Africa, and on October 22, 1881, another voyage began. While swimming, he found Africa as disgusting as the Arctic seductive. Therefore, he leaves the ship and moves to England in Plymouth, where he works together with a certain Kallingworth, whom he met in his last courses in Edinburgh, namely from the end of spring to the beginning of summer 1882, for 6 weeks. (These first years of practice are well described in his book Stark Monroe Letters.) But disagreements arise and after them Doyle leaves for Portsmouth (July 1882), where he opens his first practice, settling in a house for 40 pounds per annum, which began to bring income only by the end of the third year. Initially, there were no clients, and therefore Doyle has the opportunity to devote his free time to literature. He writes stories: "Bones", "Bloomensdyke Ravine", "My friend is a murderer", which he publishes in the London Society magazine in the same 1882. In order to somehow help his mother, Arthur invites his brother Innes to live with him, who brightens up the gray everyday life of a novice doctor from August 1882 to 1885 (Innes leaves to study at a boarding school in Yorkshire). During these years, the young man is torn between literature and medicine. During his medical practice, there were also deaths of patients. One of them is the death of the son of a widow from Gloucestershire. But this case allows him to get acquainted with her daughter Louise Hawkins (Hawkins), whom he marries in August 1885.

After his marriage, Doyle is actively involved in literature and wants to make it his profession. It is published in Cornhill magazine. One after another, his stories are published: "The Message of Hebekuk Jephson", "The Long Non-existence of John Huxford", "The Ring of Thoth". But stories are stories, and Doyle wants more, he wants to be noticed, and for this it is necessary to write something more serious. And in 1884 he wrote the book "Gerdlestones Trading House". But to his great regret, the book was never published. In March 1886, Conan Doyle began writing a novel that brought him popularity. At first it was called A Tangled Skein. Two years later, this novel was published in Beeton's Christmas Annual (Beaton's Christmas Weekly) for 1887 under the title A Study in Scarlet (A Study in Scarlet), which introduced readers to Sherlock Holmes (prototypes: Professor Joseph Bell, writer Oliver Holmes ) and Dr. Watson (the prototype of Major Wood), who soon became famous.As soon as Doyle sends this book, he starts a new one, and in early 1888 he finishes Mickey Clark, which comes out in February 1889 by Longman. met Oscar Wilde and in the wake of positive reviews about "Mickey Clark" wrote in 1889 "The White Squad".

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Despite his literary success and a flourishing medical practice, the harmonious life of the Conan Doyle family, enhanced by the birth of his daughter Mary, was restless. At the end of 1890, under the influence of the German microbiologist Robert Koch and even more Malcolm Robert, he decides to leave the practice in Portsmouth, and travels with his wife to Vienna, leaving his daughter Mary with her grandmother, where she wants to specialize in ophthalmology in order to find work in London in the future, but when faced with a specialized German language and after studying for 4 months in Vienna, he realizes that time is wasted. During his studies, he wrote the book "The Acts of Raffles Howe", according to Doyle "... not a very significant thing ..." In the spring of the same year, Doyle visits Paris and hastily returns to London, where he opens a practice on Upper Wimpole Street. The practice was not successful (there were no patients), but for that time short stories were written, in particular, for the Strand magazine, he writes stories about Sherlock Holmes. "With the help of Sidney Paget, the image of Holmes is created and the stories are published in The Strand magazine In May 1891, Doyle fell ill with influenza and was dying for several days.When he recovered, he decided to leave the practice of medicine and devote himself to literature.This happens in August 1891.

In 1892, while living in Norwood, Louise gave birth to a son, they named him Kingsley (Kingsley), Doyle writes the story "Surviving from the 15th year", which is successfully staged in many theaters. Sherlock Holmes continues to weigh on Doyle and a year later, in 1993, after his trip with his wife to Switzerland and a visit to the Reichenbach Falls, despite everyone's requests, the surprisingly prolific, but very impulsive author decided to get rid of Sherlock Holmes. As a result, twenty thousand subscribers unsubscribed from The Strand magazine, and Doyle writes the best novels, in his opinion: "Exiles", "The Great Shadow". Now freed from a medical career and from a fictional character who oppressed him and obscured what he considered more important. Conan Doyle absorbs himself into more intense activity. This hectic life may explain why the former doctor did not pay attention to the serious deterioration in his wife's health.

Over time, he finally learned that Louise had been diagnosed with tuberculosis (consumption) and suggests that this was their joint trip to Switzerland. Although she was given only a few months, Doyle began a belated departure and he managed to delay her death by 10 years, from 1893 to 1906. Together with his wife, they move to Davos, located in the Alps. In Davos, Doyle was actively involved in sports, starting to write stories about Brigadier Gerard, based mainly on the book "Reminiscences of General Marbo". He had long been drawn to Spiritualism, joining the Society for Psychical Research as a public statement of his interest in and belief in the occult. Doyle is invited to give a series of lectures to the United States. In the late autumn of 1894, together with his brother Innes, who by that time was finishing a closed school in Richmond, the Royal Military School in Woolwich, became an officer, went to lecture in more than 30 cities in the United States. These lectures were a success, but Doyle himself was very tired of them. At the beginning of 1895, he returned to Davos to his wife, who by that time was feeling well. At the same time, The Strand magazine began publishing the first stories from Brigadier Gerard and immediately the number of subscribers increased.

In the autumn of 1895, Arthur Conan Doyle travels to Egypt with Louise and his sister Lottie, and during the winter of 1896 is where he hopes for a warm climate that will be good for her. At the end of 1896 he returned to England, and some time later, in the summer of 1897, he settled in his own house in Surrey. It is believed that Conan Doyle, a man of the highest moral standards, does not change during the rest of Louise's life. This did not prevent him from falling, he fell in love with Jean Lekia the first time he saw her in March 1897. At the age of twenty-four, she was a strikingly beautiful woman, with blond hair and bright green eyes. Her many achievements were very unusual at that time: she was an intellectual, a good athlete.

When the Boer War broke out in December 1899, Conan Doyle announced to his terrified family that he was volunteering. Having written about many battles, without the opportunity to test his skills as a soldier, he felt that this would be his last opportunity to credit them. Not surprisingly, being somewhat overweight at the age of forty, he was considered unfit. Therefore, he goes there as a medical doctor and sails for Africa on February 28, 1900. On April 2, 1900, he arrives at the scene and sets up a field hospital with 50 beds. But the number of wounded is many times greater. There is a shortage of drinking water, leading to an epidemic of intestinal diseases, and so instead of fighting markers, Conan Doyle had to fight a fierce battle against microbes. Up to a hundred patients died per day. And this went on for 4 weeks. Fighting followed, allowing the Boers to get the upper hand, and on July 11 Doyle sailed back to England. For several months he was in Africa, where he saw more soldiers die of fever, typhus than war wounds. The book he wrote, which underwent changes until 1902, The Great Boer War (Great Boer War) - a five-hundred-page chronicle published in October 1900, was a masterpiece of military scholarship. It was not only a message of the war, but also a highly intelligent and knowledgeable commentary on some of the organizational shortcomings of the British forces at the time. After that, he threw himself headlong into politics, running for a seat in Central Edinburgh. But he was falsely accused of being a Catholic fanatic, remembering his boarding school education by the Jesuits. So he was defeated, but he rejoiced in this more than if he had won.

In 1902, King Edward VII knighted Conan Doyle for services rendered to the Crown during the Boer War. Doyle continues to be weary of stories about Sherlock Holmes and Brigadier Gerard, so he writes "Sir Nigel", which, in his opinion, "...is a high literary achievement ..." Literature, caring for Louise, wooing Jean Lecky as carefully as possible Playing golf, driving fast cars, flying balloons into the sky, flying early, archaic planes, spending time building muscle, Conan Doyle was not satisfied. He again goes into politics in 1906, but this time he is defeated. After Julia died in his arms on July 4th, 1906, Conan Doyle is depressed for many months. He is trying to help someone who is worse off than him. Continuing the stories about Sherlock Holmes, he gets in touch with Scotland Yard to point out the errors of justice. This justifies a young man named George Edalji, who was convicted of slaughtering many horses and cows. Conan Doyle proved that Edalji's eyesight would have been so bad the criminal would not have been able to do this terrible deed. The result was the release of the innocent, who managed to serve part of the term assigned to him.

After nine years of secret courtship, Conan Doyle and Jean Lecky marry in public in front of 250 guests on September 18, 1907. They move with their two daughters to a new home called Windlesham, in Sussex. Doyle lives happily with his new wife and actively begins to work, which brings him a lot of money. Immediately after the marriage, Doyle tries to help another convict - Oscar Slater, but is defeated. A few years after his marriage, Doyle puts on stage the following works: "The Motley Ribbon", "Rodney Stone", published under the name "House of Terperley", "Points of Fate", "Foreman Gerard". After the success of The Speckled Band, Conan Doyle wants to retire from work, but the birth of his two sons, Denis in 1909 and Adrian in 1910, prevents him from doing so. The last child, their daughter Jean, was born in 1912. In 1910, Doyle published the book Crimes in the Congo, about the atrocities committed in the Congo by the Belgians. The works he wrote about Professor Challenger were no less successful than Sherlock Holmes.

In May 1914, Sir Arthur, along with Lady Conan Doyle and the children, went to inspect the National Wildlife Refuge at Jessier Park in the northern part of the Rocky Mountains (Canada). On the way, he calls in New York, where he visits two prisons: Toombs and Sing Sing, in which he examines the cells, the electric chair, and talks with prisoners. The city is found by the author to be unfavorably altered in comparison with his first visit twenty years earlier. Canada, where they spent some time, was found charming and Doyle lamented that her original grandeur would soon be gone. While in Canada, Doyle gives a number of lectures. They arrived home a month later, probably because for a long time, Conan Doyle had been convinced of the coming war with Germany. Doyle reads Bernardi's book "Germany and the Next War" and understands the gravity of the situation and writes a response article "England and the Next War", which appeared in the Fortnightly Review in the summer of 1913. He sends numerous articles to the newspapers about the upcoming war and military readiness for it. But his warnings were judged as fantasies. Realizing that England provides only 1/6 of itself, Doyle proposes to build a tunnel under the English Channel in order to provide himself with food in case of blockade of England by German submarines. In addition, he proposes to supply all sailors in the fleet with rubber circles (to keep their heads above the water), rubber vests. Little was heeded to his proposal, but after another tragedy at sea, the mass implementation of this idea began. Before the start of the war (August 4, 1914), Doyle joins a detachment of volunteers, which is completely civilian and was created in case the enemy invades England. During the war, Doyle also makes suggestions for the protection of soldiers and, as such, offers something similar to armor, that is, shoulder pads, as well as plates that protect the most important organs. During the war, Doyle lost many people close to him, including his brother Innes, who by his death had risen to the rank of adjutant general of the corps and Kingsley's son from his first marriage, as well as two cousins ​​and two nephews.

On September 26, 1918, Doyle travels to the mainland to witness the battle that took place on September 28 on the French front. After such an amazingly full and constructive life, it's hard to understand why such a person would retreat into the imaginary world of science fiction and spiritualism. The difference was that Conan Doyle was not a man who was satisfied with dreams and wishes; he needed to make them come true. He was manic and did it with the same stubborn energy that he showed in everything he did when he was younger. As a result, the press laughed at him, the clergy did not approve of him. But nothing could stop him. His wife does it with him.

After 1918, due to his deepening involvement in the occult, Conan Doyle wrote little fiction. Their subsequent trips to America (April 1, 1922, March 1923), Australia (August 1920) and Africa, accompanied by their three daughters, were also like psychic crusades. As the years passed, spending up to a quarter of a million pounds in pursuit of his secret dreams, Conan Doyle was in need of money. In 1926 he wrote The Land of Mist, The Disintegration Machine, When The World Screamed. In the autumn of 1929 he goes on his last tour of Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. He was already ill with Angina pectoris.

In 1930, already bedridden, he made his last journey. He got up from his bed and went into the garden. When he was found, he was on the ground, one of his hands was squeezing it, the other was holding a white snowdrop. Arthur Conan Doyle died on Monday, July 7, 1930, surrounded by his family. His last words before his death were addressed to his wife. He whispered, "You are wonderful." He is buried in Minstead Hampshire Cemetery.

On the grave of the writer are carved the words bequeathed by him personally:

"Do not remember me with reproach,

If carried away by the story at least a little

And a husband who has seen enough of life,

And a boy, before whom there is still a road ... "

In the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh, on Picardy Place.

As a child, Arthur read a lot, having completely diverse interests. His favorite author was Mine Reid and his favorite book was The Scalp Hunters.

After Arthur was nine years old, wealthy members of the Doyle family offered to pay for his education. Two years later he went to boarding school in Stonyhurst. Seven subjects were taught there: alphabet, counting, basic rules, grammar, syntax, poetry, rhetoric.

In his senior year, Arthur published a college magazine and wrote poetry. In addition, he played sports, mainly cricket, in which he achieved good results. Then he went to Germany in Feldkirch to learn German, where he continued to play sports with enthusiasm: football, football on stilts, sledding. In the summer of 1876 Doyle returned home.

In October 1876 he became a medical student. While studying, Arthur met many future famous authors such as James Barry and Robert Louis Stevenson, who also attended the university. But he was most influenced by one of his teachers, Dr. Joseph Bell, who was a master of observation, logic, inference, and error detection. In the future, he served as the prototype for Sherlock Holmes.

While studying, Doyle tried to help his family by earning money in his spare time. He worked both as an apothecary and as an assistant to various doctors.

Two years after the start of education, Doyle decided to try his hand at literature. In the spring of 1879 he wrote a short story, The Mystery of Sasassa Valley, which was published in Chamber's Journal in September 1879.

During this time, his father's health deteriorated and he was placed in a psychiatric hospital. Doyle thus became the sole breadwinner for his family.

In 1880, Arthur received a position as a surgeon on the whaler "Hope" under the command of John Gray, which went to the Arctic Circle. This adventure found a place in his story "Captain of the North Star".

In the autumn of 1880, Conan Doyle returned to university studies.

In 1881 he graduated from the University of Edinburgh, where he received a Bachelor of Medicine and a Master of Surgery, and began looking for a job. The result of these searches was the position of a ship's doctor on the Mayuba ship, which sailed between Liverpool and the west coast of Africa, and on October 22, 1881, its next voyage began.

In July 1882 Doyle left for Portsmouth where he set up his first practice. Initially, there were no clients, and Doyle had the opportunity to devote his free time to literature. He wrote the stories "Bones", "Bloomensdyke Ravine", "My Friend is a Murderer", which he published in the London Society magazine in the same 1882.

On August 6, 1885, Doyle married twenty-seven-year-old Louise Hawkins. After his marriage, Doyle decided to pursue literature professionally.

In 1884 he wrote the book Girdlestones Trading House. But the book did not interest publishers. In March 1886, Conan Doyle began writing a novel that brought him popularity. At first it was called A Tangled Skein. Two years later this novel was published in Beaton's 1887 Christmas Weekly under the title A Study in Scarlet, which introduced readers to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. The novel was published as a separate edition in early 1888 and was supplied with drawings by Doyle's father, Charles Doyle.

In February 1888, Doyle wrote The Adventures of Micah Clark, which was published in February 1889 by Longman.

In January 1889, the Doyles had a daughter, Mary. Doyle left his practice in Portsmouth and moved with his wife to Vienna, where he wanted to specialize in ophthalmology. Four months later, the Doyles returned to London, where Arthur opened his practice. During this time, he began writing short stories about Sherlock Holmes.

In May 1891, Doyle decided to leave the practice of medicine for good. At the end of that year, his sixth Sherlock Holmes story came out of print. At the same time, the editors of the magazine "Strand" ordered Doyle six more stories.

In 1892, Doyle wrote the novel The Exiles. In November of the same year, his son was born, who was named Alleyn Kingeli.
At this time, the Strand magazine again offered to write a series of stories about Sherlock Holmes. Doyle set a condition - 1000 pounds for the stories, and the magazine agreed to this amount.

From 1892 to 1896, Arthur traveled the world extensively with his family, not forgetting to work at the same time: during this time he lectured at various universities and began work on the novel Uncle Barnack. In May 1896 he returned to England. At the end of 1897 he wrote his first theatrical play, Sherlock Holmes.

In December 1899, the Boer War began, and Doyle volunteered there as a military doctor. Then, in 1902, he wrote the book The Great Boer War.

In 1902, Conan Doyle was knighted by King Edward VII for his services to the crown during the Boer War.
Then Doyle decided to enter politics, took part in local elections in Edinburgh, but was defeated. At the same time, he completed work on another major work about the adventures of Sherlock Holmes - The Hound of the Baskervilles.

On July 4, 1906, his wife Louise died, and on September 18, 1907, Doyle married again - to Jean Lecky. The Doyle family had a daughter, Jean, and sons, Denis and Adrian.

A few years after his marriage, Doyle staged The Motley Ribbon, Rodney Stone (under the name The House of Terperley), Points of Destiny, Brigadier Gerard.

On August 4, 1914, Doyle joined the volunteer detachment, which was completely civilian and was created in case the enemy invaded England. During the First World War, Doyle lost many people close to him, including his brother Innes, who by his death had risen to Adjutant General of the Corps and Kingsley's son from his first marriage, as well as two cousins ​​and two nephews.

In the last years of his life, Doyle became interested in the teachings of spiritualism and in the spring of 1922, together with his family, went on a trip to America to promote this teaching. During the trip, he gave four lectures at New York's Carnegie Hall. In the spring of 1923, Doyle recovered on his second tour of America, where he visited Chicago and Salt Lake City. In the autumn of 1929 he went on his last tour of Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Also in 1929, his last book, The Maracot Deep and Other Stories, was published.
On July 7, 1930, Arthur Conan Doyle died.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources