it was already seven o'clock and he was late in dressing for dinner. It was then five minutes past midnight. I fear it has been five minutes past midnight for my poor country for a long time, Mr Holmes. What is the date?'
'The tenth of November, Your Highness. All should be concluded tomorrow.'
'Hans, champagne.' We raised our glasses. 'To the eleventh of November,' Prince Max said with tears in his eyes. 'May the world never forget.'
That is why I pen these lines, so that the part that Sherlock Holmes played in those final days may be known to all. May the world never forget.
After this case Holmes retired again to his cottage in Sussex. Watson paid him the occasional visit but they were both now in their seventies and travelling became tiresome. By 1926 Watson had finished compiling the last of his notes. The final published story, 'Shoscombe Old Place' appeared in the March 1927 Strand Magazine. Watson died soon after, but Holmes's remarkable constitution kept him active well into the 1930s. It is somewhat bizarre that no death certificate exists for Sherlock Holmes, but I do know that his cottage in Sussex was sold in August 1939, just before the outbreak of the Second World War. Holmes was, by then, about eighty-six and is unlikely to have been involved in any further war-time investigations, but the fact that his death is not recorded in the United Kingdom is suggestive that, just before the outbreak of War, he emigrated. Where to and why I do not know. No doubt he had decided it was time for one last great adventure.
Appendix I: A Complete Chronology of Sherlock Holmes Cases
There have been many attempts at producing a definitive chronology of Sherlock Holmes's career, and whilst they may agree on some things many also beg to differ. This list is probably no different in that respect, but it is what I believe to be the position so far as I know it.
The list covers all known cases in which Holmes was involved, and attempts to date them as accurately as possible. The stories in bold print are the sixty stories in the original Doyle canon. Those in italics are the unrecorded cases noted by Watson. Where these cases have been written up by others their authorship is noted. Those in normal roman print are new (i.e. apocryphal) cases, not mentioned by Watson, but subsequently identified by others as found amongst Watson's papers. This last list is not exclusive, as I have deliberately left out those cases which concentrate on other characters (e.g. Irene Adler, Billy the Page, Inspector Lestrade, Moriarty or Mrs Hudson) or which are very evident spoofs and not to be taken seriously, such as involvement with fictional characters created by others, like Dracula or Fu Manchu. There are also many minor pastiches that weren't worth listing plus, I am sure, many others of which I don't have copies.
The stories included in this anthology are shown in small capitals.
1853/4
Sherlock Holmes born. In 'His Last Bow' (a case which began in 1912) Holmes is described as 'a man of sixty'. No location is given in the canon.
1872
Likely date at which Holmes goes to college. No college is mentioned in the canon although research suggests that Trinity College, Dublin and Oxford are the most likely.
1873/4
Likely date of 'The Gloria Scott' (Holmes talks of his 'two years at college'). This was the case that Holmes states first turned his attention to the idea of detection as a profession. Also the dating of 'The Affray at the Kildare Street Club' and 'The Bothersome Business of the Dutch Nativity.'
1875
Holmes became aware of the puzzle of 'the disappearance of James Phillimore' though the case was not concluded until 1906. Note also the apocryphal cases written as 'The Highgate Miracle' by John Dickson Carr and set in December 1893, though this date is clearly wrong, and 'The Case of the Vanishing Head-Waiter' by June Thomson.
1877
Holmes settles in rooms in Montague Street, London, spending most of his time studying various branches of science. 'Now and again' cases came his way. He does not mention the first two but the third was 'The Musgrave Ritual', likely to have happened in 1878.
1878/80
Holmes investigates many cases, only a few of which are referred to. These include 'The Tarleton Murders', 'Vamberry, the Wine Merchant' [written up by A. Lloyd Taylor]; 'The Adventure of the Old Russian Woman' [written up as 'The Case of the Old Russian Woman' by June Thomson], ' The Singular Affair of the Aluminium Crutch' [written up by several writers including H. Bedford-Jones], and 'Ricoletti of the dub-foot and his abominable wife'. Other stories may be set at this time, especially those listed in 'The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire' where Holmes's comments suggest thatWatson was not aware of the cases. These include 'Victor Lynch the Forge', 'Venomous Lizard or Gila', 'Vanderbilt and the Yeggman' [written up as 'The Case of the Itinerant Yeggman' by JuneThomson but dated June 1895 and to which she adds a sequel, 'The Case of the Maplestead Magpie'] and 'Vigor, the Hammersmith Wonder' [written up as 'The Case of the Hammersmith Wonder' by June Thomson but set in the early days with Watson; it is also incorporated in 'The Case of the Paradol Chamber' by Alan Wilson]. In 'The Speckled Band' Holmes is reminded of the case of 'Mrs Farintosh and the Opal Tiara' which was 'before your time Watson'. Also to this period may be the cases referred to in 'The Empty House', especially 'Mathews, who knocked out my left canine in the waiting-room at Charing Cross', since Holmes needs to explain it to Watson, and perhaps also 'Merridew of Abominable Memory'. Mortimer Mabley, referred to in 'The Three Gables' was also one of Holmes's earliest clients.
1880
July. The setting of 'The Adventure of the Stalwart Companions' by H. Paul Jeffers in which Holmes andTheodore Roosevelt are involved in a US murder. This case has some possibilities but I regard it as highly apocryphal.
1881
January. Holmes and Watson meet. In the first few weeks at 221b Baker Street Watson observes various visitors, whose cases are not discussed. These include 'a young girl, fashionably dressed', a 'Jewish peddler', 'a slipshod elderly woman', 'an old white-haired gentleman' and 'a railway porter'. There were also several visits by the police, especially by Lestrade, and Holmes later refers to helping him with 'a forgery case'.
March. 'A Study in Scarlet'.
October. 'The Resident Patient'.
1882
February. 'The Beryl Coronet'. Despite the argument by some commentators that no snow fell in London in February that year, this is clearly an early case because Watson is still a little surprised that Holmes urged him to accompany him. This month is almost certainly the setting for 'Sherlock Holmes and the Case of Sabina Hall' by L.B. Greenwood. Winter. 'The Devil's Tunnel' by John Taylor.
1883
March. 'Sherlock Holmes and the Somerset Hunt' by Rosemary Michaud.
April. 'The Speckled Band'.
