To the casual reader, it’s easy to think of Holmes as someone who sits perpetually in Baker Street, waiting for a client to call. They see him as some fully formed being, forgetting that like all great men, he wasn’t always the final version that is so familiar around the world. Before Holmes was The Sage of Baker Street, he was a young man with a definite idea of what he wanted to do with his life, and that involved a great deal of preparation.
Sherlock Holmes first met Dr. Watson on January 1st, 1881, in the chemical laboratory at Barts Hospital. They were in their late twenties – one a recently returned wounded veteran of the Battle of Maiwand, and the other a most unique individual who had already been laboring for several years to create his own profession, learning everything that he could along the way in order to better prepare himself.
This earlier period of Holmes’s life, when he was honing the skills that would make him the first and best of his kind, has been well explored over the years as various “editors” have found manuscripts detailing these pre-1881 adventures. My own collection, as well as my ongoing Chronology of both The Canon and additional narratives, has nearly two-hundred stories that take place before Holmes and Watson met one another on New Year’s Day, 1881. These tales range from the 1840’s, revealing exactly how Holmes’s parents met, courted, and married, to stories and novels that relate Holmes’s younger days, showing his complicated relationship with older brother Mycroft.
Later “editors” have tackled thse years when Holmes was solving mysteries while growing up, before deciding “officially” to become a Consulting Detective (as related in “The Gloria Scott”, contained in this volume.) Holmes’s years at University – but which one? – have been chronicled as well. Then, as Holmes explains in “The Musgrave Ritual” (also a pre-1881 adventure that is in this collection,) he settled in Montague Street, beside the British Museum, where he opened his doors to those in need and with a problem or puzzle.
One of the most profound and influential biographers of Holmes’s background was noted Sherlockian William S. Baring-Gould. Through his work, as related in Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street, a great deal of Holmes’s early life has been established and formalized, ranging from his date of birth – January 6th, 1854 – to his family relations – father Siger, mother Violet, brothers Sherrinford and Mycroft – and his early upbringing in both the family home in North Riding, Yorkshire, as well as various other locations in England and the Continent.
Baring-Gould also documented other parts of Holmes’s early life, including his journey to the United States from late 1879 to mid-1880 as part of the Sasanoff Shakespearian Company, where he added acting and disguise to his other already impressive skills.
But Baring-Gould wasn’t the only one who has done important research in establishing Holmes’s pre-1881 activities. Michael Harrison proved that Holmes’s residence in Montague Street was specifically located at No. 24. (See the Appendix to this volume, “No. 24 Montague Street: A Neglected Stop on the Sherlockian Pilgrimage”, for further information about this address.)
I was able to visit No. 24 Montague Street during my first Holmes Pilgrimage in 2013, and very fortunate to actually stay there on both my second and third Pilgrimages in 2015 and 2016. I lodged in what I believe to be Holmes’s old room, the results of which will be revealed on some future date. I’ve had several conversations with both the owners of the hotel which now occupies the site, as well as the Bedford Estate, owners of the property, and they are fully aware of the building’s connection to Holmes, and they encourage it – something to keep in mind if one is planning one’s own Holmes Pilgrimage.
In addition to the important contributions by Baring-Gould and Harrison, other narratives of Holmes’s life before January 1st, 1881 can be found in the following volumes, which is only a fraction of what is available, with a bit of digging and luck:
GENERAL INFORMATION
Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street – William S. Baring-Gould
I, Sherlock Holmes - Michael Harrison
YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES
Andrew Lane’s Young Sherlock Holmes tales: Death Cloud, Red Leech, Black Ice, Fire Storm, Snake Bite, Knife Edge, Stone Cold, and Night Break, and the short story Young Sherlock Holmes: Bedlam;
Young Sherlock: The Mystery of the Manor House, a 1982 television mini-series. The related book, Young Sherlock: The Manor House Mystery, along with a sequel, Young Sherlock: The Adventure at Ferryman’s Creek, was produced by Gerald Frow;
Young Sherlock Holmes, a 1985 film, along with the accompanying book by Alan Arnold;
“The Tale of the First Adventure”, The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories – Part IV: 2016 Annual – Derrick Belanger;
The Crack in the Lens – Darlene Cypser;
The Singular Adventure of Charles Goodfoote – Thomas F. Hanratty;
(Numerous others, including Fan Fictions);
UNIVERSITY YEARS
The Consulting Detective Trilogy – Darlene Cypser;
The Master Sleuth on the trail of Edwin Drood – Robert F. Fleissner;
Absolute Discretion – Grant Eustace;
Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Deadly Illusion – Ron Brackin;
When the Song of the Angels is Stilled – Sherry Croyle;
A Bee-Keeper’s Diary (Fan-fiction Novel) – Lee Whitman Quick;
An Unconventional Proposal (A Fan-Fiction Novel, with the initial version as by silvertongue04, and a substantially revised version as by adlersdaughter)
(Numerous others,
