And there the matter stood until late September and early October 2015. At that time, I was fortunate enough to revisit London on my second Holmes Pilgrimage, and during that sojourn, I was able to spend several nights staying in the Ruskin Hotel, requesting specifically to be placed in the No. 24 portion of the building. If one follows the Baring-Gould Chronology – and I mostly do – the main portion of “The Musgrave Ritual” took place on October 2nd, 1879, beginning when Reginald Musgrave visited Holmes in his Montague Street rooms. I like to think that fate put me in that very room as well on that date, and on October 2nd, I re-read “The Musgrave Ritual” while there. I’ll never read it the same way again.
Reading “The Musgrave Ritual” In Holmes’s Old Room
No. 24 Montague Street
Photograph by David Marcum, October 2nd, 2015)
The 136th Anniversary of “The Musgrave Ritual”
At the time of my second London visit, I re-contacted the Bedford Estates representative and visited the Estate offices. When I asked him about examining the rate books seen by Mr. Harrison during his original research, the representative became strangely reticent, and also when I visited the Bedford Estate offices in person, I had little success. Do I detect the present-day vibrations of a long-ago plot to obfuscate or hide the facts, perhaps originally put in motion by Mycroft Holmes himself and still affecting today’s events? It would certainly have been nice to examine the first-hand evidence for myself, and perhaps even obtain a photograph or two. The representative has since provided me with a new source to contact regarding the rate books. The quest continues.
The Author in front of “The Painting in the Parlour”
No. 24 Montague Street
Photograph by David Marcum, September 9th, 2016
While on my trip, I was also told by a member of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London that the idea for a plaque, was “not going to happen” due to the current difficulties of placing a plaque on any building in London. Because of this, I would like to urge the Baker Street Irregulars to take it upon themselves to establish a permanent marker at No. 24 Montague Street, along the lines of previous plaques in Baker Street, and also at Barts and the Criterion. Such a specific location that has been identified by Holmes himself as one of his residences should not be ignored.
I was able to return to London in September 2016 on a third Holmes Pilgrimage, and again stayed in the exact same location, in Holmes’s old room at No. 24. Although not on the exact anniversary date, I did re-read “The Musgrave Ritual” as before, as well as continuing my efforts to have a plaque placed to commemorate the building as an important Sherlockian site.
Other Sherlockian Sites in Bloomsbury
As No. 24 Montague Street is recognized as a legitimate Holmesian Pilgrimage Destination, one should also recall that there are a number of other important Sherlockian sites nearby.
No. 24 is across the street from the east side of the British Museum, where Holmes “waited, filling in [his] too abundant leisure time . . . .” It is well worth a stop when in the area, after all of the other Sherlockian locations have been visited.
There are several sites scattered closely around the Museum. In 1891, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the Literary Agent, lived for a short time at No. 23 Montague Place – the street bordering the north side of the Museum, but the building is now gone – while maintaining a medical practice at No. 2 Upper Wimpole Street. It was here that he finally gave up on his medical career to become a full-time writer. Violet Hunter was living in Montague Place when she wrote to Holmes, seeking an appointment at the beginning of “The Copper Beeches” in April 1889.
Author Michael Kurland has identified that Professor Moriarty’s residence was nearby (prior to May 1891) in No. 64 Russell Square, where he had an arrangement with the Museum to receive books for his research, as needed. Sadly, No. 64 seems to be missing in action as well, possibly absorbed by a large hotel on the eastern side of the square. I theorized that perhaps the Professor altered the true address, and that it was really No. 46, which is near the southwestern side at the corner of Russell Square and Montague Street. (When asked, Kurland responded to me that, “I think you’re right and the professor disguised the true address for obvious reasons.”) How interesting it would be if the Professor had lived right around the corner from the home of his future nemesis?
Also of interest in that quarter: Hilton Cubitt stopped at a boarding house in Russell Square during the 1897 Jubilee, where he met his future wife, Elsie Patrick.
Another very important site, just around the corner to the south from No. 24, is the Museum Tavern, generally agreed by Sherlockians and Holmesians to be the “Alpha Inn”, described by Watson as “a small public-house at the corner of one of the streets which runs down into Holborn.” On December 27th, 1887, the Alpha Inn was visited by Holmes and Watson during their travels across London while on the trail of the thief of “The Blue Carbuncle.” This pub, at the corner of Gilbert Place and Great Russell Street, is directly across the street from the main entrance to the museum, and was no doubt visited by Holmes on many occasions during his years in Montague Street. Interestingly, he was apparently not recalled by the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord when he ordered two glasses of beer on that night in December 1887, a number of years after he had lived nearby, stating that the beer “should be
