Sherlock Holmes. Dr Watson. Mrs Hudson. Lestrade. Is there anyone who is not transported to another, better place when hearing those few names? Who has not enjoyed the brilliance of Sherlock’s deductions? We all want to be habitués of Baker Street circa 1900 and we should all join the Sherlock Holmes society.
There was a British Sherlock Holmes Society before the Second World War, which first met on a formal basis on 6 June 1934, at Canuto’s restaurant in Baker Street. Besides the President, Canon H.R.L. (Dick) Sheppard, and the Secretary, writer A.G. Macdonnel, those present included S.C. Roberts of Cambridge University Press, painter Gerald Kelly, and crime writers Dorothy L. Sayers, Gladys Mitchell, E.R. Punshon and Anthony Berkeley. Also Frank Morley, whose brother Christopher had, almost simultaneously, founded The Baker Street Irregulars in New York. (Frank Morley worked for the publishers, Faber & Faber, sharing an office with another American Holmes devotee, T.S. Eliot.)
Congratulatory messages were received from Vincent Starrett and others in America, and Frank Morley read “a cryptic telegram of greeting to the Society from the Gasogene of the Baker Street Irregulars” — his brother Christopher. (R. Ivar Gunn wrote an account of the event for The British Medical Journal; it was reprinted in Irregular Memories of the ’Thirties, the second volume of the Baker Street Irregulars’ History Project.) Three annual dinners were held, but then international and personal complications intervened. There was no dinner in 1937, and in March 1938 members received a postcard stating: “The Sherlock Holmes Society — like the Red-Headed League — is dissolved.”
But England withstood the blasts of the east wind, and post-war recovery included plans for a “Festival of Britain”, to be held in 1951, the centenary of the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace. Rationing was still in place, bombsites were much in evidence. In those years of austerity, the Festival was intended as “a tonic to the nation”.
James Edward Holroyd, a well-known journalist of the time, was doing some research at Marylebone Library, where he fell into conversation with the Assistant Reference Librarian, C.T. Thorne. Wouldn’t it be a good idea, they thought, to have a Sherlock Holmes exhibition as part of the Festival? Marylebone Borough Council’s preference was for an instructive exhibit on slum clearance, but when The Times began publishing letters of protest, from, among others, Dr. Watson, Mycroft Holmes, Mrs. Hudson and the actor Arthur Wontner — a famous Sherlock Holmes in the 1930s — the councillors decided that the great detective might be a better draw than social housing after all.
The exhibition was staged at Abbey House, home of the Abbey National Building Society, whose address encompassed the magic number, 221 Baker Street. Fifty years on, Anthony Howlett, in an article for The Sherlock Holmes Journal, remembered: “The organiser and guiding spirit was Jack Thorne, and his helper was Freda Pearce, Assistant Librarian. At that time, I was a newly-fledged barrister with too much spare time on my hands, so I haunted that exhibition to lend what help I could.” He added, “One striking fact about this project was the enthusiasm it created, and offers of help had poured in from members of the old Sherlock Holmes Society, from America and across the world, and from UK enthusiasts — many with invaluable specialist knowledge of Holmesiana. One such was Professor (then Doctor) W.T. Williams, who was responsible for the scientific exhibits.” Another volunteer was a young solicitor, Colin Prestige.
Many individuals and organisations contributed items for display, including the families of Arthur Conan Doyle, his mentor Joseph Bell, and the illustrator Sidney Paget, whose daughter Winifred provided some of his original artwork. The centrepiece was the re-creation of the sitting room of 221B, to the plans of the eminent theatre designer Michael Weight. The exhibition was a roaring success. In 1952 it moved on to New York, and eventually exhibits from it formed the displays at the Sherlock Holmes pub in London.
While they were still assembling the exhibition, Tony Howlett, Bill Williams, Jack Thorne, Freda Pearce and Colin Prestige decided that the time had come to resurrect The Sherlock Holmes Society — but, to indicate a rebirth, they chose the name The Sherlock Holmes Society of London. The first meeting was held on 18 April 1951 at Marylebone Library. Besides the founders, those present included Guy Warrack, author of Sherlock Holmes and Music; Winifred Paget; James Edward Holroyd; Michael Weight; Ian M. Leslie, author of Dr. Watson’s letter to The Times; and Sir Gerald Kelly, by then President of the Royal Academy.
The first general meeting was held on 17 July 1951 at the Victoria and Albert Museum, when S.C. Roberts became the first President. The Sherlock Holmes Journal began publication in 1952, and Freda Pearce and Tony Howlett were married that same year. She succeeded him as President in 2003.
More than sixty years on the Society continues to flourish, with nearly 1,200 full members and more than 200 associate members.
The year begins with the Annual Dinner, always an especially popular event. Over the decades guest speakers have included Commissioners of the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police; crime writers P.D. James, Michael Gilbert, H.R.F. Keating, Colin Dexter, Ruth Rendell, June Thomson and Simon Brett; actors Arthur Wontner, Carleton Hobbs, Douglas Wilmer and Mark Gatiss; Michael Cox, creator of Granada Television’s Sherlock Holmes series, and Steven Moffat, co-creator of BBC TV’s Sherlock; and all-rounders Benny Green, Barry Took, Barry Cryer, Stephen Fry, Gyles Brandreth and Sandi Toksvig. Agatha Christie was a unique guest of honour in 1962: she accepted on the condition that she should not be required to make a speech!
Other events throughout the year may include talks, discussions, theatrical entertainments, a film evening, an annual lecture, a Victorian Cricket Match against the P.G. Wodehouse Society, and excursions around London and the UK to investigate the locations of the stories. The Society has also ventured overseas, making six pilgrimages to Switzerland, with a seventh arranged for 2012. The final destination, of course, is the Reichenbach Falls, and each participant is required to represent a specific character from the stories and to wear appropriate Victorian costume.
The Society was closely involved with the commissioning and design of John Doubleday’s statue of Sherlock Holmes at Meiringen in Switzerland in 1988, and was a sponsor, with the late Dame Jean Conan Doyle, of the Sherlock Holmes Museum in Meiringen, opened in 1991. The Sherlock Holmes Statue Company, responsible for the statue at Baker Street Station in London, was set up for the purpose by the Society.
Anyone with an interest in Sherlock Holmes is welcome to join. The Sherlock Holmes Journal is published twice a year, and a newsletter, The District Messenger, is published throughout the year and is available by email. Details are available on the website www.sherlock-holmes.org.uk where you’ll also find information about forthcoming meetings and membership, as well as a complete archive of The District Messenger, a link to the Society’s extensive online galley of photographs, and a good deal more besides.
The Membership Secretary is David Jones (The North Wing, Groton Place, Groton Street, Groton, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 5EE). The Press & Publicity Officer is Roger Johnson (Mole End, 41 Sandford Road, Chelmsford CM2 6DE; shj@waitrose.com).
The Sherlock Holmes Journal published supplements in 2001 and 2011 that provide more detailed information on the origins of the Society. For more about the world of Sherlock Holmes and the Holmesian phenomenon, see our forthcoming book The Sherlock Holmes Miscellany, to be published by the History Press.
Jean Upton & Roger Johnson
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