| Arthur Conan Doyle | |
|---|---|
 | |
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Real Name |
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle |
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First Appearance |
May 22, 1859 |
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Original Publisher |
July 7, 1930 |
Origin[]
Arthur Conan Doyle was a British writer and physician best known as the creator of Sherlock Holmes, one of literature’s most famous detectives. His four Holmes novels and 56 short stories helped define modern crime fiction, inspired by his medical teacher Joseph Bell. Doyle also wrote historical novels, the Professor Challenger science fiction series (The Lost World), war histories, stage plays, poetry, and works on boxing and sport. The Lost World and its protagonist Professor Challenger where inspired by Doyle's explorer friend Percy Fawcett.
Born in Edinburgh to Irish Catholic parents, Doyle studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, where he began publishing fiction. He practiced as a doctor in Southsea before turning fully to writing. Though he achieved global fame and wealth through Holmes, he often felt ambivalent about the character, even “killing” him in 1893 before reviving him due to public demand.
Beyond literature, Doyle lived a wide-ranging life: he played cricket and football, promoted rifle clubs, tried politics, and campaigned for justice in notable legal cases, helping exonerate George Edalji and Oscar Slater. He was knighted in 1902 for his writings on the Boer War.
Later in life, Doyle became a leading advocate for spiritualism, writing extensively on the subject and lecturing worldwide. He believed in psychic phenomena and defended controversial cases like the Cottingley Fairies photographs, though many were later proven fraudulent.
He married twice, fathered five children, and lived his final years in Crowborough, Sussex. Doyle died of a heart attack in 1930. His epitaph hails him as “Knight, patriot, physician and man of letters.” Statues in Edinburgh and Crowborough commemorate him, while Sherlock Holmes remains his enduring legacy.
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances and works of Arthur Conan Doyle from before January 1, 1930 are public domain in the US.
Some notable appearances can be found here and listed below:
Public Domain Works[]
Sherlock Holmes[]
- A Study in Scarlet (1887)
- The Sign of the Four (1890)
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1891)
- The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1892)
- The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901)
- The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1903)
- His Last Bow (1908)
- The Lost Special (1908): features a criminal genius who could be Moriarty and a detective who could be Holmes, though neither is mentioned by name
- The Valley of Fear (1914)
- The Case-Book Of Sherlock Holmes (1927)
Professor Challenger[]
- The Lost World (1912)
- The Poison Belt (1913)
- The Footprints on the Ceiling (1919)
- The Land of Mist (1926)
- When the World Screamed (1928)
- The Disintegration Machine (1929)
Other Works[]
- The White Company (1891)
- Lot No. 249 (1892)
- The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard (1896)
- Micah Clarke (1889)
- The Mystery of Cloomber (1889)
- The Stark Munro Letters (1895)
- The Tragedy of the Korosko (1898)
- Sir Nigel (1906)
- Round the Fire Stories (1908)
- The Crime of the Congo (1909)
Notes[]
- A list of characters created by Arthur Conan Doyle on this wiki can be found here.
- Hinted at in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, when Spock states that "An ancestor of mine maintained that when you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." This is, of course, a Sherlock Holmes quote. Since Holmes is established as fictional in other Star Trek media, fans usually interpret this as Spock declaring himself to be a descendant of Arthur Conan Doyle, which was later confirmed in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.