The Midwinter Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes: Three Adventures & The Grand Gift of Sherlock (28 page)

[65]
Watson’s club is never identified in the Canon. The Savage Club was founded in 1857, but the fact that Watson was bluffing here makes it impossible to say for certain that Watson was a member. However, one (fictional) member was Edward Malone, protagonist of a story entitled
The Lost World
by Watson’s first literary agent Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

[66]
A pandemic of influenza in 1889-1890 (with continuing outbreaks for the next four years) killed about one million people worldwide. Because the first reports came from St. Petersburg, it was labeled the Russian Flu. It has generally been lost to modern sights, because of the far-deadlier “Spanish Flu” pandemic of 1918, which killed between 20 and 100 million people.

[67]
This phrase dates back at least as far as 1760, so was an old proverb by 1890.

[68]
Holmes says the same thing during Watson’s recounting of his mission to investigate the house of Mr. Josiah Amberley (
The Adventure of the Retired Colourman
).

[69]
In virtually every case in which Watson is sent by Holmes to investigate something, his efforts are roundly criticized.

[70]
Watson’s accommodating neighboring physician is named Jackson in
The Crooked Man
, but Anstruther in
The Boscombe Valley Mystery
.

[71]
Toby is the famous mongrel from Chapter VII of
The Sign of Four
.

[72]
Holmes helps Phelps in
The Naval Treaty
, which took place in 1889.

[73]
Watson also attributes a state of ‘dumfoundered’-ness to Holmes (and himself) in Chapter VII of
A Study in Scarlet
.

[74]
This appears similar to what Holmes says somewhat sarcastically to Watson in
The Problem of Thor Bridge
: ‘The faculty of deduction is certainly contagious, Watson…”

[75]
Webley was a manufacturer of firearms. It has been hypothesized that Holmes owned a Webley Metropolitan Police revolver.

[76]
The Honourable Ronald Adair was also a member of this club before his murder in 1894 (
The Adventure of the Empty House
).

[77]
This is presumably the clock at Lambeth Palace, the 15th Century London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, also noted by Watson in Chapter VII of
The Sign of Four
.

[78]
George III, the grandfather of Queen Victoria, died in 1820.

[79]
Later employed by Watson when he accompanied Holmes in the break-in at the house of Charles Augustus Milverton.

[80]
More properly Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (c.1043-1099), better known as El Cid, the national hero of Spain for his role in leading the military campaigns against the Moorish kingdoms in Andalusia.

[81]
Watson’s tutor also appears in
The Adventure of the Three Students
. However, before this more precise identification it had been a debate exactly which school Watson and Phelps attended. The two major candidates were Winchester College, Hampshire and Wellington College, Berkshire.

[82]
Watson says something similar in Chapter XIV of
The Hound of the Baskervilles
.

[83]
Watson’s war wounds were acquired on 27 July, 1880 (Chapter I,
A Study in Scarlet
). He initially only reports having been shot in the shoulder, though in other places he mentions a wounded leg as well.

[84]
From Shakespeare’s
Henry IV, Part I
(Act V, Scene III).

[85]
A clear reference to when Holmes shot a ‘V.R.’ into the wall of his sitting-room (
The Musgrave Ritual
).

[86]
There is little doubt that Watson possessed a droll sense of humor, as seen in
The Five Orange Pips
,
The Valley of Fear
, and elsewhere.

[87]
Having patience appears to be a critical piece of Holmes’ method, as he reports in Chapter VII of
The Valley of Fear
and
The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire
.

[88]
This remark seems slightly anachronistic, as Holmes is not known to have revealed the extent of Mycroft’s role within the British government to Watson until
The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans
.

[89]
The Criminal Investigation Department is the more official name of Scotland Yard, which technically only refers their physical headquarters.

[90]
Holmes of course dealt with counterfeiters in
The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb
, and would do so again in
The Adventure of the Three Garridebs
.

[91]
Hugo Oberstein, Louis La Rothiere, Eduardo Lucas are all mentioned again in
The Adventure of the Second Stain
, while Adolph Meyer, La Rothèire, and Oberstein all appear in
The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans
. I have been unable to locate another Canonical reference to either Luigi Lucarelli or Gabriel Dukas.

[92]
Holmes knowledge of ‘every details of every horror perpetuated in the century’ was ‘immense’ (Chapter II,
A Study in Scarlet
).

[93]
Lomax makes only one Canonical appearance in
The Adventure of the Illustrious Client
, where he is the sub-librarian at the London Library at 14 St. James Square. How Watson knew him is only made clear in Chapter II of the non-Canonical novel
The Isle of Devils
.

[94]
Holmes trained himself there, as mentioned in
The Musgrave Ritual
, and was forced to consult at the British Museum more than once, including during
The Hound of the Baskervilles
(Chapter XV) and
The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge
.

[95]
The British Library did not move to a separate locale until 1997, and until then was conjoined with the British Museum. At the time of its construction, its dome was second in diameter to only the Pantheon in Rome.

[96]
The Popish Plot was a fictitious Catholic conspiracy to kill Charles II that the Reverend Titus Oates claimed to have uncovered in 1678. There was great fear in Britain at the time of Catholic intrigue and a very real apprehension that, upon the death of Charles, his Roman Catholic brother, James, would be placed on the throne. False accusations led to the execution of at least twenty-two men.

[97]
The card in question comes from a pack drawn by Francis Barlow, the originals of which can be seen in the British Museum.

[98]
The Great Court did not receive its magnificent glass ceiling until 6 December 2000, thereby becoming the largest enclosed public square in Europe.

[99]
The earlier building had been worked on by some of the greatest of English architects, including Inigo Jones (1573-1652) and Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723). The views from its magnificent terraces were even painted by the Venetian Canaletto (1697-1768).

[100]
As recounted in the non-Canonical tale
The Adventure of the First Star
.

[101]
Sir Edmund Berry Godfre
y 
(1621-1678) was an English magistrate and ardent Anglican, who plotted with several others to depose Charles II and replace him with the bumbling Richard Cromwell, son of the usurper Oliver. Oates and his conspirators placed the blame of his murder upon Catholic plotters.

[102]
Holmes was an enthusiastic reader of sensational literature (Chapter II,
A Study in Scarlet
). The identity of the book in question is unclear, but this theory was expounded upon by John Dickson Carr, in his book
The Murder of Sir Edmund Godfrey
(1936). Carr concluded that Godfrey was murdered by Philip Herbert, in revenge for having been prosecuted for murder some time earlier by Godfrey. The earl had been found guilty of the previous murder but had escaped execution by means of a pardon from the House of Lords. Carr also wrote several fine pastiches of Sherlock Holmes adventures with Adrian Conan Doyle, son of Watson’s first literary agent.

[103]
Philip Herbert (c.1652–1683) was called ‘the infamous Earl of Pembroke,’ as he was a convicted murderer. Oddly enough, he was the grandson of Philip Herbert (to whom the 1623 First Folio of Shakespeare was dedicated) and Susan de Vere, and therefore the great-grandson of Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford and the leading candidate for the true author of the plays of ‘William Shakespeare!’ Not a descendent to be proud of!

[104]
There have been many theories of what really happened to Godfrey and who killed him. He might have been murdered either by Catholics, who could have been afraid that he knew some of their real secrets; supporters of Oates because of his contacts to Catholics or because he knew Oates was lying. It has also been surmised that the Whig leaders were responsible for killing Godfrey, partly because they understood how much he knew of the falsehood of the plot, and partly because his death could so easily and so usefully be blamed on the Catholics. Neither argument is conclusive. The Catholics were almost certain to be blamed for the murder, with calamitous consequences; while neither Shaftesbury nor his colleagues, whatever their faults, were likely to be capable of murdering an innocent man whom many of them knew and liked on the mere speculation that it would bring them some benefit. Most likely his death was completely unrelated and the event seized upon by Oates as a pretence to stir up anti-Catholic feelings.

[105]
This is the first reference we have to Watson’s travel flask, though it is not surprising that he would own one, for they were also used by Holmes (
The Adventures of the Naval Treaty
and
the Empty House
) and Lestrade (Chapter XIV,
The Hound of the Baskervilles
).

[106]
I have been unable to locate the name of the Registrar General in 1890, but presumably Watson would have obscured his identify anyhow, as he was wont to do (in
The Adventure of the Illustrious Client
, for one example).

[107]
A cheroot is a type of cigar traditionally hailing from Burma or India. Mr. Abel White smoked one during the Great Mutiny (Chapter XII,
The Sign of Four
).

[108]
Holmes was able to distinguish between 140 different forms of tobacco ashes (Chapter I,
The Sign of Four
).

[109]
Slang for a short match, named after the Roman goddess of the hearth. Hugh Boone pretended to a trade in them (
The Man with the Twisted Lip
).

[110]
Burford is located on the River Windrush in the Cotswold Hills in Oxfordshire. A great battle was fought there in 752 CE. Cuthred, king of the West Saxons, captured the Golden Dragon standard of King Aethelbald of Mercia. This standard legendarily descended from Uther Pendragon, father of Arthur.

[111]
Watson would do so in
The Adventure of the Illustrious Client
.

[112]
Mycroft is seven years older than Sherlock, as noted in
The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter
.

[113]
It is not possible to definitively say who coined the term the ‘sick man of Europe,’ though it is popularly attributed to Tsar Nicholas I of Russia c.1853 in the run-up to the Crimean War.

[114]
While not technically incorrect, Mycroft displays a rather Eurocentric view upon the twilight of the Spanish Empire. He credits the defeat of the Spanish fleet (allied with the French) by Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar, and the Peninsular invasion and overthrow of the monarchy by Napoleon, without so much as mentioning the efforts of the local freedom fighters, such as Simon Bolivar.

[115]
A ‘score’ is, of course, 20 years. The Restoration began in 1874. It lasted until the military rebellion of General Francisco Franco in 1931.

[116]
Mycroft and his counterparts were able to hold off the ‘Great War’ for another twenty-four years, but in 1914, a single bullet in Sarajevo felled an Austrian Grand Duke and plunged Europe into the most terrible horrors it had beheld since perhaps the scourge of the Black Death.

[117]
Yellow journalism was the practice of utilizing sensationalist exaggerations to produce eye-catching headlines and sell more newspapers. Truth was a distant secondary factor, to be ignored whenever necessary. The leaders of this movement were Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst.

[118]
The American journalists would finally get their perverse wish when the American battleship mysteriously sank in Havana harbor. This put an impossible pressure upon President William McKinley who wished to avoid a war, but was forced to reject Spain’s attempts to compromise. The United States demanded that Spain surrender control of Cuba. Spain refused and declared war on 25 April 1898. By 12 August of the same year the Spanish-American war was over, the US having assumed control of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines and the Spanish Empire fully collapsing, saving only a few small colonies in Africa.