It does not take a prolific reader of mysteries to be familiar with the name Sherlock Holmes. The great detective drew his first breaths in the December of 1887 in London, England. Beeton's Christmas Annual ran Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's first known Sherlock Holmes story, A Study In Scarlet. It was to be the first of four novels and 56 short stories that Doyle would write about the famous detective.
It is most certainly true that Holmes is a fictional character, but his creation was inspired by a very real person, Dr. Joseph Bell. As a prominent medical lecturer at the prestigious University of Edinburgh, Dr. Bell quickly became known for his use of observation and deductive reasoning in order to glean important information about his patients. It is because of this that he is widely regarded as pioneer in the field of forensic pathology. He took on Conan Doyle as both a student and an intern in 1877. It was through this close, working relationship with Dr. Bell that Conan Doyle derived his inspiration for Sherlock Holmes.
Who Was Dr. Joseph Bell?
In addition to being a lecturer, Bell was the personal physician to Queen Victoria whenever she was in Edinburgh. He also worked at the Royal Infirmary. It was here that the full weight of his character became impressed upon a young Conan Doyle. Dr. Bell was known among his students as having an uncanny knack for observation and deduction.
During Doyle's second year at Edinburgh University, when he was just 17, he was selected by Bell to work as his apprentice in the Infirmary. It was through this particular job that Doyle was able to closely observe Bell and learn from his powers of deduction. Things like the way a person walked, what type of accent they had, what type of clothing they were wearing and the placement of the callouses on the hands of working men all provided the doctor with clues as to who his patient was and where he had come from. Doyle quickly picked up on these observations.
Dr. Bell believed that for optimal treatment of a disease, a physician needed to appreciate all the nuances of a healthy state versus a diseased state. Again and again, Doyle was astounded by the doctor’s gift.
Physical Similarities
Dr. Bell's physical description even matches that of the Sherlock Holmes character with which we are so familiar. According to Sherlock Holmes Online, Bell was described by Conan Doyle as a "thin wiry, dark man, with a high-nosed acute face, penetrating gray eyes, angular shoulders.
"Dr. Bell would sit in his receiving room with a face like a Red Indian, and diagnose the people as they came in, before they even opened their mouths. He would tell them details of their past life; and hardly would he ever make a mistake." It is clear from this description that Conan Doyle drew on more than one facet of his beloved doctor for inspiration.
Today
The same astonishing powers of deduction can be found today in detective stories the world over. From Peter Wimsey and Poirot to the more modern Monk, the influence that Dr. Bell exerted over Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is very much with us today.
Although the world's greatest detective has been adapted over the years as he has moved into the public domain and passed from author to author, Conan Doyle's original structure based on Dr. Joseph Bell has always been a very visible element of the Sherlock Holmes character; one that the doctor himself was very proud of and one that has remained nearly unchanged over the past 125 years.
Sources:
- "The Chronicles of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Joseph Bell." Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Chronicles of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Web. 07 Dec. 2011.
- "Joseph Bell Feature Page on Undiscovered Scotland." Undiscovered Scotland: Home Page. Web. 07 Dec. 2011.
- "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes." Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Home Page. Web. 07 Dec. 2011.
Dawn Koogle - Dawn has an extensive writing portfolio. She has worked on numerous writing projects ranging from headlining news stories to children's ...
Join the Conversation