Explicit details about Sherlock Holmes's life outside of the adventures recordedby Dr. Watson are few and far between in Conan Doyle's original stories; nevertheless, incidental details about his early life and extended families portray aloose biographical picture of the detective.An estimate of Holmes' age in the story "His Last Bow" places his birth in 1854;the story is set in August 1914 and he is described as being 60 years of age. Commonly, the date is cited as January 6.[4] However, an argument for a later birthdate is posited by author Laurie R. King, based on two of Conan Doyle's stories: A Study in Scarlet and "The Gloria Scott" Adventure. Certain details in "TheGloria Scott" Adventure indicate Holmes finished his second and final year at university in either 1880 or 1885. Watson's own account of his wounding in the Second Afghan War and subsequent return to England in A Study in Scarlet place hismoving in with Holmes in either early 1881 or 1882. Together, these suggest Holmes left university in 1880; if he began university at the age of 17, his birth year would likely be 1861.[5]Holmes states that he first developed his methods of deduction while an undergraduate. The author Dorothy L. Sayers suggested that, given details in two of theAdventures, Holmes must have been at Cambridge rather than Oxford and that "of all the Cambridge colleges, Sidney Sussex (College) perhaps offered the greatestnumber of advantages to a man in Holmes
’ position and, in default of more exact information, we may tentatively place him there".[6]His earliest cases, which he pursued as an amateur, came from fellow universitystudents.[7] According to Holmes, it was an encounter with the father of one ofhis classmates that led him to take up detection as a profession,[8] and he spent the six years following university working as a consulting detective, before financial difficulties led him to take Watson as a roommate, at which point the narrative of the stories begins.From 1881, Holmes was described as having lodgings at 221B, Baker Street, London, from where he runs his consulting detective service. 221B is an apartment up 17 steps, stated in an early manuscript to be at the "upper end" of the road. Until the arrival of Dr. Watson, Holmes worked alone, only occasionally employing agents from the city
s underclass, including a host of informants and a group ofstreet children he calls "the Baker Street Irregulars". The Irregulars appear inthree stories: "A Study in Scarlet," "The Sign of the Four," and "The Adventureof the Crooked Man".Little is said of Holmes
s family. His parents were unmentioned in the stories and he merely states that his ancestors were "country squires". In "The Adventureof the Greek Interpreter", Holmes claims that his great-uncle was Vernet, the French artist. His brother, Mycroft, seven years his senior, is a government official who appears in three stories[9] and is mentioned in one other story.[10] Mycroft has a unique civil service position as a kind of memory-man or walking database for all aspects of government policy. Mycroft is described as even more gifted than Sherlock in matters of observation and deduction, but he lacks Sherlock
s drive and energy, preferring to spend his time at ease in the Diogenes Club,described as "a club for the most un-clubbable men in London."A portrait of Sherlock Holmes by Sidney Paget from The Strand Magazine, 1891 in"The Man with the Twisted Lip".Life with Dr. WatsonHolmes shares the majority of his professional years with his good friend and chronicler Dr. John H. Watson, who lives with Holmes for some time before his marriage in 1887, and again after his wife
s death; his residence is maintained by his landlady, Mrs. Hudson.Watson has two roles in Holmes
s life. First, he gives practical assistance in t
he conduct of his cases; he is the detective
s right-hand man, acting variouslyas look-out, decoy, accomplice and messenger. Second, he is Holmes
s chronicler(his "Boswell" as Holmes refers to him). Most of the Holmes stories are frame narratives, written from Watson
s point of view as summaries of the detective
s most interesting cases. Holmes is often described as criticising Watson
s writingsas sensational and populist, suggesting that they neglect to accurately and objectively report the pure calculating "science" of his craft.Detection is, or ought to be, an exact science and should be treated in thesame cold and unemotional manner. You have attempted to tinge it ["A Study in Scarlet"] with romanticism, which produces much the same effect as if you worked alove-story ... Some facts should be suppressed, or, at least, a just sense of proportion should be observed in treating them. The only point in the case whichdeserved mention was the curious analytical reasoning from effects to causes, bywhich I succeeded in unravelling it.[11]—Sherlock Holmes on John Watson
s "pamphlet", "A Study in Scarlet".Nevertheless, Holmes
s friendship with Watson is his most significant relationship. In several stories, Holmes
s fondness for Watson—often hidden beneath his cold, intellectual exterior—is revealed. For instance, in "The Adventure of the ThreeGarridebs", Watson is wounded in a confrontation with a villain; although the bullet wound proves to be "quite superficial", Watson is moved by Holmes
s reaction:It was worth a wound; it was worth many wounds; to know the depth of loyaltyand love which lay behind that cold mask. The clear, hard eyes were dimmed fora moment, and the firm lips were shaking. For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain. All my years of humble butsingle-minded service culminated in that moment of revelation.In all, Holmes is described as being in active practice for 23 years, with Watson documenting his cases for 17 of them.[12]RetirementIn "His Last Bow", Holmes has retired to a bee farm on the Sussex Downs in 1903–1904, where he takes up the hobby of beekeeping as his primary occupation, eventually producing a "Practical Handbook of Bee Culture, with some Observations uponthe Segregation of the Queen". The story features Holmes and Watson coming out of retirement one last time to aid the war effort. Only one adventure, "The Adventure of the Lion
s Mane", which is narrated by Holmes as he pursues the case asan amateur, takes place during the detective
s retirement.Habits and personalityWatson describes Holmes as "bohemian" in habits and lifestyle. According to Watson, Holmes is an eccentric, with no regard for contemporary standards of tidiness or good order. In The Musgrave Ritual, Watson describes Holmes thus:Although in his methods of thought he was the neatest and most methodical ofmankind ... [he] keeps his cigars in the coal-scuttle, his tobacco in the toe end of a Persian slipper, and his unanswered correspondence transfixed by a jack-knife into the very centre of his wooden mantelpiece ... He had a horror of destroying documents.... Thus month after month his papers accumulated, until everycorner of the room was stacked with bundles of manuscript which were on no account to be burned, and which could not be put away save by their owner.[7]What appears to others as chaos, however, is to Holmes a wealth of useful information. Throughout the stories, Holmes would dive into his apparent mess of random papers and artefacts, only to retrieve precisely the specific document or eclectic item he was looking for.
Watson frequently makes note of Holmes
s erratic eating habits. The detective isoften described as starving himself at times of intense intellectual activity,such as during "The Adventure of the Norwood Builder", wherein, according to Watson:[Holmes] had no breakfast for himself, for it was one of his peculiarities that in his more intense moments he would permit himself no food, and I have known him to presume upon his iron strength until he has fainted from pure inanition.[13]His chronicler does not consider Holmes
s habitual use of a pipe, or his less frequent use of cigarettes and cigars, a vice. Nor does Watson condemn Holmes
s willingness to bend the truth or break the law on behalf of a client (e.g., lyingto the police, concealing evidence or breaking into houses) when he feels it morally justifiable.[14] Even so, it is obvious that Watson has stricter limits than Holmes, and occasionally berated Holmes for creating a "poisonous atmosphere"of tobacco smoke.[15] Holmes himself references Watson
s moderation in "The Adventure of the Devil
s Foot", saying, "I think, Watson, that I shall resume that course of tobacco-poisoning which you have so often and so justly condemned." Watson also did not condone Holmes
s plans when they manipulated innocent people, such as when he toyed with a young woman
s heart in The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton although it was done with noble intentions to save many other young women from the clutches of the villainous Milverton.Holmes is portrayed as a patriot acting on behalf of the government in matters of national security in a number of stories.[16] He also carries out counter-intelligence work in His Last Bow, set at the beginning of the First World War. As shooting practice, the detective adorned the wall of his Baker Street lodgings with "VR" (Victoria Regina) in bullet pocks made by his pistol.[7]Holmes has an ego that at times borders on arrogant, albeit with justification;he draws pleasure from baffling police inspectors with his superior deductions.He does not seek fame, however, and is usually content to allow the police to take public credit for his work. It
s often only when Watson publishes his storiesthat Holmes
s role in the case becomes apparent.[17]Holmes is pleased when he is recognised for having superior skills and respondsto flattery, as Watson remarks, as a girl does to comments upon her beauty.Holmes
s demeanour is presented as dispassionate and cold. Yet when in the midstof an adventure, Holmes can sparkle with remarkable passion. He has a flair forshowmanship and will prepare elaborate traps to capture and expose a culprit, often to impress Watson or one of the Scotland Yard inspectors.[18]Holmes is a loner and does not strive to make friends. He attributes his solitary ways to his particular interests and his mopey disposition. In The Adventure of the Gloria Scott, he tells Watson that during two years at college, he made only one friend, Victor Trevor. Holmes says, "I was never a very sociable fellow,Watson, always rather fond of moping in my rooms and working out my own little methods of thought, so that I never mixed much with the men of my year;... my line of study was quite distinct from that of the other fellows, so that we had nopoints of contact at all." He is similarly described in A Study in Scarlet as difficult to draw out by young Stamford.Holmes
emotional state/mental health has been a topic of analysis for decades.At their first meeting in A Study in Scarlet, the detective warns Watson that hegets "in the dumps at times" and doesn
t open his "mouth for days on end." Manyreaders and literary experts have suggested Holmes showed signs of manic depressive psychosis, with moments of intense enthusiasm coupled with instances of indolent self absorption. Other modern readers have speculated that Holmes may have
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