Dr John H. Watson is a medical doctor, formerly in the British Army.

He
was married to Mary Watson and is arguably the only friend and
confidant of Sherlock Holmes.

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Background and description

In the debut Holmes story A Study in Scarlet, Watson, as the narrator,

describes meeting Holmes, their subsequent sharing of rooms at 221B
Baker Street, his attempts to discover the profession of his taciturn
companion, Holmes's eventual taking of Watson into his confidence, and
the events surrounding their first case together. Watson describes
Holmes and his methods in too romantic and sentimental a manner for
Holmes' taste. In time, they become close friends. In The Sign of Four,
John Watson met Mary Morstan, who became his wife. Mary seemed
somewhat less sure of her husband, however, absentmindedly calling
him "James" in the short story "The Man with the Twisted Lip". This may
be a simple typographical error, though some have speculated that it is
a wifely reference to Watson's unknown middle name, which could have
been "Hamish" (Scottish for "James") Dorothy Sayers, creator of the
detective Lord Peter Wimsey, also wrote several essays on Holmesian
speculation, later published this theory in Unpopular Opinions. Watson
is a physician of some experience (as was Conan Doyle). Watson had
served in the British Army medical corps in Afghanistan, but was
discharged following an injury Watson gives two separate locations for
the Jezail bullet wound he received while serving in the British Army. In
A Study in Scarlet he states "I was struck on the shoulder by a Jezail
bullet, which shattered the bone and grazed the subclavian artery."
However in The Sign of the Four, Watson informs us "... [I] sat nursing
my wounded leg. I had had a Jezail bullet through it some time before,
and though it did not prevent me from walking it ached wearily at every
change of the weather". "The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor" contains
the only other reference to the injury. Here Watson is a little ambiguous;
he tells us "the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs
as a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence."
received in the line of duty during the Battle of Maiwand. Watson was
almost killed in the long and arduous retreat from the battle, but was
saved by his orderly, Murray. He was also struck with fever and was
invalided out of the Army with a half pay officer pension of 11 shillings
and 6 pence a month. When Watson first returns from Afghanistan, he is
"as thin as a lath and as brown as a nut." His more normal appearance is
hinted at in "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton": "... a
middle-sized, strongly built man--square jaw, thick neck, moustache ...".
In The Hound of the Baskervilles he notes that he is "reckoned fleet of
foot". By 1914 (in the story "His Last Bow"), he is described as
"thickset". He is evidently not ill-favored, as Holmes several times jokes
about Watson's success with women. Not very much is written about his
family-his deceased father had the same initials as his son and was
prosperous enough to own a 50 guineas watch; he had a elder brother
also deceased whom Holmes after studying the heirloom watch deduces
that although he was relatively prosperous he was also careless and
was addicted to strong drink; pawned his heirloom watch four times
(although he redeemed the pledges) and the reminder of his brother's
life is a very painful subject for John Watson personally. By the time
Watson comes back from India, he admits to having no living kin in
England.