Arthur Conan Doyle: A Biographical Essay
Robert Lark
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2012 by Robert Lark
Arthur Conan Doyle: A Biographical Essay
During a trip to Canada in 1923, Arthur Conan Doyle became convinced that baseball was the superior sport to cricket. “I have all the prejudices of an old cricketer,” he said, “and yet I cannot get away from the fact that baseball is the better game.” Upon his return to Britain he did what he always did when possessed by an idea that he considered important: he wrote to the newspapers to declare and defend his position.
Though a debate on the merits of baseball and cricket may be trivial in itself, Conan Doyle’s enthusiastic approach to the issue was representative of his character in general. There was no issue too big or too small for him to champion. He was proud and brave and tireless in defense of the causes he cared about, whether it led to knighthood (as it did in 1902 for his services regarding the Boer War) or to public ridicule (as it did—and still does—for his embracement of spiritualism). He lived with great passion and had a voracious appetite for new experiences, and for these reasons—to say nothing of his literary achievements—he is a fascinating man to study.
Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh on May 22nd, 1859 (the same year, incidentally, that Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species). He attended Jesuit schools as a child and then enrolled as a medical student at Edinburgh University. It was during this time that he met Dr. Joseph Bell, a professor whose physical attributes and peculiar powers of induction would later serve as an inspiration for Sherlock Holmes.
Conan Doyle had to work during his time at Edinburgh University in order to support himself and his family (due to his father’s instability, his mother was left to raise ten children largely by herself). His need for adventure led him to take a job as a physician on board a whaling ship, and then, after graduating, on board a ship bound for Africa. This desire to travel never left him, even when he was old and in questionable health, and it led to countless adventures that could later be translated into fiction.