Percy Phelps

“How are you, Watson? I should never have known you under that moustache, and I daresay you would not be prepared to swear to me.”

Nickname(s), etc.: “Tadpole”, “Tadpole” Phelps, Phelps, Mr. Phelps

Age: “[M]uch the same age as [Watson]”, “a young man”

Job(s): “A situation of trust and honor” in the Foreign Office where copying important documents and keeping them safe is part of his job.

Weapon(s) of Choice: His connections.

Address: Briarbrae, Woking, Surrey, England, “Briarbrae proved to be a large detached house standing in extensive grounds, within a few minutes’ walk of [Woking] station.”

Appeared in: The Adventure of the Naval Treaty (set in 1889, published in 1893)

Description:

It is interesting to note that in a time when most men smoked tobacco in some form and variety he did not smoke himself. He also did not drink.

Eyes: Unknown

Hair: Short

Skin: Pale

Face: Nothing distinguishing of note.

Figure: Unknown, probably average were it not for his illness at the time.

Personality: intelligent, hard-working, tactful, sensitive, responsible, dedicated

History: Percy Phelps was born into a family with connections and thus got a good start in life. When he was 15 years old, he met and befrended the 13 year old who would grow up to be Dr. Watson. Later, he went on to University at Cambridge (http://www.cam.ac.uk/) and got a job with his uncle in the Foreign Office (http://www.fco.uk/en/) Recently, however, an important document has gone missing, “that seret treaty between England and Italy” that “defined the position of Great Britian towards the Triple Alliance, and foreshadowed the policy which [England] would persue in the event of the French fleet gaining a complete ascendency over that of Italy in the Mediterranean”. Having heard of his former schoolmate’s doings, and of said friend’s fellow-lodger, through his writings, Phelps had no choice but to contact the only ones who could help him recover it.

Relations:

Holmes: Phelps knew Holmes was his old friend’s fellow-lodger and asked Watson to bring him to help him find the missing document. To Holmes, Phelps is a client and a friend of a friend.

Watson: Watson writes that he and Phelps were “[,] [d]uring [his] school days[,] […] intimately associated”. This, of course, means that the two were good friends while they went to school together, Watson in third form while Phelps was in the fifth, two classes ahead.

Holdhurst: Lord Holdhurst was Phelps’s uncle on his mother’s side. While he was in school, Phelps was teased for this connection, chased on the playground and hit by his schoolfellows with croquet hoops on the shins for fun. However, once he grew up, he used the influence being Lord Holdhurst’s nephew gave him to get a great job. Back then, nepotism was not against any rules or laws. When Lord Holdhurst became Foreign Minister, he delegated tasks to Phelps which Phelps always did well in and he “came at last to have the utmost confidence in [Phelps’] ability and tact”. “[A] nobleman who is in truth noble”, Holdhurst cares for his nephew but can do nothing for him when important papers go missing except to tell Holmes all he knows.

Harrison, A.: Annie Harrison was Percy’s fiancee, “a striking-looking woman, a little short and thick for symmetry, but with a beautiful olive complexion, large, dark Italian eyes, and a wealth of deep black hair”. She is “[a] girl of strong character” and “a good sort” of person who, when Phelps took ill, stayed at his place to nurse him back to health, waiting on him hand and foot.

Harrison, J.: Joseph Harrison was to be Percy’s brother-in-law. Described as a stout man in his late thirties with ruddy cheeks and merry eyes that make him look slighly boyish, he has trouble with stocks and isn’t as nice and considerate as his sister.

F.A.Q.s

What was the Triple Alliance?
The Triple Alliance was the military alliance of Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary (which was, of course, the countries of Austria and Hungary allied together, along with Bohemia, and a few other places, under the House of Habsburg at the time). This alliance lasted from 1882 until 1914 and the start of World War I. The three had agreed to support each other should they be attacked. There were other Triple Alliances in the past and a Triple Alliance War but those were unlikely to be the one referred to. On the other side, there was the Triple Entente: France, Britan and Russia. They were created a bit later, in 1907, and later became the Allies of WWI. By the time NAVA was set in, the treaty that brought those powers together hadn’t been made or signed yet.

Inspector Stanley Hopkins

“I understand now, what I should never have forgotten, that I am the pupil and you are the master. Even now I see what you have done, but I don’t know how you did it, or what it signifies.”

Nickname(s), etc.: Inspector Hopkins, Hopkins, Mr. Hopkins

Age: 29-30 in The Adventure of the Golden Pince-nez, “thirty years of age” as of The Adventure of Black Peter, 31-32 in The Adventure of the Abbey Grange

Job(s): Policeman

Rank: Inspector

Weapon(s) of choice: As an Inspector of Scotland Yard, he would use the standard equipment: A billy club (or a cutlass for more dangerous areas), handcuffs, a signalling device (a wooden rattle to be replaced by a metal whistle in the 1890s) and an oil lamp to light the way.

Address: 46, Lord Street, Brixton, London, England

Appeared in: The Adventure of Black Peter (set in 1895, published in 1904), The Adventure of the Golden Pince-nez (set in 1894, published in 1904), The Adventure of the Abbey Grange (set in 1897, published in 1904), mentioned in The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter (published in 1904)

Description:

Has “the erect bearing of one who [is] accustomed to official uniform”.

Eyes: Unknown

Hair: Probably kept short as was the style for men back then.

Skin: Light-skinned

Face: “alert, eager face”

Figure: “youthful figure”

Personality: wise, curious, brave, hasty, observant

History: Hopkins’ history is largely unknown except for his career in the force. He refers to BLAC as his “first big chance” but it was not his first case as an Inspector, nor his last. As a young Inspector, he probably still had yet to prove himself a capable officer on the level of those like Lestrade and Gregson who are capable, at least, as far as the Yard is concerned. Aside from that, we do know he was born in 1865 (BLAC).

Relations:

Holmes: Hopkins sees Holmes as a protege would a teacher and has both admiration and respect for him, calling him on many of his cases. Holmes has high hopes for his future in the force and shows a practical interest in his career but dislikes how his methods are applied and grows disappointed in him when he jumps to conclusions without considering alternate solutions. Still, he does give Holmes some interesting cases “and on each occasion his summons has been entirely justified”, and Holmes does acknowlege his inexperience and that the proceedures and rules of working as a police officer limits what Hopkins can do.

Watson: Hopkins knows Watson as a friend and collegue of Holmes’ and Watson knows Hopkins as a young, helpful Inpector of the yard in whose career Holmes had taken an interest. They are more casual aquantances than anything but there are times when the two show the same feelings towards things, such as being amazed at Holmes’ deductions, for example. In a way, they are both Holmes’ students.

F.A.Q.s

Is Stanley Hopkins the son of Sherlock Holmes?
Probably not. This was a hypothesis (put forth in an article called “Sherlock and Son” by Marion Prince) that was likely mostly based on the two men having the same initials and Watson’s changing of some details involved with cases including names. If Sherlock Holmes was born in 1854 (LAST), he would have been 41 in BLAC. By those calculations, Holmes would have probably been about ten or eleven years old when little Stanley was concieved and definitely eleven years old when the baby was finally born. There is no evidence of Hopkins being related directly to Sherlock or his family in any way. Watson, who tells of Holmes’ brother Mycroft (The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter), Vernet the french artist and his sister who is Holmes’ grandmother (GREE), and young Dr. Verner the distant relation of Holmes (The Adventure of the Norwood Builder), would have said if Hopkins were related to Holmes. That is, unless there was some important reason to hide that and Holmes requested it.

Is Inspector Hopkins related to the eccentric millionaire Ezekiah Hopkins of The Adventure of the Red-Headed League?
Not at all. Ezekiah Hopkins was a fake. A man can not be related to someone who has never existed and will never exist. Therefore, no relation there.

What is a Chubb’s key/ Chubb lock?
Chubb’s keys and Chubb locks are mentioned in GOLD and A Scandal In Bohemia. They were, and still are, a company which produces products for security and, later, fire protection. They were founded in 1818 and, by the mid 1840s, became a household word. You can find their website at http://www.chubb.co.uk and it’s interesting to note that they “no longer [provide] locks and safes, or related products in England, Wales and Scotland”, though they are “a leading provider of fire safety and security products and services in the UK”.

Violet Smith

“Yes, I bicycle a good deal, Mr. Holmes, and that has something to do with my visit to you to-day.”

Nickname(s), etc.: Miss Violet Smith, Miss Smith, Mrs. Morton

Age: A “young…woman”

Job(s): Music Teacher

Weapon(s) of Choice: Her bicycle, her wise judgement

Address: Chiltern Grange, about six miles from Farnham, on the borders of Surrey, in the country, while in Carruthers’ employ, and somewhere in Farnham on the week-ends with her mother. Later, probably somewhere in or near Westminster, England, where she lives with her husband.

Appeared in: The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist (set in 1895, published in 1903)

Description:

A “young and beautiful woman […], graceful, and queenly[.]”

Eyes: Unknown

Hair: Unknown, probably long.

Skin: A little tanned and healthy-looking from living in the country

Face: Has “a spirituality about the face”

Figure: Tall, fit from being “so ardent a bicyclist”

Hands: Spatulate finger-ends from playing music.

Personality: a good judge of character, caring, smart, high-spirited, responsible

History: Violet smith was the daughter of James Smith, an orchestra conductor. It is probable that she was exposed to music at an early age, found the same enjoyment in it that her father did and followed in his footsteps in her own way. She also grew to be a beautiful girl with no lack of admirers. When Mr. Smith died, she and her mother were left poor and with only one relation: Ralph Smith, Violet’s uncle and her father’s brother who went to Africa and never came back. A while after, Violet was contacted by two men who claimed to be friends of her uncle who said her uncle died in poverty in Johannesburg, South Africa, and who wanted to carry out her uncle’s wishes to see that his relations were well cared for. Since they were not well off, one of the men, a Mr. Carruthers, suggested that she come to his place to teach his ten-year-old daughter music for a hundred pounds a year and visit her mother on the weekends. To this, she agreed. Lately, however, she has found herself being followed on bicycle whenever she rode her bike to the station to take the train to town. Unnerved by this unknown stalker, who looked but never dared to come near her, she decided to consult someone who may be able to help and advise her.

Relations:

Holmes: Smith becomes Holmes’ client after she comes to him about a stalker that always follows her on bike. Holmes treats her as he would any female he crossed paths with, behaving chivalrously, and shows no interest in her aside from her welfare and her difficulties that make up the case she brings him.

Watson: Watson cared for her as a gentleman and a doctor but had no clearly seen romantic interest in her even though he thought her beautiful. He assists Holmes on her case. They are aquaintances.

J. Smith: Violet and her father James probably had a very loving father and daughter relationship, especially seeing as they were both, in some way, involved with music in their careers.

R. Smith: Ralph Smith “took no notice of [Mrs. Smith and Violet] when he was alive” so Violet’s relationship with “Uncle Ralph” was so distant as to almost not exist, making the thought that he wanted them cared for after his death seem a bit suspicious to his niece. Since he went to Africa twenty-five years before the year in which the story was set, and as Violet is described as a young woman, one wonders whether they even saw each other at all. Perhaps she had only heard of him through her father’s stories.

Mrs. Smith: Violet loves her mother very much, so much that she was reluctant to leave her to take a job that would seperate them. It is not a big stretch of the imagination to hypothesise that these feelings were reciprocated and that the death of Mr. Smith and their lack of other relations only served to bring them closer together.

Morton: Violet Smith and Cyril Morton, an electrical engineer who works at the Midland Eclectrical Company in Coventry, loved each other very much. They were engaged to be married. In the end, she does marry him and he becomes “the senior partner of Morton & Kennedy, the famous Westminster electricians”.

Woodley: Mr. “Roaring” Jack Woodley, “a coarse, puffy-faced, red-moustached young man with his hair plastered down on each side of his forehead”, “seemed to [Smith] a most odious person[,] […] for ever making eyes at [her]”. Smith found him too forward, “a bully to everyone else, but to [her] something infinitely worse”, and when he made advances that she made clear were entirely unwelcome Mr. Carruthers threw him out. He decided to continue the plan anyway, ruffian that he was, all by himself, despite his partner in the conspiracy backing out.

Carruthers: With Mr. Woodley, Bob Carruthers, “a much older man, […] dark, sallow, clean-shaven, silent […] [with] polite manners and a pleasant smile”, was one of the two gentlemen who contacted Smith about her uncle. A widower, he hired her to teach his daughter, but soon came to have some feelings for her that were a bit more than friendly. Unfortunately for him, those feelings were one-sided. When Woodley became too forceful in his intentions, Carruthers threw him out and kept him out, promising Smith it would never happen again. And then he took steps to ensure her safety in secret.

Mrs. Dixon: Carruthers’ housekeeper, “a very respectable, elderly person”, was essentially Smith’s co-worker. Nothing else is known.

Miss Carruthers: Mr. Carruthers’ ten year old daughter, and, indeed, his only daughter, was described by Smith as “a dear”. Clearly, her teacher was fond of her.

F.A.Q.s

Why was marrying Smith so important?
With English law the way it was back then, should a woman marry, all her property from before her marriage would belong to her husband [except for a settlement (1/3) set aside that would go to her should her husband die for the purpose of taking care of herself and any children living with her and any wages she would earn from an occupation (as well as any money she inherited from her next of kin) while married were also hers]. In truth, Uncle Ralph Smith was to die a wealthy man without a will as he could neither read nor write and his niece was considered his next of kin (perhaps because she was related by blood, rather than his brother’s wife who came from another family). The plan was for Woodley to seduce her while she was still ignorant of this and marry her once she would inherit. Then, he and Carruthers would collect instead of her. However, plans went awry to the benefit of both Smith who got a happy future with a kind husband who loved her and one Cyril Morton who gained both a loving wife and a large fortune which he probably put to good and, and wise, use investing at least a small part in his electric business.

What kind of instrument did Violet Smith play?
When Holmes examines Violet’s ungloved hand, he notices her spatulate fingertips and “nearly [falls] into the error of supposing that [she was a (typewritist/typist)]”. One can guess from the description that her instrument works in a way similar to a typewriter and involves the pressing of keys by fingers. Therefore, the most likely candidate is probably the piano or the like.’

Is Archie Stamford the forger related to, or the same person as, Stamford from Barts?
There is nothing to indicate that they are in any way connected by anything other than having the same last name and it is not likely that the Stamford Watson knew at St. Bartholomew’s became a criminal. In fact, A Study in Scarlet never mentions Stamford’s first name. In the BBC mini-series Sherlock, he is called “Mike”, in Season 1 Episode 1, “A Study In Pink” which is based on STUD.

Was Violet Smith related to Culverton Smith of The Adventure of the Dying Detective?
Again, probably not. Some surnames were, and still are, more common than others. Smith is just one of them. It comes from the times when some surnames were chosen based on what someone did for a living to distingush them from others with the same first name. Those with the surname Smith usually had an ancestor who worked with metals.

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Inspector Tobias Gregson

“The tremendous exertions which I have gone through during the last day or two have worn me out. Not so much bodily exertion, you understand, as the strain upon the mind. You will appreciate that, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, for we are both brain-workers.”

Nicknames: Gregson, Mr. Gregson, Inspector Gregson

Age: Unknown but probably around the same age as Lestrade.

Job(s): Policeman

Rank: Inspector

Weapon(s) of Choice: The standard policeman equipment given to all of his kind- a billy club (or a cutlass for more dangerous areas), handcuffs, a signalling device (a wooden rattle to be replaced in the 1890s by a metal whistle), and an oil lamp to be used like a flashlight/torch.

Address: Unknown, London, England

Appeared in: A Study In Scarlet (set in 1881, published in 1887), The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter (published in 1893), The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge (set in 1892, published in 1908), The Adventure of the Red Circle (published in 1911), mentioned in The Sign of the Four (set in 1887, published in 1890)

Description:

Eyes: “bulldog eyes”

Hair: Blond, “flaxen”

Skin: Pale

Face: Nothing notable.

Figure: Tall, a bit large

Personality: prideful, competitive, intelligent, “energetic, gallant,”, careful, professional, calm, methodical, thoughtful

History: Unknown but for his career in the force.

Relations:

Holmes: Holmes thinks of Lestrade and Gregson as “the pick of a bad lot” and considers Gregson to be “the smartest of the Scotland Yarders”. Gregson feels more secure when Holmes is helping out, though he’d never admit it to anyone aside from Holmes himself, and, possibly, Watson. He also doesn’t mind that much when Holmes breaks into a house, for example, in order to save a life and/or catch a criminal, should the circumstances call for it (GREE).

Watson: Watson meets Gregson through Holmes. They seem to be on good terms.

Lestrade: To Gregson, Lestrade is a rival in his field and the two seem to be almost complete oppposites in appearance and personality. The feeling is mutual on Lestrades side of it. There are times, however, that they do agree with each other on things.

Baynes: Inspector Baynes of the Surrey Constabulary, described as “a stout, puffy, red man who’s face was only redeemed from grossness by two extrodinarily bright[, and tiny,] eyes, almost hidden behind the heavy creases of cheek and brow”, worked together with Gregson during WIST. No other connections known.

Leverton: “Mr. Leverton of Pinkerton’s American Agency”, “[t]he hero of the Long Island Cave mystery”, worked with Gregson during REDC. Gregson treats Leverton, “a quiet, businesslike young man, with a clean-shaven, hatchet face”, like any other collegue, for the most part, but he insists on going into crime scenes first while they are in London.

F.A.Q.s

Are Gregson and Lestrade a couple?
There is nothing in STUD, the only story in which they appear together, to indicate anything to that effect. Even so, as Inspectors of Scotland Yard, they would spend time in each other’s company and clash over cases. Who knows whether or not they continued to be rivals off-duty? We are not given much and do not know if their relationship ever changed over time.

“Journeys end (in/with) lovers meetings’ (, as the old play says).”?
Holmes says the phrase twice. It comes from Twelfth Night; or, What You Will, a comedic play by William Shakespeare, the “old play” Holmes speaks of. He says it once to Col. Sebastian Moran in 1894 upon aprehending him in The Adventure of the Empty House and then later to Inspector Gregson in REDC when he met with him and Leverton by coincidence. It is an expression and a very slight misquotation. It is probable that what Holmes meant by it was something like “Now that you’re here, the case is practically closed.”

Reginald Musgrave

“‘And under’, you have omitted the ‘and under.’”

Nickname(s), etc.: Mr. Musgrave,

Age: Around the ages of Sherlock Holmes and Victor Trevor.

Job(s): Manager of Hurlstone, District member

Weapon(s) of Choice: His memory

Address: The Hurlstone estate (or “The Manor House of Hurlstone”), western Sussex, “[A] rambling old place [that] takes a good deal of looking after.”, “perhaps the oldest inhabited building in the country”, “decorated with trophies of old weapons”, “it is built in the shape of an L, the long arm being the more modern portion, and the shorter the ancient nucleus from which the other has developed. Over the low, heavy-lintelled door, in the centre of this old part, is chiseled the date, 1607, but experts are agreed that the beams and stonework are really much older than this. The enormously thick walls and tiny windows of this part had in the last century driven the family into building the new wing, and the old one was used now as a storehouse and a cellar, when it was used at all. A splendid park with fine old timber surrounds the house, and the lake, to which my client had referred, lay close to the avenue, about two hundred yards from the building.”

Appeared in: The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual (published in 1893), set some time after The Adventure of the Gloria Scott (published in 1893) and before A Study in Scarlet (set in 1881, published in 1887)

Description:

“In appearance he was a man of an exceedingly aristocratic type, […] with languid and yet courtly manners. […] He […] dressed like a young man of fashion - he was always a bit of a dandy - and [had a] quiet, suave manner […].”

Eyes: “[L]arge-eyed”

Hair: Unknown

Skin: “Pale”

Face: “[H]igh-nosed”, “keen”

Figure: “[T]hin”

Personality: diffident, intelligent, polite, responsible, kind

History: Reginald Musgrave was born a descendant of a branch of one of the oldest families in England. One of his ancestors (Sir Ralph) was a cavalier (a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and II during the mid to late 1600s) and the right-hand man of King Charles the Second. Reginald was given an education typical of those of his family’s economic standing and went on to college where he became acquainted with a young man who would one day become the world’s only Consulting Detective. Four years since Reginald had last seen him, and two since Reginald’s father died, he came to Holmes with a peculiar problem involving a missing maid and butler and an old family secret long buried.

Relations:

Holmes: Musgrave was an acquaintance of Holmes’ from the two years he was in university. Holmes calls him an acquaintance, not a friend, unlike Victor Trevor (GLOR), so they weren’t that close but they knew each other. Musgrave knew and had confidence in his former fellow-student’s powers enough to ask him for help, presenting Holmes with his third case and what Holmes considered to be his first step towards the position he came to hold.

Brunton: Richard Brunton the butler was employed by the Musgraves and has been with them for 20 years, hired by Reginald’s father. He and Reginald were on good terms until he was caught looking at a certain family document. Reginald fired him, obviously for snooping through his personal stuff, and gave him a week to leave.

Howells: Rachel Howells was the second housemaid of Musgrave. She had feelings for the butler who had become a widower but he dumped her for the daughter of the head game-keeper, Janet Tregellis. Even so, she retained enough feelings for him to become his accomplice for a short time. Musgrave and Howells seemed to have a good employer and employee relationship before her disappearance.

F.A.Q.s

What was the Musgrave ritual?
The Musgrave ritual itself was originally a series of questions and answers that gave the directions to the treasure hidden in the cellar of the Hurlstone estate with some possible errors in not taking some things into account. It was handed from father to son in a sort of coming-of-age ceremony, after the original owner of the secret died, without any knowledge of exactly what it was about. Since then, it was memorized by all Musgraves. The growth of the tree in question would have set the measurements off and, originally, there was no indication of the time of year, which would have changed the length of the shadow, but, in later editions, the lines “What was the month? The sixth from the first.” were added to correct at least this part.

Violet Hunter

“Here are his keys, which are the duplicates of Mr. Rucastle’s.”

Nickname(s), etc.: Miss Hunter, Violet.

Age: Unknown, described as a “young lady”.

Job(s): Governess (five years with Col. Munro’s children, over two weeks in Mr. Rucastle’s employment), Principal

Weapon(s) of Choice: Her brains, a broken piece of a hand-mirror and a handkerchief.

Address: Wherever she was working for Col. Munro, The Copper Beeches (Mr. Rucastle’s place), “five miles on the far side of Winchester”, Hampshire, England, “[T]he dearest old country-house”, “

It is […] beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord Southerton’s preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in front of the hall door has given its name to the place.”, Walsall (where she is head of a school).

Appeared in: The Adventure of the Copper Beeches (published in 1892). This story is set sometime after A Scandal In Bohemia (set in 1888, published 1891), A Case of Identity (set in 1888, published 1891), The Man with the Twisted Lip (set in 1889, published in 1891) and The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor (set in 1887, published in 1892). Whether it is set before or after The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (set in 1890, published in 1892), which also mentions SCAN, IDEN and TWIS as past cases, is unknown but COPP is usually said to be after BLUE.

Description:

Has “the brisk manner of a woman who has had her own way to make in the world”, knows “[a] little French, a little German, music, and drawing”.

Eyes: Unknown

Hair: Chestnut Brown, a reddish shade of brown that is more brown than auburn, “somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of chestnut. It has been considered artistic.”

Skin: Light-skinned, nothing notable but those freckles on her face.

Face: “bright, quick”, “freckled like a plover’s egg” (many freckles),

Figure: Probably slim or average for a woman her age.

Personality: intelligent, caring, independent, a little vain, brave, sensible, strong-willed, polite, observant, responsible

History: What Violet Hunter tells of her history is more of a job history than a personal one and she only tells what is relevant to her case. Outside of that, she does reveal that she has no parents or relations. It is likely that they died years ago. She was “a governess for five years, in the family of Colonel Spencer Munro” However, when the Colonel took his children with him to Canada (Halifax, Nova Scotia) she needed to seek employment elsewhere. Seven weeks later, she met with a most unusual job offer. She would be highly paid (100 pounds), a little more than twenty times her previous salary (which had been four pounds) and part of it in advance, if only she would cut her hair, do some small tasks and take care of and teach the six-year-old son (Edward) of a Mr. Jephro Rucastle. She refused, as she had no wish to cut her hair. The manageress of her employment agency, Miss Stoper, threatened to not find another offer for her if she did not take the job, though, and when a letter came to her from Mr. Rucastle, increasing the salary to exactly thirty times what Col. Munro had paid her, twenty pounds more than the first offer, more than most would ever get for such a position, Hunter decided to consult with someone who would know what to do even though she mostly made up her mind already to take the post.

Relations:

Holmes: Violet Hunter asks Holmes for his advice. Although she had pretty much decided to agree to Mr. Rucastle’s terms, she respected Holmes’ opinion and his wisdom and wanted to know what he thought of things. In the end, she did need the money and he knew that what she really wanted was the reassurance that he would be there to help her should something be truly wrong with the situation and nothing he could say would change her mind if she truly wanted to take the job. Upon first meeting her, Holmes was “favourably impressed by the manner and speech of his new client” Hunter. But even though he liked her, and, indeed, he said to her that he thought her “a quite exceptional woman”, he “manifested no further interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one of his problems”.

Watson: Watson liked Hunter and seemed to think that Hunter would make a good match for Holmes, perhaps as a friend but more probably as a possible romantic interest as well. He was disappointed to see that Holmes had no interest in her apart from her case.

Jephro Rucastle: Hunter’s employer. At first, Hunter liked the man and his funny stories. However, as she got closer and closer to the truth, their relationship became strained until, finally, when the mystery was cleared up, they could no longer be friends or even employer and employee.

Mrs. Rucastle: The second wife of Hunter’s employer, Mrs. Rucastle “impressed [Hunter] neither favorably nor the reverse.” They got along, for the most part but she was very quiet and sad.

The Tollers: Violet Hunter did not like the Tollers, the two servants of Mr. Rucastle, very much and spoke of them as “a most unpleasant couple”. That is, at first. Things changed when the truth came out.

F.A.Q.s

Hold it, just how many “Violets” are there in canon?
There are four women named Violet, canonically. It appears to be a common name. The four women are Violet Hunter (COPP), Violet de Merville (The Adventure of the Illustrious Client), Violet Smith (The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist) and Violet Westbury (The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans).
Then again, there are nine Marys, including Mary Morstan and Mary Sutherland, and five Alices, including Alice Rucastle.

Does Holmes actually have a sister?
Holmes speaks of Mr. Rucastle’s job offer as “not the situation which I should like to see a sister of mine apply for” and Watson notes that, among his attempts to make sense of things after Hunter left, Holmes “would always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever have accepted such a situation.” This raises the question of whether or not he had a sister. The answer is that no sister is mentioned among his siblings other than the thought that he wouldn’t allow her to take the job if he did have one so there is no proof of a sister. This does not count, of course, any fiction written by others based on the stories and containing therein a character who is a sister or the only sister of Sherlock Holmes.

Charles Augustus Milverton

“My dear sir, it is painful for me to discuss it, but if the money is not paid on the 14th, there certainly will be no marriage on the 18th.”

Nickname(s), etc.: “[T]he king of all the blackmailers”, “[T]he worst man in London”, “one of the most dangerous men in London”, Milverton, Mr. Milverton, Charles Milverton.

Age: “a man of fifty”

Job(s): “Agent”, Blackmailer

Crime(s): Blackmail (multiple counts, total unknown)

Weapon(s) of Choice: Brains, blackmail material, accomplices (sources, informants), money, a large revolver, other weapons (like guns or knives, as he is armed to the teeth).

Address: Appledore Towers, a quarter of an hour’s walk from Church Row, Hampstead, near Hampsted Heath, London, England, “This is the house, this big one in it’s own grounds.”, A large, rich house with a conservatory.

Appeared in: The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton (set in 1899, released 1904)

Description:

“There was something of Mr. Pickwick’s benevolence in his appearance, marred only by […] insincerity […]. […] His voice was as smooth and suave as his countenance […].”

[Note: Samuel Pickwick ( a.k.a. Mr. Pickwick) was a naive, kindly character written by Charles Dickens, commissioned as glorified captions for the drawings of caricaturist Robert Seymour. He is often drawn as a round-faced, clean-shaven, portly gentleman wearing spectacles. See: “The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club” or “The Pickwick Papers”]

Eyes: Gray, “two keen gray eyes, which gleamed brightly from behind broad, gold-rimmed glasses”, “restless and penetrating eyes”

Hair: Gray or graying, grizzled, “with it’s shining patch of baldness”

Skin: Pale, presumably.

Face: “a large, intellectual head, a round, plump, hairless face, a perpetual frozen smile”

Figure: A bit short and stout, “broad, rounded back”, “plump little hand”

[Note: While Astrakhan is also a city in Russia (and could refer to the style of it by location), in the context of “shaggy astrakhan overcoat” it more likely refers to the Russian name for the pelts of newborn to about two-day-old Karakul sheep. The lambs are killed and the pelts could be sewn into an overcoat.]

Personality: hard-hearted, cunning, polite, greedy, patient, methodical, cautious, intelligent

History: Nothing is written about his history that isn’t in his criminal record. It is known, for example, that “he paid seven hundred pounds to a footman for a note two lines in length, and that the ruin of a noble family was the result” and that many in London feared him for what he could do to them and those they cared for. His dealings have also broken the engagement between “the Honorable Miss Miles and Colonel Dorking”. He also was responsible for ruining a woman’s life by sending her statesman husband letters that “broke his gallant heart” so much that he died, something that later becomes a fatal mistake. However, there is nothing else that is told of how he came to be.

Relations:

Holmes: Milverton seems to regard Holmes as just another detective. The blackmailer had probably dealt with lawyers and private detectives before, called in by his victims to aid and advise them as well as to negotiate, threateningly or not, with the man himself. Holmes, on the other hand, finds Milverton a completely repulsive person and loathes him. They are most definitely enemies.

Watson: Watson, as is usual, takes Holmes’s side so much so that he would be convinced into breaking into Milverton’s house with him to take Milverton’s blackmail material.

Agatha: The housemaid of Milverton and fiancee (later ex-fiancee) to a disguised Holmes as a plumber called “Escott” who has a hated rival in some man who fell in love with her. Nothing is known beyond a relationship of employer and employee.

Blackwell: Lady Eva Blackwell, “the most beautiful debutante of last season” and fiancee of the Earl of Dovercourt, had sent some letters in the past to a young and poor country squire. They were nothing too imprudent but should they be discovered it would break the engagement. Milverton got hold of the letters and agreed to keep them from the Earl as long as he was paid seven thousand pounds. Thus, she became Milverton’s victim and Holmes’s client.

[Note: debutante - a young aristocratic or upper class lady who has reached the age of maturity (and/or marriageable age) and is introduced into society at a formal “debut” presentation (such as a “debutante ball” or “coming-out party”).]

Unknown Woman/”Avenger”: A blackmail victim who desired to get revenge for what Milverton had done to her in the past. She was apparently a rich and important woman who had been the wife of a “great nobleman and statesman” with a “time-honored title”. This woman chose the very night Holmes and Watson break in to his house to make an attempt on Milverton’s life. She succeeds and, through luck, an awful lot of running, and Holmes’s cover story and refusal to take the case, no one is arrested.

F.A.Q.s

Was there ever a real Charles Augustus Milverton?
Not by that name, but yes, in a way. Charles Augustus Howell was an art dealer. A charismatic man and a smooth talker, he was excellent at his work. However, he gained a bad reputation. People believed that he was not only dishonest but he was also a blackmailer. He died (was murdered) under strange circumstances and although there was no real evidence to support claims of blackmail there were letters from high-placed people found at his home. His story inspired the character.

What happened to Agatha?
Agatha was never mentioned beyond her usefulness to Holmes in the case. However, one can assume that after the fake engagement was broken that she might have been comforted by Holmes’s rival for her affections. Perhaps the two of them became a couple or perhaps not. It does not say in the text.

Dr. Grimesby Roylott

“I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here. See that you keep yourself out of my grip,”

Nickname(s), etc.: Dr. Roylott

Age: Unknown

Job(s): Doctor.

Crime(s): Manslaughter, assault, battery, murder, attempted murder, abuse

Weapon(s) of Choice: His “immense strength”, a hunting-crop, intimidation, his brain, his animals.

Address: Stoke Moran, “on the western border of Surrey”, England,

“The building was of gray, lichen-blotched stone, with a high central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the stone-work had been broken into […] .”

Appeared in: The Adventure of the Speckled Band (set in 1883, released in 1892)

Description:

Resembles a fierce old bird of prey.

Eyes: “deep-set, bile-shot eyes” (bile-shot most likely means angry but could also mean yellowed as in jaundice which is the least likely of the two meanings)

Hair: Unknown

Skin: Tanned, “burned yellow with the sun”

Face: “A large face, seared with a thousand wrinkles”, “high, thin, fleshless nose”

Figure: extremely strong, “so tall was he that his hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway and his breadth seemed to span it across from side to side.”

Personality: argumentative, hot-tempered, responsible, cunning, cruel, intelligent, inventive

History: Dr. Grimesby Roylott was the son of the last squire of an old family that was formerly one of the richest in England. However, through irresponsible heirs, the family had come to ruin and all that was left was “a few acres of ground and the two-hundred-year-old house, which [was] itself crushed under a heavy mortgage.” He obtained a medical degree by borrowing money from a relative and established a practice in Calcutta (Kolkata, India). There, he met and married the young widow of Major-General Stoner of the Bengal artillery who came with nice sum of 1000 pounds a year (later calculated to be a “little short of 1100” which then becomes “not more than 750”), which she gave to him while making a provision that an annual sum be given to her daughters upon their marriage (250 pounds in the final calculations), and two-year-old twin girls Helen and Julia Stoner. The lot of them returned to England when, angry at his place in India being robbed several times, the doctor beat to death his butler of Indian lineage. Dr. Roylott spent some time in jail and then took the family home and tried to establish a practice in London. Unfortunately, his wife died shortly after in a railway accident in 1875 near Crewe leaving him with the two girls. He stopped trying and took his step-daughters with him to Stoke Moran, his ancestral home where he became “the terror of the village”, known for his strength and uncontrollable fits of rage. He made no friends except for the gypsies he allowed to set up camp on his land with whom he sometimes went away to wander for weeks. He also got some exotic animals from a pen pal in India and let them wander free on the grounds. In 1881, one Christmas, Julia met a half-pay major of the marines at her maiden aunt’s place and soon became engaged to him. The doctor offered no objections at the time but made plans to put an end to it. Within two weeks before the wedding, at thirty years of age, Julia was killed by what she could only describe in her last words as a “speckled band”. The coroner investigated with care but found no cause of death. Two years later, Helen was proposed to by a Percy Armitage, a friend she had known for years who lived at Crane Water near Reading. Again, it was time for the doctor to prevent it from occurring.

Relations:

Holmes: Holmes becomes an enemy to Roylott when Roylott’s remaining step-daughter becomes his client and Holmes sets out to prevent Roylott’s plans from coming to fruition. Roylott refers to Holmes as a “meddler”, a “busybody” and a “Scotland Yard Jack-in-office”, to which Holmes smiles and asks him to close the door on his way out.

Watson: Watson works with Holmes to help his client, making him an enemy of Roylott.

Mrs. Roylott: The widow of Major-General Stoner, Mrs. Roylott married Mr. Roylott when her twin daughters were but two years of age. She cared for her husband and children making sure that the latter would be able to live comfortably for the rest of their lives though inheritance. She left them when she died in a railway accident.

Julia Stoner: Twin sister of Helen, Julia disliked her step-fathers ways, though she cared for him, but had to live with them until she would finally marry. However, with what happened to her, she never got that chance.

Helen Stoner: Twin sister of Julia, Helen felt much the same as her sister did about her step-father, even to the point of hiding bruises on her arm given to her by him that were probably done in one of his fits of rage.

F.A.Q.s

Why does Sherlock Holmes call Helen Stoner “Miss Roylott”?
There has been some speculation on this. While some believe it is a mere error of Holmes’s, as, moments later, he refers to her as “Miss Helen Stoner” and, later, “Miss Stoner”, or an error of the editing of the book or a mistake of Watson in recording the case, others think it is an implication that the lady’s step-father had committed a far more sinister crime against her in addition to what can be obviously seen of his treatment of her. There have been things written on those possible answers but nothing showing the true answer beyond all doubt.
Speaking of Roylotts, some believe that the “railway accident” was no accident and that Mrs. Roylott actually committed suicide because she could no longer live with a man like Dr. Roylott. Like the other possibilities, it has been written about but unconfirmed.

What exactly is the “speckled band”?
The text says that it was a “swamp adder [,] the deadliest snake in India.” It drank milk and had the ability to hear a whistle and be trained by it, climb a rope and kill a strong, large, full-grown man in ten seconds with a bite from it’s venomous fangs. It was “yellow […] with brownish speckles” and had “the squat diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent.” It was also long enough to seem to bind itself tightly round the head of Dr. Roylott.
The problem is that there are no “swamp adders” native to India, not ones that look like that. Snakes do not normally drink milk if water is available but the myth was so well-known and had been around for so long that they are given some in a festival in India.
Snakes actually can climb trees with their rough bark but a bell-pull would be a difficult surface to navigate. They can hear sound through the air to some extent, despite not having external ears, but not as well as they can detect ground vibrations so they usually rely on the latter.
A snake, or anything, really, could never survive in an airtight safe for very long periods of time. There would have to be holes enough for it to breathe so there would be indications that something living was inside during an investigation and the question of why a snake was living in a safe would be raised.
It would also be difficult to find a snake who’s venom is so deadly that it can both kill such a big, powerful man as Dr. Roylott within ten seconds and be undetectable by chemical tests at the time the story was written.
Some have suggested that what Holmes actually said was something like “It is a samp-aderm! The deadliest skink in India.” This makes the “serpent” actually a snake-like lizard, and a hybrid with the Gila monster. With it’s clawed feet, it would be able to climb a bell-rope easier than a snake could and it’s venom would be quite fatal.

Sir Henry Baskerville

“There is no devil in hell, Mr. Holmes, and there is no man upon earth who can prevent me from going to the home of my own people, and you may take that to be my final answer.”

Nickname(s), etc.:

Sir Henry, The baronet,

Age:

“about thirty years of age”

Rank:

Baronet (a hereditary title of honor reserved for commoners, ranking below Barons but above all orders of knighthood except the Garter).

Job(s):

Farmer, Philanthropist.

Weapon(s) of Choice:

A hunting-crop.

Address:

Baskerville Hall, Dartmoor, Devon(shire), England, “a heavy block of building from which a porch projected. The whole front was draped in ivy, with a patch clipped bare here and there where a window or a coat of arms broke through the dark veil. From this central block, rose the twin towers, ancient, crenelated, and pierced with many loopholes. To the right and left of the turrets were more modern wings of black granite. A dull light shone through heavy mullioned windows, and from the high chimneys which rose from the steep, high-angled roof there sprang a single black column of smoke.”, also Canada and the United States.

Appeared in:

The Hound of the Baskervilles (set in 1889, published in 1902)

Description:

Sir Henry has a quiet assurance in his bearing, the presence of a gentleman. He speaks with a North American accent and has a habit of using the phrase “by thunder” as a swear.

Eyes:

Hazel, “large”, “dark-eyed”

Hair:

Black, with thick eyebrows.

Skin:

tan, “weather-beaten”

Face:

“strong, pugnacious”, “expressive”

Figure:

small, sturdily built, strong, hale.

Personality:

brave, fiery, kind, generous, strong-willed, smart, assertive, passionate, hot-tempered, outspoken, responsible

History:

Sir Henry Baskerville was born the son of the second of three brothers in an old, rich family with a long history of living in the same place and having a title, that of Baronet. His father died young. His uncles were Charles, the eldest of the three, and Rodger Baskerville, the youngest. Sir Henry “spent nearly all [his] time in the States and in Canada”, enough not to know much of British life, so it can be assumed that he grew up in the colonies from childhood, possibly taken there by his mother or father or by both his parents, and he went to school and became a farmer. When his eldest uncle died of fright, murdered, he became the heir to the Baskerville estate (a very large sum of money and Baskerville Hall itself as well as his uncle’s charitable works he started before his death and which could not be continued without an heir). He came to London to collect it and became involved in the mystery surrounding the death of Sir Charles.

Relations:

Holmes:

Through Mortimer, Sir Henry met Holmes after he arrived from North America. Holmes helped to keep Sir Henry safe and investigated the cause of his late uncle’s death with his friend and colleague Dr. Watson. Sir Henry trusts him with his life during a very dangerous part of the investigations and his trust is well rewarded.

Watson:

As Sherlock Holmes says he is busy with another case, Dr. Watson becomes guardian and friend to Sir Henry while, at the same time, investigating and reporting his findings for Holmes until he should arrive himself.

Mortimer:

Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, Doctor, or, rather, just Mister, as is traditional, James Mortimer was the good friend and medical attendant of Sir Charles making him, to Sir Henry, a family friend. Desiring to help find out exactly what happened to Sir Charles and to prevent Sir Henry from sharing the same fate, Mortimer calls on the only Consulting Detective in the world for assistance in this matter. Sir Henry and Mortimer become good friends too.

Sir Charles Baskerville:

Sir Charles was the eldest uncle of Sir Henry Baskerville. He was described to be amiable and charitable and “a strong-minded man, […] shrewed, practical and as unimaginative as [Mortimer]”. Yet he was superstitious about the old legend of Hugo Baskerville. Late one night, as he prepared to meet someone he was hoping to help out, he was scared to death by the sight of what he believed to be the hell-hound described in the curse, shocked enough to give him a heart attack due to his weak heart. After his death, Sir Henry desired to continue his philanthropic works. It is likely that the two had a good relationship as uncle and nephew.

Mr. and Mrs. Barrymore:

The Barrymores had served the Baskervilles for years as butler and maid respectively. However, with the death of Sir Charles, they decided they would help Sir Henry settle in and then seek employment elsewhere once Selden was out of the country and the mystery was cleared up. Baskerville Hall no longer felt like home to them. Until they leave, however, they would help in any way they could. The three of them are on good terms.

Selden:

Selden, “the Notting Hill murderer” and brother to Mrs. Eliza Barrymore, was the recipient of Sir Henry’s generosity when, after finding out about him and, at first, trying to capture him and hand him over to the police, he gave him some of his old clothes and let him continue to live on the moor and have his food taken to him as usual until he would leave for South America and commit no more crimes. They have no other ties.

“Jack Stapleton”/ “Mr. Vandeleur”/ Rodger Baskerville Jr.:

Long-lost cousin to Sir Henry, Rodger is the son of Rodger Baskerville, the youngest of the three Baskerville brothers. Wanting the place, and the inheritance, to himself, “Stapleton” uses the family legend, and his disguise as neighbor and bug collector, to keep himself from suspicion as he attempts to murder his way in. He and Sir Henry are definitely not friends, especially because of the way he treated his “sister”.

“Beryl Stapleton”/ “Mrs. Vandelur”/ Beryl Baskerville:

Beryl Garcia, known as one of the beauties of Costa Rica, married John Rodger Baskerville when she fell in love with him. However, she hadn’t known the kind of man he was and he used her for his schemes. The kindhearted wife, and pretend sister, of a dangerous and cruel, man, Beryl knew what laid in store for Sir Henry and tried to warn him away. He would not leave, however, and as the two got to know each other they grew close enough for them to have some feelings of affection and romantic love between them.

F.A.Q.s

Is the Stamford in HOUN the same Stamford as in A Study In Scarlet?

“Stamford’s” is a misspelling of “Stanford’s”, a company that sold maps and charts and, for a while, was the only map store around in London. They also, at one time, sold stationary in addition to maps, as it had originally been a stationer’s shop, but by the time in which HOUN was set the owner and founder’s son, who had previously been put in charge of sales and marketing, had taken over the shop, when his father grew ill and retired, and sold the stationery business as he had decided to focus exclusively on maps. It was located, at the time, in 55 Charing Cross and it’s printing works were at 12-14 Long Acre. Holmes didn’t write to his acquaintance from Bart’s to borrow a map, he ordered it from a company that’s still around today. (http://www.stanfords.co.uk/)

What, exactly, is the hound of the Baskervilles?

In the family myth, the hound mentioned is a “hell-hound”, a supernatural hound described as huge in size, having black fur, glowing red or yellow eyes, super strength and/or speed, ghostly characteristics with possible fire-based abilities, a foul odor and sometimes the ability to talk. They have associations with death and the afterlife and can sometimes be considered the cause of death.
The hound owned by “Stapleton”, however, is probably a cross between a bloodhound and a mastiff. It is half-starved and kept somewhere in the Grimpen Mire until covered in phosphorus, given a scent and used to kill.

Are Beryl and Sir Henry a couple?

After learning the truth about the Stapletons, and all the events that occurred during the mystery, Baskerville and Mortimer go on a trip around the world to recover their shattered nerves. It does not say whether Baskerville and his cousin’s widow become a couple or not, though they had indeed wanted to in the beginning. Maybe he felt too betrayed by her deception and decided not to continue pursuing her romantically, whether or not he forgave her for her part in what happened, or maybe he did forgive her and tried again with her once he came back from his long journey with his friend. Either way, the text says “[Sir Henry] took the blow bravely when he learned the truth about the woman whom he had loved.”

mishatrollinssss:

Victor Trevor

“On the contrary, I think that we have both shown extraordinary patience towards him,”

Nickname(s), etc.: Trevor, Mr. Trevor, Victor.

Age: Exactly or approximately the same age as Sherlock Holmes.

Job(s): College Student, Tea planter.

Weapon(s) of Choice: His bull terrier, his fists (presumably), Sherlock Holmes

Address: Donnithorpe, Norfolk, England, “Donnithorpe is a little hamlet just to the north of Langmere, in the country of the Broads. The house was an old-fashioned, widespread, oak-beamed brick building, with a fine lime-lined avenue leading up to it. There was excellent wild-duck shooting in the fens, remarkably good fishing [and] a small but select library, taken over […] from a former occupant […].”

Appeared in: The Adventure of the Gloria Scott (released 1893)

Description:

Eyes: Unknown. (Trevor’s father had keen blue eyes but it doesn’t say if he took after him in that respect.)

Hair: Unknown.

Skin: Likely to be paler than that of his father but gets a bit more tan later in life.

Face: Probably less “weather-beaten” than his father.

Figure: Thin but healthy, average figure with some strength, possibly.

Personality: hearty, spirited, energetic, caring, introverted, intelligent, polite, strong-willed, responsible, stubborn.

History: Victor Trevor was born around the same years Holmes was to his father, A Justice of the Peace and a landed proprietor with a shady past who had made a new life for himself and was known for being fair and kind. His mother died but when and how is unknown, leaving Trevor’s father a widower. He had a sister as well but she died of diptheria on a visit to Birmingham. As Trevor’s father was wealthy, Trevor was likely to have been given the same excellent education given to all rich children: tutored at home, then school and college. It was in college that he met Sherlock Holmes entirely by accident. The two became friends and noticed that they “shared some subjects in common” and that they were both friendless. When his father came into some difficulties regarding his past, Trevor came to Holmes and gave him his first case.

Relations:

Holmes: Victor Trevor was “the only friend [Holmes] made during the two years [he] was at college.” The two met when Trevor’s bull terrier bit Holmes’s ankle and he was unable to walk well for ten days. Trevor would come to see if he was alright and eventually their talks grew longer and they got to know each other. Trevor was among the first to compliment Holmes’s skill in deduction and steered Holmes towards the path of becoming a detective with his first case, that of Trevor’s father.

Trevor/Armitage: Victor Trevor loved his father and his father loved him. The two were quite close, especially as they were, eventually, the only two left in their family.

Mr. Hudson: Trevor disliked Hudson for how he treated his father by taking advantage of him so they were not on good terms.

F.A.Q.s

Is the Hudson related to Mrs. Hudson in any way?
It is not likely that the alchoholic sailor had any real connection to the landlady of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Hudson was surely not a rare last name in England.

Where did Victor Trevor go at the end of GLOR?
Trevor “went out to the Terai tea planting, where […] he is doing well.” Terai is, in India, a belt of marshy land, especially at the foot of the Himalayas in North India.

Is Victor Trevor the name of Sherlock’s skull in “Sherlock”?
This seems to be a fan-made invention. It is certain that it must have come from Sherlock calling the skull a friend and that Trevor was Holmes’s friend from before he met Watson. However, there have been other names fans have thought up for the skull such as Yorrick, for one example, taking after the skull from Hamlet by William Shakespeare. The creators of the show have, so far, not named it.

Were Victor Trevor and Sherlock Holmes a couple?
There is nothing that says they were nor is there anything that says they were not. They did spend time in college/uni and Holmes went over to Trevor’s house during summer break. They were close enough for Holmes to call Trevor a friend but anything beyond that is up for interpretation.

Culverton Smith

“He is an amateur of crime as I am of disease. For him the villain, for me the microbe.”

Nickname(s), etc.: Mr. Culverton Smith, Mr. Smith

Age: Unknown.

Job(s): Planter (in this sense as the owner or manager of a plantation), owns a plantation in Sumatra.

Crime(s): Murder, Attempted Murder,

Weapon(s) of Choice: An Asiatic disease used as a biological weapon, “a small black and white ivory box with a sliding lid” and “a sharp spring inside it […] like a viper’s tooth [that] emerges as you open it”, his brains.

Address: 13 Lower Burke Street, London, England, “Lower Burke Street proved to be a line of fine houses lying in the vague borderland between Notting Hill and Kensington. [13 Lower Burke Street] […] had an air of smug and demure respectability in it’s old-fashioned iron railings, its massive folding door, and its shining brasswork.”, a plantation in Sumatra (an island in western Indonesia)

Appeared in: The Adventure of the Dying Detective (set in 1890, released 1913)

Description:

Eyes: “sullen, menacing grey eyes”

Hair: Blond, “tufted and sandy brows”, “a high bald head”

Skin: “yellow” (from generally sallow skin tone and/or tan from Sumatra and/or outdoor work)

Face: “coarse-grained and greasy, with heavy, double chin”

Figure: “small and frail, twisted in the shoulders and back like one who has suffered from rickets in his childhood” (Rickets is a softening of the bones in children due to deficiency or impaired metabolism of vitamin D, magnesium, phosphorus or calcium, potentially leading to fractures and deformity. Long-term consequences include permanent bends or disfiguration of the long bones and a curved back.)

[Note: a smoking-cap, or lounging cap was a hat popular in men’s wear from the 1840s to the 1880s. They were originally to keep the head warm in drafty rooms and to stop the hair from smelling of smoke but were kept as fashionable things to wear at home even after heating improvements.]

Personality: crafty, intelligent, prideful, arrogant, vain, methodical, greedy, inventive, curious, vindictive, witty.

History: Culverton Smith discovered his hobby, diseases, when an outbreak of a mysterious disease overtook his plantation. The plantation was quite far from hospitals and/or doctors so Smith himself studied the disease. Diseases soon became a subject in which he gained great expertise as much as any enthusiast would for an obsession. Not much else is known of him for certain.

Relations:

Holmes: Enemies, especially as Smith is a murderer and Holmes took the case of his nephew’s death and proved that he was behind it.

Watson: Watson is Holmes’ accomplice, making he and Smith enemies.

Savage: Victor Savage was Culverton Smith’s nephew. He was murdered by said uncle for financial gain.

Morton: Inspector Morton arrested Smith for Savage’s murder after having been signalled. They have no other known connection.

F.A.Q.s

What exactly was Culverton Smith’s motive for murdering Victor Savage?
Savage “stood between this monster and a reversion[.]” Reversion, in this context, refers to the property law of reversion. It is any future interest kept by a person who transfers property to another. Say Person A gives Person B a house for his/her lifetime and Person B dies. When that happens, Person A gets it back. If Person A dies before Person B dies, Person A’s heirs receive the house when B passes away. In this case, Savage was Person B. It’s likely that Person A was a relative of both Smith and Savage and Smith himself was the heir of A, whoever A was.

What was the disease that killed Victor Savage?
The most likely candidate for “Tapanuli fever” is “melioidosis”, a disease with symptoms like those which Holmes imitated to fool Mrs. Hudson, then Dr. Watson, then, finally, the expert himself. However, it is not “contagious by touch”. If it was melioidosis, then Holmes was just lying to Watson about that to keep him from seeing through his ruse.

What did Smith mean by “coals of fire”?
By “coals of fire”, Mr. Smith was referring to a passage in the Christian Bible. Romans 12:20 says, roughly, depending on the edition, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him drink. In doing so, you will heap coals of fire on his head.” The enemy, in this case, is Sherlock Holmes who had “suspicions of foul play and […] allowed him to see it”, accusing him outright and “spreading reports” about him. The coals of fire part is the shame said enemy feels for having ever been mean to whoever is being so kind to him. It is not meant to be the reason for being nice to your antagonist but a natural reaction on his part. Thus, one makes a friend from a foe.

Mycroft Holmes

“Give me your details, and from an armchair I will return you an excellent expert opinion.”

Nickname(s), etc.: Mycroft, Brother Mycroft, Mr. Holmes, Jupiter, The British Government (occasionally)

Age: 44 as of The Adventure of the Final Problem, 47 as of The Adventure of the Empty House, 48 as of The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans.

Job(s): A position in government he created himself which paid a middle-class salary of £450 a year. “The conclusions of every department are passed to him […] [H]is specialism is omniscience. […] [O]nly Mycroft can focus them all, and say off-hand how each factor would affect the other. They began by using him as a short-cut, a convenience; now he has made himself an essential. […] Again and again, his word has decided the national policy.” (BRUC) His job is kept secret, though, so Sherlock tells Dr. Watson, at first, that he has “some small office in the British government” as an “[auditor of] the books in some of the government departments” because Sherlock didn’t know Watson that well at the time (GREE, BRUC), Coachman (FINA).

Weapon(s) of Choice: His brain, other people, coachman’s disguise (FINA).

Address: Across the street from The Diogenes Club, near Whitehall, Pall Mall, City of Westminster, London. The street Pall Mall was named for a “mallet-and-ball” game often played there. It is best known for being the home to various men’s clubs.

Appeared in: The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter (released in 1893), The Adventure of the Final Problem (set in 1891, released in 1893), Mentioned in The Adventure of the Empty House (set in 1894, released in 1903), The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans (set in 1895, released in 1912),

Description:

Those who meet him forget his weight when they see how brilliant the genius is, distracted by the cleverness.

Eyes: “light, watery grey eyes”, “steel-grey, deep-set, eyes”

Hair: [Note: no data on hair color.]

Skin: Pale.

Face: massive but with a sharpness of expression, “so masterful in it’s brow”, “so subtle in its play of expression”

Figure: “a much larger and stouter man than Sherlock”, “absolutely corpulent”, “tall and portly”, “heavily built and massive”, “unwieldy”

Personality: intelligent, lazy, clever, witty, wise, a creature of habit, unambitious, introverted, usually calm, observant.

History:

Mycroft Holmes was born in 1847 to Mr. and Mrs. Holmes. He became an older brother seven years later in 1854 to Sherlock Holmes. [See “His Last Bow” for calculations. Take Sherlock’s birth year from his age (60) with regards to the year in which the story was set in (1914) and subtract by seven years for Mycroft’s year thus adding seven years to Sherlock’s age to get Mycroft’s age (GREE)] The Holmes family was quite rich. They descended from wealthy land owners in the country and the brothers’ grandmother was a sister of the french artist Vernet, hence “old money”. Because of this, Mycroft and Sherlock got an excellent education, probably being tutored at home before going into school where they learned languages, classic literature and many other things. Getting out of school and, after, college/university, Mycroft went into government and Sherlock, having dropped out and never finished, further studied his craft whilst taking cases. Both brothers made for themselves their own professions in their chosen fields as consultants of a sort.

Relations:

Holmes: Brothers of seven years difference. The two seem to compete against each other at times but there is no lack of brotherly love between them despite their rivalry.

Watson: Watson met Mycroft through Mycroft’s younger brother, and Watson’s friend and fellow-lodger, Sherlock. In FINA, Mycroft disguises as Watson’s coachman to help him and Sherlock on their way. They seem to be on good terms.

Moriarty: They never met personally but, considering their situations, it is likely that they would have been enemies. Mycroft works against him in aiding Watson and Sherlock.

Lestrade: BRUC is the only story in which Mycroft and Lestrade have any interaction with each other that we can see. Mycroft is there because of the connection of the case to government and he comes into Sherlock’s flat with Lestrade right behind him to consult with him on the case. Lestrade was assigned to investigate the case and the two probably talked about it before going to 221B Baker Street. Lestrade and Mycroft seem to work together well in the story and, knowing them, they would not be enemies.

Mr. Melas: Mr. Melas lives in the apartment above Mycroft’s own in Pall Mall. They are acquaintances on good enough terms for Mycroft to intorduce Melas to his brother Sherlock when Melas needed help.

Arthur Cadogen West: A twenty-seven year old unmarried clerk in the The Royal Arsenal in Woolwitch (weapons research and manufacturing for the British armed forces), West was employed in the government. That was his connection with Mycroft and the only connection we know of between them.

F.A.Q.s

What exactly is the Diogenes Club?
The Diogenes Club is a fictional club for men co-founded by Mycroft Holmes. It is for people who want a peaceful place to sit and read magazines, newspapers and books, rather than socialize. In fact, talking for any reason is not allowed. Talk three times and you could get your membership revoked. There is only one place where people may talk there: the Stranger’s Room. Possibly named for Diogenes of Sinope, the Greek philosopher, the club is luxurious on the inside with comfortable places for people to sit by themselves and has a soothing atmosphere.
Although some people have made stories of the Diogenes Club being a front for the British Secret Service, there is nothing to indicate in the texts that it is anything but a club for the unclubbable.

Any romance for Mr. Mycroft Holmes?
Not in-text. Although, some have theorized of perhaps someone hidden from us for fear of them coming to harm due to their connection to him. It has also been thought by some that Mycroft’s proclivities were more towards those of his own kind. Nevertheless, we are not given any clues as to whether or not he is married nor of what his interests were. He could have been simply a bachelor like his brother.

Sherlock, I’m almost home. You will tell me everything when I get there. —JW