Book review: The Ardlamont Mystery: The Real-Life Story Behind the Creation of Sherlock Holmes

[mightymads]

A few days ago I came across this article, where Daniel Smith gave a rather intriguing synopsis of his research regarding a real life case which took place in Scotland in 1893 and to some extent resembled a Sherlock Holmes story published in 1891. Just like BOSC, the case featured a man found shot dead in the woods. Initially it was regarded as an accident, but then suspicious circumstances came to light, and Scotland’s best forensic experts were called in to define whether the man died by his own hand or whether it was a cold-blooded murder. Those experts were none others than Arthur Conan Doyle’s teachers: Henry Littlejohn, Joseph Bell, and Patrick Heron Watson.

The title of the book is somewhat misleading, since the Ardlamont incident happened when Sherlock Holmes was already a household name, but the book does offer very interesting insights into the origins of the Great Detective. For example, how Doyle knew of fingerprinting some two decades before the practice was adopted by the police? Thanks to Henry Littlejohn, who was a pioneer of this science. While Joseph Bell was widely acknowledged as an inspiration for Holmes, Littlejohn was kept out of spotlight perhaps due to his being an official police surgeon, and too much attention might have hampered his work.

Littlejohn—as the paid employee of the police—routinely called upon Bell to be his "second man" on investigations. In other words, Bell was something akin to Littlejohn’s Watson.

The real-life Watson, Patrick Heron Watson, was a celebrated anatomist, a veteran of the Crimean War, and Joseph Bell’s mentor.

Bell and Watson had a history that stretched far back—all the way to 1865, when the young Bell served as Watson’s dresser. While Bell was considered an extremely dextrous surgeon, Heron Watson had a reputation for being even quicker—it was said he could complete an amputation at the hip in under ten seconds.

Along with Bell and Littlejohn, Watson participated in forensic research during the case and was also present in court as an expert. There is a post on tumblr with more information about him.

The case itself held the Victorian public’s riveted attention, being as complex and dramatic as the famous works of fiction. The man who was killed was a young dashing aristocrat Cecil Hambrough. The suspect was his tutor Alfred John Monson (A. J. like Hornung’s Raffles), a well-bred gentleman of noble descent, with best credentials and whose family relations included lords. In actuality, though, Monson lived by frauds and schemes of various sorts, considering himself too high-born to work and dreaming of fast and easy money to satisfy his expensive tastes. There was Monson’s wife Agnes, a beauty who might or might not be Cecil Hambrough’s lover, and in whose name Hambrough signed off his life insurances before his death. There also was a mysterious Mr. Scott, allegedly an engineer from London but in reality a bookie, invited by Monson the day before the fatal hunt and later searched by the police as Monson’s possible accomplice.

The book is written in clear, easy-to-read style, with detailed characterisation of all participants of the drama. Sometimes it seems that there are too many verbatim quotes from the courtroom transcripts, newspapers, and memoirs, but through this the author creates a vivid picture of the late-Victorian judicial system in Scotland. It was fascinating to learn about Bell’s and Littlejohn’s work as forensic experts and have a look at their personalities. In addition, connections and parallels with the fictional world of Sherlock Holmes were just delightful.

Comments

[mightymads]

The book is totally worth reading! It’s well-written, and there’s a lot of research behind it. Likewise, I knew of Joseph Bell and Patrick Heron Watson, but learning of Littlejohn was so interesting. ACD was very lucky to have such teachers as them. There’s a lot of period detail which is inspirational, and all participants of the case are described with depth—what kind of people they were and what drove them.

Heard of the Murder Room Mysteries but haven’t watched it yet :)

[mightymads]

It was one of those occasions when I learned about a book, got interested enough to try it out, and ended up devouring it in a few days. So it was also with Below the Stairs.

Thank you, on my to-watch list!