# Sherlock Holmes Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 31, 2011, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sherlock-holmes-question/569646 "2011-01-31T14:18:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sherlock-holmes-question/569646/21 "2011-01-31T17:51:19Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > All this is a long-winded attempt at context to show why there are no good answers to the OP. The Game is at heart a game. (Except that some people are truly unhinged: think of it as a pre-Internet SDMB.) The point of each explanation of each contradiction was to one-up the last writer, not to agree with anything that was said. There are at least a half-dozen full-length books on the Chronological Problem alone. You are admired for your detailed research, your cleverness at putting facts and clues together, and your twisted ability to fashion a brand new answer from material that appears to be thoroughly picked over. Anything you can imagine about Holmes has been chewed over a dozen times. There are bibliographies of articles that run into thousands of entries and those are a generation old by now. Sort of like a literary Mornington Cresent? > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Baring-Gould had Watson married three times. Trevor Hall, in an essay in one his excellent books, makes it [five](http://special.lib.umn.edu/rare/ush/06D2.html). > > > [@](#): > > > > Hall, Trevor H. “Dr. Watson’s Marriages,” The Late Mr. Sherlock Holmes & Other Literary Studies. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co., [1971]. Chap. 3, p. 40-63. > > > > “Watson was married five times: to Constance Adams in 1884 or 1885, to a Miss X, with both a mother and aunt in 1886, to the mother-less and aunt-less Mary Morstan in 1888 or 1889, to a Miss Y in 1896 and to a Miss Z in 1902.” Sheesh - he was worse than Ben Cartwight. > [@pancakes3](#): > > reading books on my iphone only makes me want to buy an ipad that much more. diabolical, apple. well played. But the iPad doesn’t fit in my pocket, and I can’t just pull it out and read while I’m waiting in line. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sherlock-holmes-question/569646/22 "2011-01-31T17:58:30Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > 7.) Holmes’ disappearing cocaine addiction (Nicholas Meyer, of course, based an entire book on this, but there are other, more sinister explanations) As I recall, in “The 7% Solution,” Meyer also had some fun with Watson’s wandering wound. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sherlock-holmes-question/569646/23 "2011-01-31T18:02:15Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] Baring-Gould had Watson married three times. Trevor Hall, in an essay in one his excellent books, makes it five. > [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > Sheesh - he was worse than Ben Cartwight. [/QUOTE] I was thinking of [George Joseph Smith](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Joseph_Smith). Did Holmes ever look into the mystery of these multiple disappearing wives? ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sherlock-holmes-question/569646/24 "2011-01-31T18:53:50Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > But the iPad doesn’t fit in my pocket, and I can’t just pull it out and read while I’m waiting in line. So then you have to buy a SCOTTEVEST. See how it works? It’s insidious, I tell you! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sherlock-holmes-question/569646/25 "2011-01-31T22:18:52Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > “I’m Darryl Moriarity, and this is my brother James, and this is my other brother James.” Well to be fair, one of them went by the name of [Count Jim Moriarty](http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goon_show) so there wasn’t quite as much confusion as you’d think. ---
**Author:** ![scottmonty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@scottmonty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scottmonty)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sherlock-holmes-question/569646/26 "2011-02-01T22:43:37Z")
There’s a recent book out about Ronald Knox and the beginning of the Game. We covered it over on the [Baker Street Blog](http://www.bakerstreetblog.com) last month: [http://www.bakerstreetblog.com/2011/01/honourable-record-nava.html](http://www.bakerstreetblog.com/2011/01/honourable-record-nava.html) You’re welcome to stop by and see what we’re covering in the world of Sherlock Holmes, either there or on [I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere](http://www.ihearofsherlock.com). Scott Monty, BSI [http://www.bakerstreetblog.com](http://www.bakerstreetblog.com) > **[I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere](https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/)** > > The definitive Sherlock Holmes podcast and website dedicated to the intersection of popular culture and the great detective. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sherlock-holmes-question/569646/27 "2011-02-01T23:57:38Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > **Cal** , a good summary, but you left out, why are both Prof. Moriarty and his brother named “James”? Actually — although I can’t remember any instances — very occasionally, mainly in aristocratic families [they being the only ones likely to have more than one forename, and their memories to be recorded], christening living brothers with the same name was not unknown. One assumes the younger would be referred to by a middle name. And, if a family name, a younger child could be named the same as an older sibling who had died in infancy; as with King Charles II. Where it gets odd is when some father is so enamoured of himself that he names most of his children with a variant of his own christian name; as James may have five children: James, Jamie, Jamesina, Jamesetta and Jem… What is even odder to a Scotsman is the habit of treating Jamie as a girl’s name. > [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > It’s not like he wrote these as chapters in a book. They were stories for cheep publications, that he knocked out. He did try to get out of the series, but came back to it because of demand. I can see why as you proceed through the stories inconsistencies occur. I wouldn’t call the Strand particularly cheap: they paid better rates than most magazines of the time. And he did have a large range of other interests, ranging from spiritualism, to the 2nd Boer War, to fighting for wrongfully convicted people, to medicine, to historical fiction, to campaigning against the Belgian Congo’s brutalities, to fairies. He perhaps begrudged the time to writing about Holmes. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sherlock-holmes-question/569646/28 "2011-02-02T03:26:13Z")
Claverhouse writes: \> Actually — although I can’t remember any instances — very occasionally, mainly \> in aristocratic families [ they being the only ones likely to have more than one \> forename, and their memories to be recorded ], christening living brothers with \> the same name was not unknown. One famous example of an aristocratic family with children all named the same is that of George Foreman: > **[George Foreman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Foreman)** > > George Edward Foreman (born January 10, 1949) is an American former professional boxer, entrepreneur, minister and author. In boxing, he competed between 1967 and 1997 and was nicknamed "Big George". He is a two-time world heavyweight champion and an Olympic gold medalist. As an entrepreneur, he is known for the George Foreman Grill. > After a troubled childhood, Foreman took up amateur boxing and won a gold medal in the heavyweight division at the 1968 Summer Olympics. Having turned profession... He named all five of his sons George. ---
**Author:** ![Tess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@Tess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tess)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sherlock-holmes-question/569646/29 "2011-02-02T04:17:32Z")
Does anyone else feel it was quite convenient for Holmes that his assistant was never distracted by a wife for too long? But then, to kill five women and not have anyone get suspicious you’d have to be extremely knowledgeable about obscure things like undetectable poisons. And have the police believe everything you said. And, uhm, never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sherlock-holmes-question/569646/30 "2011-02-02T04:31:33Z")
I always figured that the ‘inconsistencies’ were placed into the stories on purpose to obfuscate the true identities of ‘Holmes’ and ‘Watson’… ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sherlock-holmes-question/569646/31 "2011-02-02T04:38:16Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Claverhouse writes: > > \> Actually — although I can’t remember any instances — very occasionally, mainly > \> in aristocratic families [ they being the only ones likely to have more than one > \> forename, and their memories to be recorded ], christening living brothers with > \> the same name was not unknown. > > One famous example of an aristocratic family with children all named the same is that of George Foreman: > > [George Foreman - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Foreman) > > He named all five of his sons George. From _Sports Illustrated_, January 31, 2011, p. 17 > [@](#): > > 2: Number of players named Gerald Dixon who committed this month to play at South Carolina. Both are linemen and sons of former linebacker Gerald Dixon. _The Strand_, BTW, might have been the premiere magazine in Britain at its time. When Doyle didn’t want to do another set of Holmes stories, he told them he wanted a thousand pounds for an additional dozen, thinking they would never pay such a ridiculous price, equivalent to a clerk’s annual salary apiece. They did. They paid even more for later stories. Sure, “A Study in Scarlet” went to _Beeton’s Christmas Annual_, a nonentity. But that was the first Holmes story. Stephen King’s first book didn’t sell for much. Neither did J. K. Rowling’s. But that isn’t relevant to their careers. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sherlock-holmes-question/569646/32 "2011-02-02T14:39:36Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > …_The Strand_, BTW, might have been the premiere magazine in Britain at its time. When Doyle didn’t want to do another set of Holmes stories, he told them he wanted a thousand pounds for an additional dozen, thinking they would never pay such a ridiculous price, equivalent to a clerk’s annual salary apiece… Heh. As I remember the tale, Doyle set that absurdly high price and was quite taken aback when the editor said, “Done. When can we have the first story?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sherlock-holmes-question/569646.md?page=1)