Adrian Doyle, Son of the Writer, Dies

From The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia

Adrian Doyle, Son of the Writer, Dies is an article published in The New-York Times on 4 june 1970.

Obituary of Adrian Malcolm Conan Doyle, the 4th child of Arthur Conan Doyle.


Adrian Doyle, Son of the Writer, Dies

The New-York Times (4 june 1970, p. 37)

GENEVA, June 3 — Adrian Conan Doyle, the only surviving son of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, died here today of a heart attack. He was 59 years old.

Mr. Doyle lived with his wife, the former Anna Andersen, who survives, in the 12th century Chateau de Lucens. He had converted the turreted castle that is 22 miles from Lausanne into a museum in memory of his father.

Although Adrian Conan Doyle was a big game hunter, fisherman, zoologist, explorer and author, he devoted most of his life to immortalizing his father. He once said, "I have been influenced only by my father's encouragements."

He collected manuscripts about the legendary detective Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr. Watson written in ink in his father's neat script, then examined those that had not been published to see if they were up to his father's standards. When he found any he considered inferior, he refused to permit their publication.

In his chateau in Switzerland, Mr. Doyle recreated the sitting room that Holmes and Dr. Watson shared at 221‐B Baker Street and opened it to thousands of tourists for a small admissions fee. In 1952 he brought the room to New York as part of a Holmes exhibit at the Plaza Art Galleries.

Mr. Doyle not only collected manuscripts but also reconstructed 12 Sherlock Holmes stories from references to cases in other published stories. These tales, which first appeared in Life and Collier's magazines in 1952, were co-authored with John Dickson Carr, the mystery writer, and published in book form by Random House under the title "The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes."

The stories and the imitation of the style were favorable received by most reviewers, although some criticized the authors' audacity in attempting such a thing.

Mr. Doyle wrote two other books, "Heaven Has Claws" and "Lone Dhow." The first, published in 1963, was the story of Mr. Doyle's six‐month expedition with his wife in the Indian Ocean on a 35‐foot boat. The second book recounts shark hunting experiences off the coast of Somaliland and in the Gulf of Tadjoura.

Mr. Doyle, who was born in Sussex, England, was the second of three children of Sir Arthur and his second wife, the former Jean Elizabeth Leckie. Sir Arthur also had a son and daughter from an earlier marriage.