https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Doctor_WatsonDoctor Watson - Revision history2026-06-05T02:17:30ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.44.2https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php?title=Doctor_Watson&diff=138757&oldid=prevTCDE-Team at 12:40, 1 May 20262026-05-01T12:40:18Z<p></p>
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<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>More and more, as time went on, Holmes displayed an affection for Watson which was very different from the casual camaraderie of their earlier association. At the crisis of the adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans, Holmes acknowledged Watson's loyalty with a warm grip of the hand and Watson saw 'something in his eyes which was nearer to tenderness than I had ever seen'; in the adventure of the Devil's Foot it was Watson's prompt courage that saved Holmes from the 'freezing horror' of his own experiment. It was in an unsteady voice that Holmes expressed his thanks. Watson had never seen so much of Holmes's heart before...</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>More and more, as time went on, Holmes displayed an affection for Watson which was very different from the casual camaraderie of their earlier association. At the crisis of the adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans, Holmes acknowledged Watson's loyalty with a warm grip of the hand and Watson saw 'something in his eyes which was nearer to tenderness than I had ever seen'; in the adventure of the Devil's Foot it was Watson's prompt courage that saved Holmes from the 'freezing horror' of his own experiment. It was in an unsteady voice that Holmes expressed his thanks. Watson had never seen so much of Holmes's heart before...</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In the autumn of 1902 Holmes reached what Watson describes as, in some ways, the supreme moment of his career. This was in the matter of The Illustrious Client whose anonymity has been preserved to this day. Watson, will it be remembered, played a vital part in the outwitting of the notorious Baron Adelbert Gruner and was personally complimented by Holmes, who, having been enabled to confront Miss de Merville with categorical evidence of the Baron's sinister record, was at length able to secure the breaking-off of the engagement. Now it is significant that the next adventure to be recorded <ref>The Blanched Soldier. </ref> is from the pen, not of Watson, but of Holmes himself. Why? Partly because Watson, with characteristic pertinacity, had worried him to try the job of writing himself and partly because, in Holmes's own words,- 'the good Watson had at that time [i.e. January 1903] deserted me for a wife, the only selfish action which I can recall in our association'. Here is categorical evidence of prime importance, and the dating is precise. <ref>Holmes's reference to Watson's marriage at this date has misled some commentators (e.g. Mr. A. A. Milne in ''By Way of Introduction'', p. 9). The suggestion that Watson married a second time was first made to me by my friend Mr. Charles Edmonds, and a careful study of the chronology has provided ample confirmation.</ref></div></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In the autumn of 1902 Holmes reached what Watson describes as, in some ways, the supreme moment of his career. This was in the matter of The Illustrious Client whose anonymity has been preserved to this day. Watson, will it be remembered, played a vital part in the outwitting of the notorious Baron Adelbert Gruner and was personally complimented by Holmes, who, having been enabled to confront Miss de Merville with categorical evidence of the Baron's sinister record, was at length able to secure the breaking-off of the engagement. Now it is significant that the next adventure to be recorded <ref>The Blanched Soldier. </ref> is from the pen, not of Watson, but of Holmes himself. Why? Partly because Watson, with characteristic pertinacity, had worried him to try the job of writing himself and partly because, in Holmes's own words,- 'the good Watson had at that time [i.e. January 1903] deserted me for a wife, the only selfish action which I can recall in our association'. Here is categorical evidence of prime importance, and the dating is precise. <ref>Holmes's reference to Watson's marriage at this date has misled some commentators (e.g. Mr. <ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">[[</ins>A. A. Milne<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">]] </ins>in ''By Way of Introduction'', p. 9). The suggestion that Watson married a second time was first made to me by my friend Mr. Charles Edmonds, and a careful study of the chronology has provided ample confirmation.</ref></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Who was the second Mrs. Watson? Once more Watson's reticence is baffling. Beyond the indication that after this date he was no longer living at Baker Street, Watson tells us nothing of his second adventure in matrimony, and the biographer is thrown back upon conjecture. Two main alternatives offer themselves for speculation: either Watson had been for some time contemplating a second marriage, or it was a sudden decision hastened by a dramatic crisis in his life. In favour of the first theory it may be claimed that in September, 1902 Watson had already moved to rooms in Queen Anne Street, <ref>The Illustrious Client.</ref> which might well suggest that he already had changes in view; on the other hand he was still enjoying the 'pleasant lassitude' of the drying-room of a Turkish Bath in Holmes's company. The second theory rests upon a more interesting conjecture: Watson's second marriage took place at the end of 1902 or at the beginning of 1903, a few months after the affair of the Illustrious Client. Now this adventure must have made a more than ordinary impression upon Watson's mind. Instinctively chivalrous, he' was a man to whom a woman in trouble made a specially vivid appeal. <ref>It is noteworthy that, in making a selection from a very large number of Holmes's cases, Watson showed a marked preference for those in which a distressed gentlewoman was involved. Cf., especially, A Case of Identity, The Speckled Band, The Copper Beeches, The Solitary Cyclist, Charles Augustus Milverton, The Second Stain, The Veiled Lodger.</ref> Violet de Merville, moreover, was 'beautiful, accomplished, a wonder-woman in every way. After the terrible exposure of the true character of her fiancé, what more natural than that Watson should, after a fitting interval, make inquiries as to her recovery of health and spirits? Furthermore, had not Watson acquired a peculiar technique, so to speak, in his previous courtship of Miss Morstan? It may be objected that Miss de Merville moved in exalted circles, and that a retired practitioner would not have the ''droit d'entrée'' to her society. But here a significant fact must be considered. Miss de Merville's father was a soldier, and a soldier who had won distinction in Afghanistan—' de Merville of Khyber fame'. With such a father-in-law Watson would at once be on common ground. In any event, with Watson's second marriage his close and continuous association with Holmes came to an end. Their relations continued to be of the friendliest character and Holmes did not scruple to send for his old colleague 'when it was a case of active work and a comrade was needed' upon whose nerve he could place some reliance. <ref>The Creeping Man.</ref></div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Who was the second Mrs. Watson? Once more Watson's reticence is baffling. Beyond the indication that after this date he was no longer living at Baker Street, Watson tells us nothing of his second adventure in matrimony, and the biographer is thrown back upon conjecture. Two main alternatives offer themselves for speculation: either Watson had been for some time contemplating a second marriage, or it was a sudden decision hastened by a dramatic crisis in his life. In favour of the first theory it may be claimed that in September, 1902 Watson had already moved to rooms in Queen Anne Street, <ref>The Illustrious Client.</ref> which might well suggest that he already had changes in view; on the other hand he was still enjoying the 'pleasant lassitude' of the drying-room of a Turkish Bath in Holmes's company. The second theory rests upon a more interesting conjecture: Watson's second marriage took place at the end of 1902 or at the beginning of 1903, a few months after the affair of the Illustrious Client. Now this adventure must have made a more than ordinary impression upon Watson's mind. Instinctively chivalrous, he' was a man to whom a woman in trouble made a specially vivid appeal. <ref>It is noteworthy that, in making a selection from a very large number of Holmes's cases, Watson showed a marked preference for those in which a distressed gentlewoman was involved. Cf., especially, A Case of Identity, The Speckled Band, The Copper Beeches, The Solitary Cyclist, Charles Augustus Milverton, The Second Stain, The Veiled Lodger.</ref> Violet de Merville, moreover, was 'beautiful, accomplished, a wonder-woman in every way. After the terrible exposure of the true character of her fiancé, what more natural than that Watson should, after a fitting interval, make inquiries as to her recovery of health and spirits? Furthermore, had not Watson acquired a peculiar technique, so to speak, in his previous courtship of Miss Morstan? It may be objected that Miss de Merville moved in exalted circles, and that a retired practitioner would not have the ''droit d'entrée'' to her society. But here a significant fact must be considered. Miss de Merville's father was a soldier, and a soldier who had won distinction in Afghanistan—' de Merville of Khyber fame'. With such a father-in-law Watson would at once be on common ground. In any event, with Watson's second marriage his close and continuous association with Holmes came to an end. Their relations continued to be of the friendliest character and Holmes did not scruple to send for his old colleague 'when it was a case of active work and a comrade was needed' upon whose nerve he could place some reliance. <ref>The Creeping Man.</ref></div></td></tr>
</table>TCDE-Teamhttps://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php?title=Doctor_Watson&diff=133468&oldid=prevTCDE-Team at 16:34, 18 February 20262026-02-18T16:34:11Z<p></p>
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<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">Revision as of 18:34, 18 February 2026</td>
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</table>TCDE-Teamhttps://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php?title=Doctor_Watson&diff=42515&oldid=prevTCDE-Team at 19:42, 13 May 20162016-05-13T19:42:26Z<p></p>
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