Chronology

This is a succinct chronology of the very dense life of Arthur Conan Doyle. For a complete chronology, refer to the excellent book by Brian W. Pugh : A Chronology of the Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

For clarity, we have omitted in this chronology his publications (see here), his cricket matches (see here), his football matches (see here)...

1859	22 May	Birth of Arthur Conan Doyle at 11 Picardy Place, Edinburgh. He is the second child of Charles Altamont Doyle and Mary Foley.
	24 May	He is baptised Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle at St Mary's Cathedral, Broughton, Edinburgh.
1862	Before June	The Conan Doyle family resided at 3 Tower Bank (now Figgate Bank), Portobello, Edinburgh.
1864	Early year	Arthur Conan Doyle (aged 5) wrote his first fiction : The Story of a Bengal Tiger.
1866	n.d.	Arthur Conan Doyle lived with Mary Burton at Liberton Bank House, Edinburgh.
	Summer	He and his mother took a holiday in King's County (County Offaly) and Lismore (Waterford), Ireland.
	n.d.	The Conan Doyle family resided at 3 Sciennes Hill Place, Newington, Edinburgh.
	Autumn	Aged 7, he attended Newington Academy, 8 Arniston Place, Edinburgh. He had Eugène Marie Chantrelle (the most notorious murderer in Scotland) as French teacher.
1867	15 September	Arthur Conan Doyle was enrolled for 2 years at Hodder House, the preparatory school for Stonyhurst.
1868	May	Arthur Conan Doyle made his first communion at Hodder House.
1869	Mid Sept.	Arthur Conan Doyle was enrolled for 5 years at Stonyhurst College, Clitheroe, Lancashire, a Catholic shcool run by Jesuits.
1870	October	Arthur Conan Doyle wote his first poem A Student's Dream sent to his mother in a letter.
1872	21 July	Arthur Conan Doyle was confirmed by Bishop Richard Roskell of Nottingham at Stonyhurst College.
1873	November	Arthur Conan Doyle and another student Arthur Roskell launched a journal The Stonyhurst Figaro. Conan Doyle contributed with 'Some wicked jokes' and 2 poems (The Abbot and After the Battle).
		He received his first prize, a book by George Lillie Craik, "The Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties", inscribed "Merenti Collegium Stonyhurst".
1874	16 February	On Shrove Monday, Arthur Conan Doyle played cricket.
	25 May	On Whit Monday, he played cricket.
	Nov-Dec	On 21 november, he arrived in London at Euston Station. For 3 weeks, he stayed with Aunt Annette and Uncle Richard at 7 Finborough Road, London, and with Aunt Jane and Uncle James at 54 Clifton Gardens, London. He met also Mrs Robertson, Louis and Mr Williams.
		He saw Henry Irving in Hamlet at the Lyceum. He visited St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London (where he saw the 67,000 Henry-Martini rifles, swords and bayonets, and instruments of torture), Temple Bar, the Guild Hall, and Madame Tussaud in the Baker Street Bazaar.
1875	June	Arthur Conan Doyle passed his Matriculation Examination with in the honours division. He was placed 81.
	28 July	He passed his London Matriculation Examination at Stonyhurst College.
	September	He stayed in Liverpool with the Rockcliffe family on route to Stella Matutina, a jesuit college in Feldkirch, Austria, where he spent a year to improve his German.
	Oct.-Nov.	He edited the Feldkirchian Gazette, a student magazine on school notebooks.
1876	26-28 June	Arthur Conan Doyle left Feldkirch to Lindau, Rorschach, Basle where he stayed overnight on 27 june, and arrived in Paris, France on 28 june.
	28 June	He sojourned several weeks in Paris, 65 Avenue de Wagram, in his great-uncle and godfather, Michael Edward Conan. Conan's name has ben given in tribute to him.
	Summer	He arrived back at 2 Argyle Park Terrace, Edinburgh.
	October	Conan Doyle enrolled at Edinburgh University of Medicine. Two of his teachers, the surgeon of the hospital, Joseph Bell, and Professor Rutherford, served as a model of inspiration for his characters of Sherlock Holmes and Professor Challenger (The Lost World).
1877	March	He polished up his French, German and moral philosophy for a preliminary examination in the arts. He gained a worthy pass.
	18 May to 6 July	He attended the Botanical class and the Vegetable Histology & Practical Botany class at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) in order to graduate in medicine at the Edinburgh University.
	August	The Conan Doyle family probably moved to 23 George Square, Edinburgh.
	August-September	He spent holidays at Miss Fullerton's home at East Knowe, Brodick, Isle of Arran, Scotland. He was accompanied by his Stonyhurst friend Jimmy Ryan, and his sisters Lottie and Connie, and his father for a short time.
1878	April	Arthur Conan Doyle became doctor's assistant to Dr. Charles Sidney Richardson, Nelson Terrace, 80 Spital Hill, Sheffield for 3 weeks.
	May	He spent a few weeks with Aunt Jane Doyle, Uncle Henry Doyle and Uncle James Doyle at their home at 54 Clifton Gardens, Maida Vale, London.
	22 May	He saw Henry Irving in Louis XI.
	26 May	He visited his Uncle Richard Doyle and Aunt Annette Doyle at Finborough Road, Chelsea.
	28 May	He spent the day at Westminster Aquarium.
	29 May	He visited the Royal Academy.
	Summer	He worked as assistant to Dr. Henry Francis Elliott of Cliffe House, Ruyton-XI-Towns, Shrophire.
	After Summer	He became outpatient clerk to Dr. Joseph Bell at Edinburgh University.
1879	september	Publication of his first short story: The Mystery of Sasassa Valley.
1880	february	He started as surgeon on the whaler Hope bound in Arctic for 6 months.
1881	october	He graduated in medicine and surgery.
1882	january	He sailed as a doctor aboard the Mayumba who sailed to the coast of Guinea (West Africa).
	may	He opened an office in Plymouth and in Southsea, Portsmouth.
1885	6 august	He married Louisa Hawkins, the sister of one of his patients.
1886	march-april	A Study in Scarlet, the first Sherlock Holmes adventure, rejected by several publishers before finding a buyer (accepted by a letter dated 30 october 1886 by Ward, Lock & Co.).
1887	26 january	He was initiated as a freemason of the Phoenix Lodge No. 257, Southsea, Portsmouth.
	december	Publication of A Study in Scarlet in the Beeton's Christmas Annual.
1889	january	Birth of his daughter Mary Louise.
	february	Publication of Micah Clarke, "It was the first solid corner-stone laid for some sort of literary reputation" Conan Doyle wrote in his memories.
1890	february	American magazine Lippincott's Magazine published The Sign of Four, the second adventure of Sherlock Holmes. Then in april, he began writing The White Company which will end in july 1890 (published from january to december 1891 in The Cornhill Magazine).
	april	Publication of his novel, The Firm of Girdlestone.
	december	Doyle closed his medical practice in Portsmouth and decided to specialize in ophthalmology.
1891	january	He studied ophthalmology in Vienna (Austria).
	march	He returnedto London via Paris to meet Landolt, the French specialist in ophthalmology.
	End march	He opened a practice in London, 2 Upper Wimpole Street.
	july	Publication of A Scandal in Bohemia, the first adventure of Sherlock Holmes as a short story in The Strand Magazine.
	august	Conan Doyle gave up medicine and became a full time writer. He moved to South Norwood (12 Tennison Road).
1892	summer	He made a trip in Norway with Jerome K. Jerome. He discovered the pleasure of skiing in Switzerland and introduce this practice as a recreational sport a few months later.
	october	Publication of The Great Shadow (story where the author expressed his fascination for Napoleon).
	november	Birth of his son Kingsley.
1893	May	Publication of The Refugees.
	august	His wife Louisa diagnosed with tuberculosis.
	october	Death of his father Charles Altamont Doyle.
	december	The Strand Magazine published The Adventure of the Final Problem, where Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty fell at Reichenbach Falls (Switzerland) freeing the author who wishes to devote to a "more serious literary work.
1894	december	Publication of The Parasite and The Medal of Brigadier Gerard (Napoleonic story announcing a long series).
1895	spring	He returned to England. He decided to build a house in Surrey when he was told that the air is even better than Davos to treat tuberculosis.
	july	Publication of The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard in The Strand Magazine.
	november	He travelled to Egypt for the sake of his wife, during the completion of the construction of his house in Surrey. He will find the inspiration for The Tragedy of the Korosko (published in 1898). He witnessed the conflict between the British and the dervishes. He became war correspondent for The Westminster Gazette.
1896	november	Publication of Rodney Stone (novel about boxing).
1897	january	Publication of his first pirate adventure of Captain Sharkey in Pearson's Magazine. Two others will follow in march and may.
	15 march	While visiting London, Conan Doyle falls in love for a woman in her twenties, Jean Leckie. For respect to his wife, he began a platonic relationship.
	may	Publication of Uncle Bernac, a Napoleonic novel.
1899	12 june	First performance of the William Gillette's play Sherlock Holmes, written with Conan Doyle. Gillette played the detective during 35 years.
1900	february	Conan Doyle went to South Africa in Bloemfontein as a doctor during the Boer War. He met the young Winston Churchill. He returned to England on 10 july.
	october	He is defeated in parliamentary elections as an Unionist candidate in Edinburgh.
	december	Publication of his essay The Great Boer War.
1901	august	Publication in The Strand Magazine of The Hound of the Baskervilles.
1902	16 january	Publication of his essay The War in South Africa: Its Cause and Conduct, which was published in twenty countries.
	24 october	Knighted by the king, he becomes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle after thinking refuse this honor (in The Adventure of the Three Garridebs, Sherlock receives the same proposal in june 1902 but he refused it).
1903	september	After the success of The Hound of the Baskervilles, an American publisher offered him 45,000 pounds for thirteen new adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle accepted and resurrected his hero in The Adventure of the Empty House.
1904	january	He continued his research on the Middle Ages, interrupted by the Boer War, to write a novel, whose action takes place before The White Company, which will be serialized in The Strand Magazine in 1905 and 1906 under the title Sir Nigel.
1905	august	On the occasion of the signing of the Entente Cordiale, he received at his home in Surrey, a delegation of French naval officers, on an official visit, led by Vice Admiral Caillard.
1906	january	New electoral defeat.
	july	Death of his wife Louisa.
1907	18 may	George Edalji was exonerated.
	18 september	He married Jean Leckie. George Edalji was invited.
	november	He moved to Crowborough in Sussex.
1909	17 march	Birth of his son Denis.
	25 may	He struggled to avoid the death penalty on Oscar Slater, accused of murder, the death penalty was commuted to life in prison and innocence will be recognized in 1927.
1910	19 november	Birth of his son Adrian (who will wrote The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes with John Dickson Carr).
1912	april	Publication of The Lost World.
	21 december	Birth of his daughter Lena Jean.
1913	11 march	Campaigning for the Channel Tunnel.
1914	27 may	He started a lecturingtour about literature in North America and Canada.
	august	After declaration of war with Germany, he formed a group of local volunteers.
	september	Publication of The Valley of Fear.
1916	may	During the war, Conan Doyle was reporting on French and Italian fronts.
1917	october	Publication of the short story His Last Bow where Sherlock Holmes appears on the eve of the First World War, which is the latest adventure of the hero from a chronological point of view.
1918	28 october	His eldest son Kingsley died of the Spanish flu, weakened by a war wound received during the Battle of the Somme.
1920	march	Conan Doyle met Harry Houdini, and became friends.
	september	He started a lecturing tour on spiritualism in Australia and New Zealand.
	30 december	Death of his mother. His wife discovered mediumnic talents.
1922	1 september	Publication of The Coming of the Fairies.
1924	september	Publication of his autobiography Memories and Adventures.
1925	summer	He opened The Psychic Bookshop, 2 Victoria Street, London.
1927	march	Publication of its latest Sherlock Holmes short story in Liberty magazine, The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place.
1928	november	He started a trip to South Africa throught Egypt.
1930	7 july	Exhausted by lectures worldwide, he died of a heart attack at his home.

---

• Back to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle