Dr. Conan Doyle in Edinburgh
Dr. Conan Doyle in Edinburgh is an article published in The Sketch on 3 april 1901.
Dr. Conan Doyle in Edinburgh
Dr. Conan Doyle's latest visit to Edinburgh was of a more festive character than that of last October, when he unsuccessfully contested the Central Division in the Unionist interest. He has been admitted an honorary member of Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel) No. I. of Freemasons, in recognition of his eminence as a historian and novelist, and for his services to our soldiers in South Africa. His Majesty King Edward VII. is also an honorary member of this Society. In allusion to his services in South Africa and in reply to the toast of his health, Dr. Doyle said that while at the Cape he had heard a great deal about Freemasonry. He believed that the War would ultimately promote friendship between the two races there. In allusion to the demise of Mr. Sherlock Holmes, he said that, if ever a man inflicted death in self-defence, it was he, as, if he had not killed that gentleman, he was sure Sherlock would have killed him, for one could not go on writing and thinking about the same thing for years without injuring one's nerve-fibre, and he felt it high time. During the same visit, Dr. Doyle was also the chief guest of the evening at the Edinburgh Burns Club dinner, which was put off owing to the death of the Queen, and he proposed the memory of Burns in a felicitous speech, which Treasurer Cranston said could have come only from a big-hearted man, and would never be forgotten by those who heard it.
