Nancy Barclay
From The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia
(Redirected from Nancy Devoy)
Fictional character.
In the Sherlock Holmes stories
- Nancy Barclay (née Nancy Devoy) was the daughter of Colour-Sergeant Devoy of the Royal Mallows regiment (CROO 71).
- She married James Barclay when he was still a sergeant, despite some social friction (CROO 72).
- She was beautiful and popular among the officers' wives; married for over 30 years and seen as part of an exemplary couple (CROO 73).
- She was a member of the Roman Catholic Church, and had interested herself very much in the establishment of the Guild of St George, which was formed in connection with the Watt Street Chapel for the purpose of supplying the poor with cast-off clothing (CROO 97).
- In her youth, she loved Corporal Henry Wood, who was later betrayed by Sergeant James Barclay during the Indian Mutiny and presumed dead (CROO 321).
- On the way home, she unexpectedly met Henry Wood in the street (CROO 235). After a short, tense conversation with him, she returned home visibly agitated (CROO 249).
- She had a fierce quarrel with her husband, calling him a "coward" and demanding he "give me back my life." (CROO 116).
- When Henry Wood bursted into the room, Colonel James Barclay died of apoplexy; Nancy faints and remains unconscious, unable to speak in her own defence (CROO 127).
- Status at the inquest: Temporarily insane from brain fever; suspected of murder until the medical verdict cleared her (CROO 382).
