Close To Holmes

  The rapid population expansion that the railway brought to Croydon generated its own set of problems. The overcrowding in the older parts of the town caused a series of public health issues. These became of such concern that in 1849 Croydon got a local board of health which set to work improving matters with the construction of proper sewers and a reservoir. Croydon was one of the first towns to have such a body looking after its health.

  1860 saw the opening of a rail route to London Victoria but this was very much the less important line. West London at this stage was the location for entertainment rather than office space. This situation was to remain the same until the early twentieth century. On Sunday mornings the train companies operated what became known as a ‘church break’. During this period no trains operated. The idea behind this was to discourage people from travelling when they should be in church.109

  Today Croydon is approximately a fifteen minute car or bus journey from South Norwood and it is certainly possible that Conan Doyle visited during the period from mid 1891 to 1894 when he was resident in Tennison Road. What is certain is that one of the Sherlock Holmes stories, The Cardboard Box, was largely set in Croydon. This is the story where, due to a mistake, a Miss Susan Cushing receives a box containing two severed ears. She is described as living in Cross Street but a road of this exact name does not exist. There is however a Cross Road which may well have been the road Conan Doyle meant.

  If this is indeed the road that Conan Doyle was thinking of it answers the question as to which of Croydon’s stations Holmes and Watson travelled to in order to meet Inspector Lestrade and visit Miss Cushing.

  Cross Road, Croydon in 1996. Courtesy of Croydon Local Studies Library

  The Cardboard Box is widely accepted by scholars to be set in 1888 (it was published in 1893). At this time there were two railway stations in proximity to Cross Road. West Croydon Station and East Croydon (opened July 12th 1841). Contemporary maps clearly show that the latter is the closer to Cross Road. There are today considerable numbers of express or fast trains from London to East Croydon that only stop once or twice on their way south. We already know from our look at Norwood Junction that the situation was very much the same in the late 1800s. Knowing that Holmes was not a man who wasted time we can be reasonably certain that it would have been an express train to this station that he and Watson used. If we then add to this the fact that in the story the journey from the station to Miss Cushing’s house is described as a ‘walk of five minutes’ it becomes even more likely that Cross Road is the Cross Street of the story.

  A train arrives at East Croydon Station (1909). The picture very much represents the station as Holmes and Watson would have seen it upon their arrival in Croydon – Courtesy of Croydon Local Studies Library

  Lestrade, Holmes and Watson examine the severed ears at the house of Susan Cushing in Croydon in The Cardboard Box (1893)

  East Croydon Station (2008)

  East Croydon Station in 1905, thirteen years after The Cardboard Box was published in the Strand. The main building essentially remained unchanged until the 1990s when it was rebuilt. Courtesy of Croydon Local Studies Library

  109 Croydon: The Story of a Hundred Years.

  Conclusion

  So we have reached the end of our look at Holmes and Conan Doyle’s London. A major city such as London is forever on the move and it is perfectly possible, when writing a book such as this, to be overtaken by events.

  The closure of the Café Royal on Regent Street is a perfect example of this continual change. At the time I originally wrote my section on Regent Street, the Café Royal was still a working business. As I write these lines the Café has been shut for several days and by the time you read this its contents will have been auctioned by Bonhams auctioneers. Fortunately for me this change occurred in time for me to alter my text but who is to say what else may change after this book makes it into your hands.

  My thanks go out once again to all those who helped me in the production of this book. I hope you all like it.

  APD.

  Bibliography

  Baring-Gould, W.S. Sherlock Holmes – A biography of the world’s first consulting detective. Published by Panther. ISBN 586-04260-1

  Baring-Gould, W.S. The Annotated Sherlock Holmes. Published by John Murray. ISBN 0517502917

  Carr, John Dickson. The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Published by Carroll & Graff. ISBN 07867 1234 1

  Clunn, Harold P. The Face of London. Published by Spring Books.

  Dakin, D. Martin. A Sherlock Holmes Commentary. Published by David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-5493-0

  Davies, Bernard. Holmes and Watson Country: Travels in Search of Solutions. Published by The Sherlock Holmes Society of London.

  Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Penguin Complete Sherlock Holmes. Published by Penguin. ISBN 0-14-005694-7

  Emsley, Clive. The English Police: A Political and Social History. Published by Longman. ISBN 0582257689

  Foley, Charles. Stashower, Daniel. Lellenberg Jon. Arthur Conan Doyle – A Life in Letters. Published by Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-00-724759-2

  Green, Richard Lancelyn. Conan Doyle of Wimpole Street. Published by The Arthur Conan Doyle Society. ISBN 1 899060 02 2

  Green, Richard Lancelyn. Letters to Sherlock Holmes. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-1400-70354

  Holroyd, James Edward. Baker Street By-Ways. Published by George Allen & Unwin

  Jackson, Lee. A Dictionary of Victorian London. Published by Anthem Press. ISBN 1 84331 230 1

  Klinger. Leslie S. The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes Volumes 1 & 2. Published by Norton. ISBN 0-393-05916-2

  Klinger. Leslie S. The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes Volumes 3. Published by Norton. ISBN 0-393-05800-X

  Lycett, Andrew. Conan Doyle – The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes. Published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0297848526

  Machmichael, J. Holden. The Story of Charing Cross, Published by Chatto & Windus.

  Pointer, Michael. The Pictorial History of Sherlock Holmes. Published by WH Smith. ISBN 0861248546

  Pugh, Brian and Spiring Paul. Bertram Fletcher Robinson: A Footnote to the Hound of the Baskervilles. MX Publishing. ISBN 1-904312-411

  Pugh, Brian and Spiring Paul. On the Trail of Arthur Conan Doyle: An Illustrated Devon Tour. Book Guild Limited. ISBN 1-84624198-7

  Tracy, Jack. The Encyclopaedia Sherlockiana. New English Library. ISBN 450-040-275.

  Tracy, Jack. Sherlock Holmes – The Published Apocrypha. Gaslight Publications. ISBN 0-93-446824-9

  Various Authors. Arthur Conan Doyle (Crowborough) Establishment 2008 Birthday File.

  Various Authors. Croydon: The Story of a Hundred Years. Published by the Croydon Natural History & Scientific Society Limited.

  Various Authors. The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Published by Penguin. ISBN 0-14-00.7907-6

  Viney, Charles. Sherlock Holmes in London. Published by Equation. ISBN 1853361321

  Wilson, J.B. The Story of Norwood. Published by London Borough of Lambeth. ISBN 0950189332

  Index

  A Case of Identity

  A Scandal in Bohemia

  A Study in Scarlet

  Abbey House

  Abbey National Bank

  Adelphi Theatre

  Adler, Irene

  Alpha Inn

  An American Lady

  Anderson, Sir Robert

  Anerley

  Anerley Arms

  Arthur Conan Doyle Society

  Athenaeum

  Baker Street

  Baker Street By-Ways

  Baker, Henry

  Baldwin Hotel

  Barclay, Colonel

  Barker

  Barnicot, Dr

  Barrie, J.M.

  Barry, E.M.

  Barry, Edward Middleton

  Baskerville, Sir Charles

  Baskerville, Sir Henry

  BBC

  Beazley, Samuel

  Bedford-Fenwick

  Bedlam

  Bertram Fletcher Robin
son

  Blessington

  Boone, Hugh

  Bradshaw, George

  Bradshaw’s Monthly Railway Guide

  Breckinridge

  British Journal of Nursing

  British Museum

  Brook Street

  Bruce-Partington Plans

  Brunel, Isambard Kingdom

  Budd, Dr George Turnavine

  Byrne, Charles

  Café Royal

  Cannon Street station

  Carlton Club

  Chaplin, Charlie

  Chapman, Charles

  Charing Cross

  Charing Cross Hotel

  Charlington Hall

  Chatham

  Churchill, Winston

  Clayton, John

  Collcutt, Thomas Edward

  Conan Doyle

  Conan Doyle, Dame Jean

  Conduit Street

  Covent Garden

  Coward, Noel

  Craven Street

  Crippen, Dr

  Criterion

  Crocker, Captain

  Cross Road

  Cross Street

  Croydon

  Crystal Palace

  Cubitt, Hilton

  Cubitt, Lewis

  Cushing, Susan

  Dartmoor

  Devonshire Place

  Dickens, Charles

  Dickson Carr, John

  Diogenes Club

  Douglas, Lord Alfred ‘Bosie’

  Drebber

  Eleanor Cross

  Embankment

  English Heritage

  Eros

  Euston

  Fenians

  Festival of Britain

  Fleet Street

  Fleming, Sir Alexander

  Fountain Tavern

  Fowler, Francis

  Frohman, Charles

  From Hell

  Galton, Sir Francis

  Gibbs, James

  Gillette, William

  Gipsy Hill

  Gladstone, William

  Glasshouse Street

  Golden Cross

  Gordon Hotels Company

  Grand

  Great Orme Street

  Great Western Hotel

  Green, Honourable Philip

  Green, Richard Lancelyn

  Green, Richard Lancelyn

  Gregson Grosvenor Hotel

  Gruner, Baron

  Gull, Sir William

  Haggard, H. Rider

  Harding, Lyn

  Hardwick, Philip

  Hardwick, Philip Charles

  Harley Street

  Hawkshaw, Sir John

  Hawkshaw, Sir John

  Hay, Captain William

  Henry, Edward Richard

  Hill House Public House

  His Last Bow

  Holborn

  Holmes

  Holmes, Mycroft

  Holmes, Sherlock

  Holroyd, James Edward

  Hopkins, Inspector Stanley

  Hudson, Morse

  Hunter, John

  Hunter, Violet

  Hunterian collection

  Hutchinson, George

  Incorporated Society of Authors

  Jack the Ripper

  Jane Annie

  Jones, Athelney

  Jones, Inigo

  Kilravock House

  King Solomon’s Mines

  Kings Cross

  Kipling, Rudyard

  Knight, Stephen

  Langham Hotel

  Leckie, Jean

  Lestrade

  Holroyd, James Edward

  Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine

  Liverpool Street Station

  Liverpool, Lord

  London Bridge

  London Bridge Station

  Lower Norwood

  Lyceum

  Manson, Ethel Gordon

  Marsham

  Massey, Raymond

  Matthews, Henry

  Maxim, Sir Hiram Stevens

  Mayne, Richard

  Mazarin Stone

  McFarlane, John Hector

  Metropole

  Metropolitan Police Fingerprint Bureau

  Mexborough Private Hotel

  Monro, James

  Montague House

  Montague Place

  Montague Street

  Moran, Colonel Sebastian

  Moriarty

  Morley’s

  Morstan

  Mortimer

  Mortimer, Dr

  Moulton, Francis H.

  Murder by Decree

  Museum Tavern

  Napoleon

  Nash, John

  Netley, John Charles

  Newton, Sir Isaac

  Northumberland Arms Inn

  Northumberland Avenue

  Northumberland Hotel

  Norwood

  Norwood Junction

  Oldacre, Jonas

  Openshaw, John

  Oxford Street

  Paddington Station

  Paget, Sidney

  Palace Theatre

  Pall Mall

  Peter Pan

  Piccadilly

  Pilgrims Society

  Plough

  Pondicherry Lodge

  Queen Anne Street

  Reform Club

  Regent Street

  Reiss, Samuel

  Rhodes, Cecil

  Ritz, César

  Roberts, Lord

  Robinson, Bertram Fletcher

  Robinson, Bertram Fletcher

  Rodney Stone

  Rowan, Sir Charles

  Royal Automobile Club

  Royal College of Physicians

  Royal College of Surgeons

  Royal Opera House

  Royal Society

  Roylott, Dr Grimsby

  Saintsbury, H.A.

  Sanderson, James

  Savoy Hotel

  Scotland Yard

  Scott, Sir Walter

  Shaw, George Bernard

  Shaw, Norman

  Sherlock Holmes

  Sherlock Holmes museum

  Sherlock Holmes Public House

  Sholto, Bartholomew

  Sholto, Major John

  Shoscombe Old Place

  Silver Blaze

  Simpson’s

  Slaney, Abe

  Sloane, Sir Hans

  Small, Jonathan

  South Norwood

  Spiers & Pond

  Spilsbury, Sir Bernard

  St Bartholomew’s Hospital

  St Marks Church

  St Mary’s Hospital

  St. Clair, Neville

  St. Clement Danes

  Stamford

  Stangerson

  Stanley, William

  Stapleton

  Starrett, Vincent

  Staunton, Godfrey

  Staunton, Howard

  Stoddart, J.M.

  Stoker, Bram

  Stoner, Helen

  Strand Magazine

  Sullivan, Sir Arthur

  Sutherland, Mary

  Tennison Road

  The Abbey Grange

  The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

  The Blanched Soldier

  The Blue Carbuncle

  The Boscombe Valley Mystery

  The Cardboard Box

  The Copper Beeches

  The Crooked Man

  The Dancing Men

  The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax

  The Dying Detective

  The Empty House

  The Engineer’s Thumb

  The Final Problem

  The Five Orange Pips

  The Golden Pince-Nez

  The Greek Interpreter

  The Hound of the Baskervilles

  The House of Temperley

  The Illustrious Client

  The Kit-Cat Club

  The Man with the Twisted Lip

  The Missing Three-Quarter

  The Musgrave Ritual

  The Noble Bachelor

  The Norwood Builder

&
nbsp; The Picture of Dorian Gray

  The Priory School

  The Problem of Thor Bridge

  The Red Circle

  The Resident Patient

  The Retired Colourman

  The Sign of Four

  The Six Napoleons

  The Solitary Cyclist

  The Speckled Band

  The Valley of Fear

  The William Stanley

  Theatre Royal

  Tonga

  Tottenham Court Road

  Tracey, Jack

  Trafalgar Square

  Turf Fraud Scandal

  Twain, Mark

  Undershaw

  Upper Wimpole Street

  Verity, Thomas

  Victoria

  Vincent, Charles Edward Howard

  Waterloo

  Watson

  Weight, Michael

  West Norwood

  Whitbread

  White Bear

  Wilde, Oscar

  Wilson, Edward

  Wimpole Street

  Wisteria Lodge

  Wolfe-Barry, John

  Wontner, Arthur

  Wren, Sir Christopher

  Yardley, Stuart

  Also from MX Publishing:

  Brian W. Pugh and Paul R. Spiring

  Bertram Fletcher Robinson

  A Footnote to the Hound of the Baskervilles

  Also from MX Publishing:

  Alistair Duncan

  Eliminate the Impossible

  An Examination of the World of

  Sherlock Holmes on Page and Screen