Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters
Page 49
I can make nothing of Innes. The W.O. told him to come back five weeks ago. They know nothing. I have inquired.
Though Queen Victoria had died in January 1901, the coronation of Edward VII did not take place until August 1902, after the end of the war. Conan Doyle found it a mistake, if he wished to turn down a knighthood, to have met Edward VII socially. Now that he had, refusing an honour from the king could seem unpardonably rude. ‘There are persistent rumours that I am to have some honour at the Coronation but I don’t want anything of the kind,’ Conan Doyle wrote Innes on June 19th: ‘However I’ve come to the conclusion that I cant decently refuse if anything is offered—especially in this year. It may be mere rumours.’
to Mary Doyle UNDERSHAW
All thanks for your dear letters and the little stories which speak of bygone days. I will see that Jean gets hers. Touie has gone to London so I am alone here with my papers & my thoughts which are sad enough sometimes and yet on the whole I think we have been marvellously held up during these long years. Thanks also, dearest Mam, for the testament. I will try to read it. I wish someone would bowdlerise that book—it is so beautiful in parts. I think if God is the author the Devil must occasionally have collaborated. I have sincere belief and trust in God, and admiration for the man Christ, but I fear I shall never get further than that.
I had a long talk with Princess of Wales—liked her, but the Vicereine of India is my ideal Queen. She is a most noble woman.* Curzon, Roberts, Baden Powell &c.mdash;it was a notable gathering.
to Mary Doyle HALL BARN, BEACONSFIELD, BUCKS.
Yes, Edmund Waller still presides over the house—his picture has never been moved from the dining room.* It is a wonderful place—or rather the grounds are wonderful. 18th Century yew hedges & sylvan temples everywhere. I should not care to live here.
The party are Lord Burnham, his daughter Lady Hulse, Lord Granby—who is a good chap. Lady Dorothy Neville, who is good fun, Mr & Mrs Hare who are dears, Mr & Mrs Geo Alexander who are not, young Henry Irving, young Lewis (son of Sir George), Brand the speaker’s son, Miss Maxse, General Alleyne, and some whose name I dont know.
to Mary Doyle UNDERSHAW, JUNE 1902
I have sunk my own instincts & prejudices in this matter of the titles. I see now how exceedingly difficult it is to get out of it. It may solve itself by none being offered.
Smith is of opinion that we should not bring out the History complete for some months but I dont agree with him.
to Mary Doyle UNDERSHAW, JUNE 1902
I go up to town today and have some hopes that Connie may return with me. I go to try on my D.L. uniform which would make you laugh. I look as if I had escaped from the top of a barrel organ.
I am much better in health since I have made some changes in my life. I have not slept as well for years—and I work hard without effort.
Touie keeps bright & well. Only her voice gives me anxiety.
I have an idea, for what it is worth. I only put it forward for criticism.
Wood and I have determined when my Brigadiers are done to have a golfing holiday. I propose to him to go to Alboro’. Suppose you come also and so get a change in comfort (it is a comfy hotel, is it not?) We could have a pleasant time together & talk of many things. He will go soon, for he is a busy man, and if we then had a visitor for a few days there could be no harm.
The only objection is that Alboro’ is a cross country journey for you. Is there any Yorkshire Links which we could substitute so as to do the travelling and save you. Wood would come anywhere, and so would someone else—who flourishes and is happy.
to Mary Doyle JUNE 1902
Knighthood offered
‘It is a Knighthood,’ he informed Innes: ‘Seems funny, but the terms in which it is offered would not permit of refusal. They have also made me Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Surrey. I feel like a new married girl who is not sure of her own name.’ Perhaps his reluctance was mitigated by a letter from another famous author:
from H. G. Wells JULY 3, 1902
My dear Doyle,
I’ve been away from the world & newspapers tramping about in the Alps with my wife. So I come belated to congratulate you on your knighthood. Really I think the congratulations should go to those who have honoured themselves by honouring you. There are men I suppose who stand within a measurable distance of yourself in popularity & men who stand within a measurable distance of yourself in the esteem of those who criticize & look twice, but none who combine so happily as you do a large place in the public mind with the genuine respect of those who care keenly for literature.
to Mary Doyle AUGUST 16, 1902
Letters from you and J reached me together this morning—a conjunction which I love. I enclose hers—which please burn, or tear up and scatter among the flowers. Only in those two ways would I ever have any note of hers disposed of. I send it that you may see how fresh still are our feelings after this searching trial of years encompassed with difficulty.*
They left Lee Bay and came south to Teignmouth so that I am able to keep in touch. I played some of the matches from there. I mean on Friday to have a day together, meet at Newton Abbott and drive over some of the Baskerville Moor Country. It will be charming. The mother is a very sweet and good woman. I don’t know when I have met a more gentle unselfish and sensible lady. It is a joy to me to think that I have got Bob into Newnes’ office. His salary is 150, 200, 250, the first three years with good future prospects. If I have twisted the life of one of her children I have straightened that of another.†
Touie to my surprise went off to Clytonville Hotel Margate with Mrs Hawkins and they are there still. I am so glad as they seem to enjoy it. If I cannot give her my full love I can at least give her every material pleasure with a full hand. She always seems very happy.
I have become a director of Besson’s at Stratton [Boulnois]’s very earnest request. The reward is small but the duties are slight and I can know the inner working of it. I was loath to add to my full life but I must retrench in some other direction. I am full of literary ideas and keen on getting time to carry them all out.
to Mary Doyle UNDERSHAW
All these young people can all work out their own salvation, believe me, and it is best to interfere with them as little as possible for they know their own business better than even the most loving friend can do. To take the latest example it was all in sweetness and kindness that you ordered Cyril’s ticket but you had far better have left it alone for it has made a complication without any equivalent. It is the over anxiety of your own love, but keep a guard upon it, for you cannot know the situation as clearly as those who are in the middle of it.
You are wrong also about Mrs H. She sent up the letter because she could not make head or tail of all the part about the cottage. Her message was that ‘she wanted to do everything that we wanted her to do’. As to the remark about ‘being a stranger’ it was a very kindly joke. She meant of course that you are not often here and that she is here continually. She is a very good soul, gentle, patient and invariably kind. So dont be cross with her.
I am very uneasy about Lottie for her only note tells me that she found [that] her luggage had been stopped at the frontier and had never arrived. Poor girl, what a situation! However her frantic wires may have saved it. I shall be easier in my mind when I know.
Goodbye, my dear Mammie—I like to think that we are one and so there should be all frankness between us.
to Mary Doyle LYNTON, DEVON, SEPTEMBER 7, 1902
I have had a very pleasant few days here and am the better for it. I have found a mount which suits me so tomorrow I mean to hunt with the Devon Stag hounds which chase the wild deer over Exmoor in the old style. It should be very interesting especially as they mean to draw the Doone Valley. I hope I get on all right. It is an experienced moor horse. There is no jumping and bogs the only danger.
I met J in Exeter on my way here and took her out to view the outside of Innes’ old barracks and other points of interest. We only had
a few hours but they were sunny. I dont feel as if I had really had my holiday, for I have finished my history proofs and done a Brigadier in the course of it, so if I see a chance later I will take it.
The mining market shows signs of righting itself after the convulsion it has undergone. Our financial position is strong now but will be stronger still when that comes about. I think 1902 will break all records, in spite of the large amount of unpaid work I have done in connection with the pamphlet.
to Mary Doyle UNDERSHAW
The 24th is the investiture. I have ordered my barrel organ garment. I have two suits being cut just now. One costs 27/6, the other £40. I think that is a record.
All love, my dearest Mam. I am still Brigadiering hard.
to Mary Doyle
Things clear now—meanwhile all thanks for your dear letter. I think you have insight and can understand what it is which makes T always ‘dear’ and never ‘darling’. One illustration, an absurd trifle but typical. Last week I found several of my pipes cleaned. As such a thing had never chanced before I was touched & said so. T said ‘In that case I will tell George to finish cleaning them all’—George being the bootblack. It was he who had cleaned them all, the things I had to put between my lips. However, she has many great qualities.
What I plan is this. Wood and I will come up to Buxton on Oct 27th (Sunday) for a weeks golf. We shall go to the Royal Hotel. Once I am there I will fix all the rest. You will come as early or as late as you wish, but it would be slow for you until Wood is nearly done, as we will be on the links so much. You’ll be back home Nov 14th.
to Mary Doyle UNDERSHAW
Isn’t it good? Innes has his home orders. I heard from the War Office & wired him this morning. It is the 144th RFA, Woolwich. He comes by Mail Boat & should be back in a month.
to Mary Doyle UNDERSHAW, OCTOBER 1902
On Oct 24th I am dubbed. The ceremony is in the morning. I thought I could possibly get back to lunch at Morley’s and I will write Willie, Connie, Dodo, Cyril who with the children & Touie will make a family party. Wont you come? It would not seem complete without you. In that case we could easily alter the rest of our plans to fit in. But let me know by return at Morley’s because rooms must be engaged long before hand.
to Mary Doyle UNDERSHAW, OCTOBER 25, 1902
I had them all to dinner last night, a purely family party. Connie, Willie, Dodo, Cyril. All very well & happy. We had quite a golden evening. Just wanted the rest of you.
In Memories and Adventures, Conan Doyle did not dwell upon being knighted by the king at Buckingham Palace on October 24, 1902, though he mentioned finding ‘that all who were waiting for various honours were herded into funny little pens, according to their style and degree, there to wait their turn’. There in his pen he was pleased to see Oliver Lodge, the celebrated physicist who was a student of psychic matters too.
In the years that followed Conan Doyle refused requests to use Sir Arthur as a byline, or in publicity. ‘[George Newnes Ltd.] have just sent me some advertisements etc which made my hair stand on end,’ he once wrote to Herbert Greenhough Smith. ‘I am A. Conan Doyle without any trimmings and will so remain. I thought I’d tell you in case you might go wrong on “the Strand”.’
And in 1925’s Sherlock Holmes story ‘The Adventure of the Three Garridebs’, set in June 1902 ‘shortly after the conclusion of the South African war’—just when Conan Doyle was offered an unwanted knighthood—he had Dr Watson remark: ‘I remember the date very well, for it was in the same month that Holmes refused a knighthood for services which may perhaps some day be described.’
* * *
*W. G. Grace was reckoned the greatest cricket player of all time; and on another occasion he ‘clean-bowled’ Conan Doyle.
*Jean and Arthur had disclosed their feelings for each other to both their mothers by now.
*Lottie had married Leslie Oldham on August 27th.
*Conan Doyle, who already belonged to the Reform, Authors, and National Sporting clubs, had also joined the Athenaeum, the most prestigious, with a membership noted for contributions to Britain’s intellectual and artistic life. His late uncle Richard Doyle had been a member, dying after collapsing on the Athenaeum’s steps one evening in 1883.
*‘Literary Shop’, North American Review, November 1898.
*See following.
†Claire Foley, his sister Ida’s step-daughter, Nelson Foley’s child by his first marriage.
*His nephew and godson Arthur Oscar Hornung, now six and a half.
†The Princess Christian, a daughter of Queen Victoria, had sponsored another volunteer field hospital in South Africa.
*‘My prejudices,’ Conan Doyle told Innes, ‘are against the “gold lace” kind of soldiering however good the soldiers are’, alluding to commissions based on birth rather than merit.
*The Strand article appeared in June: ‘A British Commando. An Interview with Conan Doyle’, by his friend Captain Philip Trevor, illustrated by eight photographs.
†Alfred Wood, his friend from Southsea days, became Conan Doyle’s next secretary.
*Novalis (Georg Friedrich von Hardenburg) was a German Romanticist who believed in the possibility of a utopian society and world peace achieved through harmony between science and art. He died of consumption in 1801 a few months short of his twenty-ninth birthday.
*Christian De Wet was the most formidable commander of the continuing Boer resistance in South Africa. The guerrilla war there went on until May 1902.
*‘One of the most interesting weeks that I ever spent was with Doyle on Dartmoor,’ wrote Fletcher Robinson in 1905. ‘He made the journey in my company shortly after I had told him, and he had accepted from me, the plot which eventuated in The Hound of the Baskervilles. Dartmoor, the great wilderness of bog and rocks that cuts Devonshire into two parts, appealed to his imagination. He listened eagerly to my stories of the ghost hounds, of the headless riders and of the devils that lurk in the hollow—legends upon which I had been reared, for my home lay on the borders of the moor. How well he turned to account his impressions will be remembered by all readers of the Hound.’
*The ‘Aeronaut’ who took Conan Doyle up on July 4, 1901, Percival Spencer, recorded the trip’s duration as one hour and forty-five minutes, with a maximum altitude of sixty-five hundred feet.
†Gillette performed Sherlock Holmes repeatedly over the years, and filmed it in 1916. In old age he came out of retirement for a farewell tour in 1928 that lasted four years. ‘You make the poor hero of the anaemic printed page a very limp object,’ Conan Doyle wrote him, ‘compared with the glamour of your own personality which you infuse into his stage presentment.’
*It is now a modern office building, but the buildings next door show the kind of four-storey redbrick Georgian building his was.
*Willem Leyds had been Paul Kruger’s State Secretary in the Transvaal government, and was now spreading atrocity stories to arouse international pressure against Britain in the war.
†The Mam was now a sponsor of prizes for her son’s Undershaw Rifle Club matches.
*Lord Rosebery was a former Liberal Party leader and prime minister.
*Lord Strathcona, a Canadian peer, had raised a mounted regiment of Canadian cowboys and Mounties that had served in South Africa.
*‘Literary Shop,’ op. cit.
†‘Literary Life in London’, North American Review, June 1898.
*Sam McClure was at Divonne les Bains, writing to Conan Doyle again June 30th to tell him that The Hound of the Baskervilles, published by him in April, was now America’s bestselling book.
*Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, the same order his Uncle Henry had received.
*‘Mrs H’, Emily Hawkins, was Touie’s mother. She recovered, and lived until Christmas Day 1905. ‘Nem’ was Touie’s sister, also named Emily.
*The Vicereine was Lady Curzon, and a curious candidate for Conan Doyle’s ideal queen, for she was an American, the former Mary Victoria Leite
r of Chicago, whose father was cofounder of its famous department store, Marshall Fields.
*The English poet, 1606-87.
*It had been four years and a few months—and nowhere near the end of their trial.
†Jean Leckie’s youngest brother Robert, twenty years old.
10
The Final Hindhead Years
(1903-1907)
‘For some time after these days of darkness I was unable to
settle to work, until the Edalji case came suddenly to turn
my energies into an entirely unexpected channel.’
For Conan Doyle, 1903 and 1904 were years of hard literary work, and also of politics. Touie’s consumption, now ten years in duration, entered its final stages, though it was several more years as the family watched her fade. Conan Doyle’s attention to her did not flag, at the same time that his romance with Jean Leckie continued. Despite the optimism in these letters, his own health was less robust than it had been, and the strain began to tell.
to Mary Doyle UNDERSHAW
Just a line to tell you that the boy went off in great form. No doubt he is there now. I am very well & leading a most regular life. I am sure that it is best for me. I have divided my time between dentists and doctors this last week, writing furiously at my play during every interval. I saw your very dear card to J. All thanks for it. Touie is wonderfully well save for her poor voice which has almost gone. You will believe that I show her every tenderness & consideration. I do think that in spite of all she is the happiest woman I know.