Sherlock Holmes and The Sword of Osman

by Tim Symonds

  The Adventure of the Naval Treaty. One of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories. Conan Doyle ranked it 19th in a list of his 19 favourite Sherlock Holmes stories. Watson receives a letter from an old schoolmate, now a Foreign Office employee, who has had an important naval treaty stolen from his office. Has the theft been made on behalf of Czarist Russia or France (both perceived at the time to be potential enemies)? The Naval Treaty is one of the first in the emerging genre of spy story.

  Fly Fishing. On trout, sea trout and salmon. Written by Edward Grey when he was thirty years of age, before his eyesight began to deteriorate sharply. Considered the equal of Walton’s much-better-known Compleat Angler.

  The Charm of Birds. First published in 1927 with woodcuts, it was an immediate popular success. Full of sensitive observation and beautifully written.

  Twenty-Five Years 1892-1916, by Viscount Grey of Falloden. Hodder And Stoughton. 1925. Wonderfully written memoires by one of the most famous British Foreign Secretaries. I have used some of his descriptions in The Sword of Osman. A must for anyone interested in the period leading to the First World War.

  The Sultan, by Joan Haslip. Reissued by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 1973. Excellent list of illustrations, written in lively style.

  The Harem, by N.M.Penzer. Subtitled ‘an account of the institution as it existed in the Palace of the Turkish Sultans with a history of the Grand Seraglio from its foundation to modern times’. First published by George G. Harrap & Co. 1936.

  Everyday Life in Ottoman Turkey, by Raphaela Lewis. B.T. Batsford Ltd. 1971. Really excellent 206 pages. The part titled ‘Portrait of a City’ is especially worth reading.

  The Best Letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Edited by Octave Thanet. A. C. McClurg & Co. Second Edition 1901. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762) was the wife of the British Ambassador to Turkey. In 1715 she had survived but been terribly scarred by smallpox while her brother had died from the disease. She was fascinated by the culture of the Ottoman Empire and in 1717 described the Turkish practice of inoculating healthy children with a weakened strain of smallpox to confer immunity from the more virulent strains of the disease. She immediately had her seven-year old son inoculated in Turkey and on her return to England, she had her daughter publicly inoculated at the royal court of George I to popularize the technique. In this she was only partially successful as inoculation continued to be dangerous and often resulted in death and scarring of infected children.

  M. Şükrü Hanioğlu. The Second Constitutional Period, 1908–1918 Volume 4: Turkey in the Modern World. Cambridge Histories Online. Nov. 2009.

  Diary of an Idle Woman in Constantinople (1892). For a prevailing, sometimes contemptuous view of Stamboul (‘ill-smelling mob’) by an itinerant English ‘Idle Woman’ travel-writer Frances Elliott, see https://archive.org/details/diaryanidlewoma03elligoog

  The Sultan and His Subjects Volume 1-2 by Richard Davey. General Books, Memphis, USA.

  Lords of the Horizons, A History of the Ottoman Empire, by Jason Goodwin. Chatto & Windus 1998. A lively account of the machinations of the major players in the Ottoman Empire from its origins to its collapse centuries later.

  My Mission To Russia And Other Diplomatic Memories, by Sir George Buchanan. Little, Brown And Company. 1923.

  With a Field Ambulance At Ypres: Being Letters Written March 7 - August 15, 1915. William Boyd. George H. Doran Company.

  In Unknown Africa, by Percy Powell-Cotton, Hurst & Blackett, 1904. An account of a ‘wanderer’ and collector shooting his way through British East Africa in the Edwardian period.

  The Urban Sea, Cities of the Mediterranean, by Dennis Hardy. Blue Gecko Books. 2013. Valuable and nicely-written account ranging across geography and history, with an appeal to a wide audience who visit the various cities around the coast of the world’s most famous Sea.

  The Life And Times Of Sherlock Holmes, by Philip Weller with Christopher Roden. Studio Editions. 1992. Coffee-table size, packed with illustrations and informative background material.

  Conan Doyle, The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes, by Andrew Lycett. Phoenix. 554pp. 2007. Just about the best book on Doyle himself. Filled with interesting accounts right through Doyle’s life, including that 10 horsepower blue Wolseley with red wheels.

  The Sherlock Holmes Companion, by Michael and Molly Hardwick. First published 1962 by John Murray, London.

  The London of Sherlock Holmes, by Michael Harrison. David & Charles, Newton Abbot. 1972.

  A Study In Surmise, by Michael Harrison. Subtitled ‘The Making of Sherlock Holmes’. Introduction by Ellery Queen. Gaslight Publications. 1984.

  The Sherlock Holmes Scrapbook. New English Library, 1973. Introduction by Peter Cushing.

  Investigating Sherlock Holmes by Hartley Nathan and Clifford Goldfarb. Mosaic Press, 2014.

  The Influence of Royal Tours on the Conduct of British Diplomacy 1901-1918. Matthew Glencross. PhD Thesis. Argues the importance of royal diplomacy (e.g. Edward V11).

  The Foreign Policy of Sir Edward Grey 1906-1915. Gilbert Murray. Forgotten Books. Originally published 1915.

  Sherbet & Spice, The Complete Story of Turkish Sweets and Desserts, by Mary Işin. I.B. Tauris. 2013. Turkish cuisine is placed in the highest category of cuisines, alongside French, Italian, Indian and Chinese.

  A British Borderland, Service And Sport in Equatoria, by Captain H. A. Wilson. John Murray, 1913. A vivid account of life in deepest East Africa between 1902 and 1906, mostly on the Anglo-German Boundary Commission sorting out where British and German East Africa lay.

  Allan Quartermain. The wildly-popular protagonist of H. Rider Haggard’s 1885 novel King Solomon’s Mines and its sequels.

  Heart of Darkness (1899). A short novel by Polish novelist Joseph Conrad about the character Charles Marlow’s life as an ivory transporter down the Congo River in Central Africa. It was a best-seller almost from the start, and Watson would certainly have read it, along with William Clark Russell’s sea stories, the latter author described by Swinburne as ‘the greatest master of the sea, living or dead’.

  The Adventure of The Bruce-Partington Plans. Set in 1895. The monotony of smog-shrouded London is broken by a sudden visit from Holmes’s brother Mycroft. He has come about some missing, secret submarine plans. ‘You may take it from me,’ said Mr. Holmes’s brother in speaking of them, ‘that naval warfare becomes impossible when in the radius of a Bruce Partington operation.’

  The Riddle of the Sands: A Record of Secret Service’ by Erskine Childers. Published in 1903. The book enjoyed immense popularity in the years before World War I and is an early example of the espionage novel, extremely influential in the genre of spy fiction. Childers’s biographer Andrew Boyle noted: ‘For the next ten years Childers’s book remained the most powerful contribution of any English writer to the debate on Britain’s alleged military unpreparedness’. It was a notable influence on John Buchan and, much later, Ken Follett.

  The Rifle Rangers by Captain Mayne Reid. ‘Captain’ Mayne Reid’s first boys’ story, extremely popular in Victorian times. At one point the hero is to die by hanging by the heels over a precipice in south Mexico. At another he and his companions are attacked by a pack of snarling bloodhounds.

  The Final Problem. Includes the weird description of Moriarty: ‘...his face protrudes forward and is forever slowly oscillating from side to side in a curiously reptilian fashion.’ - early stages of Shaky Palsy?

  The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge. A lengthy, two-part story consisting of The Singular Experience of Mr. John Scott Eccles and The Tiger of San Pedro, which on original publication in The Strand bore the collective title of A Reminiscence of Mr. Sherlock Holmes. Set around 1894 and published in 1908. Of the entire collection of Holmes stories by Doyle, this is the only story in which a police inspector (specifically Inspector Baynes) is acknowledged as competent as Holmes. Contains insights into
Holmes’s methods, for example, ‘There are no better instruments than discharged servants with a grievance, and I was lucky enough to find one. I call it luck, but it would not have come my way had I not been looking out for it.’

  Lexicon

  Achates. The Sultan was displaying his considerable depth of reading in the Classics. In the Aeneid, Achates (“good, faithful Achates”, or fidus Achates as he was called) was a close friend of Aeneas; his name became a by-word for an intimate companion. He accompanied Aeneas throughout his adventures, reaching Carthage with him in disguise when the pair scouted the area.

  Aconite. A powerful plant, used in the past as a medicinal herb, a poison and in potions for incantations. Until the 20th century it was the deadliest toxin known. The leaves and root yield its active ingredient, an alkaloid called Aconitine, frequently used to tip hunting darts or javelins. The poison takes effect quickly. In late-Victorian times the poison was made famous by its use in Oscar Wilde’s 1891 story Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime.

  Abus gun is an early form of artillery created by the Ottoman Empire. They were small but heavy to carry. Many were equipped with a type of tripod.

  Aristolochia. A genus of evergreen and deciduous woody vines and herbaceous perennials known to contain the lethal toxin aristolochic acid. The plants are aromatic. Their strong scent attracts insects.

  Borsalini. Hat company known particularly for its fedoras. Founded by Giuseppe Borsalini in 1857, the felt hats were produced from Belgian rabbit fur at a factory in Alessandria, Italy. When Giuseppe Borsalini died in 1900 his son Teresio succeeded him.

  British Empire. Like most Britons of his class and background, Watson was unquestioningly proud of an Empire which comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by Whitehall. The Empire originated with the overseas possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height it was the largest empire in history and for over a century the foremost global power. By 1922, but by then overstretched, the British Empire held sway over about 458 million people, one-fifth of the world’s population at the time, covering more than 33,700,000 km2 (13,012,000 sq mi). This was almost a quarter of the Earth’s total land area.

  Camarilla. A group of courtiers or favourites who surround a ruler. A word used more in Edwardian times than now. Usually, they do not hold any office or have any official authority at court but influence their ruler behind the scenes. Consequently, they also escape having to bear responsibility for the effects of their advice. The term derives from the Spanish word, camarilla (diminutive of cámara), meaning ‘little chamber’ or private cabinet of the king.

  ‘Chapeau!’ The French for hat. I.e. ‘Hats off to you!’

  Crape (anglicized versions of the French crêpe). Silk, wool, or later polyester fabric of a gauzy texture, with a particular crimpy appearance. Silk crape is woven of hard spun silk yarn in the gum or natural condition. There are two distinct varieties of the textile: soft, Canton, or Oriental crape, and hard or crisped crape.

  Dog-dung. The pavements of Constantinople were covered with dung from the hundreds, perhaps thousands of street dogs permitted to live by a quirk of the Sultan’s affections. This was very useful to the tanning trade which used dog-dung extensively, hence the many apprentice tanners walking around collecting it.

  Dreadnought. HMS Dreadnought revolutionised naval power from the moment of her launch in Portsmouth on 10 February 1906 by King Edward VII at a construction cost in Sterling of £1,783,883 (over GBP£200 million in 2015 terms). She was christened with an Australian wine in a bottle that famously failed to break on its first brush with the ship’s stern. With this ritual, HMS Dreadnought was launched into the Solent, stirring up waves which would be felt around the world. Though Britain had intended to use Dreadnought to overawe potential rivals with her naval power, the revolutionary nature of its design immediately reduced Britain’s 25-ship superiority in battleships to 1. She was broken up for scrap in 1923.

  East Wind. Harbinger of unfavourable events. An east wind is referred to in Bleak House by Charles Dickens. The character Mr Jarndyce uses it several times. Sherlock Holmes mentions the east wind in His Last Bow (published in 1917 but set on the eve of the First World War) where clearly Arthur Conan Doyle expresses his own feelings:

  “There’s an east wind coming, Watson.”

  “I think not, Holmes. It is very warm.”

  “Good old Watson! You are the one fixed point in a changing age. There’s an east wind coming all the same, such a wind as never blew on England yet. It will be cold and bitter, Watson, and a good many of us may wither before its blast. But it’s God’s own wind none the less, and a cleaner, better, stronger land will lie in the sunshine when the storm has cleared.”

  Emprise. An adventurous, daring, or chivalric enterprise.

  Entari. Loose garment worn indoors.

  Five jack. The old impressive ‘large white fiver’ - five pounds sterling banknote, equivalent to Sterling £600 in 2015.

  Galata Bridge. Spans the Golden Horn in Istanbul. From the end of the 19th century in particular, the bridge has featured in Turkish literature, theatre, poetry and novels. The first recorded bridge over the Golden Horn in Istanbul was built during the reign of Justinian the Great in the 6th century, close to the area near the Theodosian Land Walls at the western end of the city. The fifth Galata bridge was built just a few meters away from the previous bridge, between Karaköy and Eminönü, and completed in December 1994.

  Ghillie suit, also known as a yowie suit, or camo tent. Type of camouflage clothing designed to resemble heavy foliage, typically a net or cloth garment covered in loose strips of burlap, cloth or twine, sometimes made to look like leaves and twigs, and augmented with scraps of foliage from the area. Military snipers, hunters and nature photographers wear ghillie suits to blend into their surroundings. The suit gives the wearer’s outline a three-dimensional breakup, rather than a linear one. When manufactured correctly, the suit will move in the wind in the same way as surrounding foliage.

  Gieves. Founded in 1771 and now owned by Hong Kong conglomerate Trinity Ltd. Gieves business was originally based on catering for the needs of the British Army and the Royal Navy, and hence by association the British Royal family. In their various incarnations and premises they made uniforms for Admiral Lord Nelson and the Duke of Wellington. In 1974 Gieves Ltd acquired Hawkes and became Gieves & Hawkes. , but still informally known just as ‘Gieves’ (pronounced ‘Jeeves’).

  Grisette (or grizette). A French working-class woman from the late 17th century. The term remained in common use through the Belle Époque era. From gris, (French for grey), referring to the cheap grey fabric of the dresses these women originally wore.

  Guinguettes. Popular drinking establishments in Parisian suburbs. Guinguettes also served as restaurants and, often, as dance venues. From guinguet, a sour white light local wine.

  Harem. ‘Forbidden place; sacrosanct, sanctum’ for female members of the family. The term originated with the Near East. Harems are the portion of households occupied by wives and often sex slaves known as concubines.

  Haroony. The author’s partner Lesley Abdela is the grand-daughter of the Victorian/Edwardian ship-builders Abdela & Mitchell on the Manchester Ship Canal and Stroud. The real Haroony was a 14 tonne craft launched in 1903, destined for Turkey or a Turkish domain. She was delivered by Isaac Abdela and Sophie Moss on their honeymoon via the Riviera, Italy and Greece, back to where the Abdelas had originated before the 1860s.

  Ikbal. The harem member with whom the Sultan had slept at least once. These women need not necessarily have given a child to the Sultan but simply have taken his fancy.

  Junior United Services Club. Founded 1815, disbanded in 1978. Located in Pall Mall, members were princes of the blood royal, commissioned officers of the Navy, Army, Mari
nes, Royal Indian Forces, and Regular Militia, Lieutenants of Counties, sub-lieutenants in the Army and midshipmen in the Navy. ‘No officer is eligible for admission to the club who is not on full, half or retired full-pay of the Navy, Army, Marines, or Royal Indian Forces; or who, if an officer of Militia, has not one year’s embodied service or attended three regular trainings, certified by the commanding officer, adjutant, or paymaster of the regiment.’ From Dickens’s Dictionary of London, 1879, by Charles Dickens Jr.

  Kadin. Among the women of the Imperial Harem, the Kadın was a woman who was not an official wife but had borne the Sultan a child, preferably a son.

  KCMG. Order of St. Michael and St. George. The Star and Badge of the Order feature the cross of St George, the Order’s motto, and a representation of the archangel St Michael holding in his right hand a flaming sword and trampling upon Satan. Unlike Sherlock, Mycroft Holmes had no hesitation in accepting a Knighthood albeit with a great sense of irony in this instance as he had intended to scupper Sherlock Holmes’s mission.

  Keffiyeh. Traditional Middle Eastern headdress fashioned from a square scarf, usually made of cotton.

  Kiosk (from Turkish köşk). A small, separated garden pavilion open on some or all sides. Kiosks were common in Persia, the Indian subcontinent, and in the Ottoman Empire from the 13th century onward.

  L’illusion des sosies. Now often called the Capgras delusion or Capgras syndrome. Disorder in which a person holds a delusion that a friend, spouse, parent, or other close family member (even pet) has been replaced by an identical-looking impostor.

  Mackintosh, abbreviated as mac or mack, is a form of waterproof raincoat made out of rubberised fabric, first sold in 1824. It is named after its Scottish inventor Charles Macintosh, though many writers add a letter k (the spelling ‘Mackintosh’ is now widespread).