Chronological Table

Major Events of the Lives of Sherlock Holmes, Esq., John H. Watson, M.D., Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Other Notable Personages

The source of information about the lives of Sherlock Holmes and John H. Watson, M.D., is: Baring-Gould, William S., Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street: A Life of the World's First consulting Detective. New York: Clarkson N. Potter (1962). The source of information about the life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is: Symons, Julian, Portrait of an Artist: Conan Doyle. London: Whizzard Press (1979).

Year Life of Sherlock Holmes Life of John H. Watson Life of Arthur Conan Doyle Events in England Events in Western Europe Events in the World

1844 Siger Holmes and Violet Sherrinford marry.

1845 Sherrinford Holmes born. Irish potato famine

1846 James Moriarty born. Repeal of Corn Laws. Planet Neptune discovered. Oregon settlement sets U.S. boundary at 49th parallel. Mormons commence move to Utah.

1847 Mycroft Holmes born. Ten Hours' Act

1848 Second French Republic. Birth of painter Paul Gauguin. Marx and Engels' Communist Manifesto published.

1851 Opening of the Crystal Palace Foucault demonstrates earth's rotation with huge pendulum. First Australian gold discoveries.

1852 John Hamish Watson born. First Derby-Disraeli government Polygyny instituted in Utah.

1853 Lillie Langtry born. Tenor Edouard de Reszke born

1854 William Sherlock Scott Holmes born. Family moves to Australia (date approx.). Crimean War begins. Birth of Oscar Wilde. Kansas-Nebraska Act. Sacramento becomes capital of State of California.

1855 Holmes family sails to Bordeaux Lord Palmerston becomes Prime Minister

1856 Treaty of Paris ends Crimean War. George Bernard Shaw born. Sigmund Freud born.

1857 Joseph Conrad born Publication of Flaubert's Madame Bovary. Indian Mutiny

1858 Holmes family travels to Montpellier Second Derby-Disrael government

1859 Arthur Conan Doyle born May 22 in Edinburgh, 2d child of Charles Doyle and Mary Foley Palmerston's second administration; Darwin's Origin of Species published.

1860 Holmes family returns to England. Violet's father dies; Holmes family sails to Rotterdam, settles in Cologne. Abraham Lincoln elected President

1861 Holmes family begins Continental tour. Mary Morstan born. Outbreak of American Civil War. Birth of Henry Ford.

1863 Metropolitan Railway (underground) opens in London. Battle of Gettysburg

1864 Holmes family returns to England, leases villa in Kennington. Sent to a board school with Mycroft, Sherrinford sent to Oxford. Prussia and Austria-Hungary defeat Denmark; beginning of Prussian expansion Alexander II emancipates the serfs

1865 Severely ill. Returns to England, attends Wellington College, Hampshire. Rudyard Kipling born. Assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

1866 Taken to Yorkshire, entered as day boy at grammar school near Mycroft. Herbert George Wells born. Third Derby-Disraeli government formed. War between Prussia and Austro-Hungarian Empire

1867 Extension of suffrage among male workers. Canada born through British North America Act. Organization of Ku Klux Klan.

1868 Sails with parents to St. Malo, travels to Pau; enrolled in fencing salon. Sent away to Hodder, prep. school for Stonyhurst--
Jesuit-run public school in Lancashire
Gladstone (Liberal Party) takes office as Prime Minister. Publication of Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone. Birth of Neville Chamberlain. Birth of Mahatma Ghandhi.

1869 First performance of Wagner's Das Rheingold. Completion of Suez Canal.

1870 Enters Stonyhurst, remains for 5 years, excelling at cricket and displays literary talent Death of Charles Dickens. Irish land reform. Franco-Prussian War. Italian troops take Rome. Birth of Bernard Baruch.

1871 Holmes family returns to England Gilbert and Sullivan form partnership. Publication of Darwin's Descent of Man. Paris Commune; German Empire proclaimed at Versailles. U.S. passes Ku Klux Klan Act, banning activities.

1872 Tutored by Professor James Moriarty. Enters Christ Church, Oxford. Enrolls at University of London; works in surgery at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. Disraeli's "Crystal Palace" speech

1873 Mass production of the typewriter begins.

1874 GLOR. Enters Caius College, Cambridge. Visits London, stays with uncle Richard Doyle, sees Henry Irving in Hamlet Disraeli (Conservative Party) becomes Prime Minister. Winston Churchill born. Birth of Harry Houdini (Ehrich Weiss).

1875 Passes matriculation exam with honors, spends year at Jesuit school at Feldkirch, Austria Disrael acquires the Suez Canal. Birth of Albert Schweitzer.

1876 Decides to become doctor and enrolls at Edinburgh University. Meets Dr. Joseph Bell and Professor Rutherford. Victoria becomes Empress of India. Alexander Graham Bell demonstrates telephone.

1877 Takes rooms in Montague St. "Months of inaction." Death of Brigham Young, leader of the Mormons. Thomas Edison patents phonograph. Publication of Alan Pinkerton's Molly Maguires and the Detective.

1878 Receives degree of doctor of medicine. Attends Netley for Army surgeons' course. Sails for India. Takes part-time doctoring job Second Afghan War begins. First performance of H..M.S. Pinafore. Congress of Berlin; Austro-German Alliance Birth of Carl Sandburg.

1879 MUSG. Appears on London stage in Hamlet. Sails for America with Sasanoff Shakespeare Co. Charles Doyle goes into nursing home. Early stories published anonymously. Zulu War begins. Albert Einstein born. Thomas Edison patents incandescent lamp. Birth of photographer Edward Steichen

1880 Returns to England from U.S. Wounded at Battle of Maiwand; escapes to British lines. Suffers enteric fever at Peshawar. Returns to London on Orontes. Stays at private hotel in Strand. Signs on as ship's doctor with Arctic whaler; 7-month voyage. Initial interest in spiritualism, paranormal. Gladstone takes office again as Prime Minister Birth of Douglas MacArthur.

1881 Meets John H. Watson. Takes up residence in Baker Street. STUD. Meets Sherlock Holmes. Takes up residence in Baker Street. STUD. Bachelor of Medicine rec'd. Signs on as ship's doctor with West African steamer. Nearly dies of fever. Death of Benjamin Disraeli, Thomas Carlyle; Irish Land Act. Birth of painter Pablo Picasso. Tsar Alexander II assassinated; President James Garfield assassinated.

1882 Renounces Catholic faith. Joins George Budd, medical schoolmate, in practice in Plymouth. Becomes concerned about Budd's ethics and sets up own practice in Southsea, Portsmouth. Death of Charles Darwin. Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria and Italy. Franklin Delano Roosevelt born.

1883 SPEC. Publishes first story. Death of Karl Marx, Richard Wagner. French in Indochina. Birth of John Maynard Keynes. Mark Twain writes the first book on the typewriter.

1884 Travels to America, woos Constance Adams in San Francisco. Begins first novel. Birth of Harry Truman.

1885 Marries Louise Hawkins. Lord Salisbury (Conservative) becomes Prime Minister. Death of General Charles George Gordon in Khartoum. Indian National Congress formed.

1886 RESI, NOBL, SECO. Returns to England. Weds Constance Adams, buys practice in Kensington. Gladstone, then Salisbury serve as Prime Minister. Irish Home Rule Bill. Birth of painter Diego Rivera.

1887 REIG; SCAN; TWIS; FIVE; IDEN; REDH; DYIN; BLUE. Publishes STUD. 1st wife dies in December. Publishes STUDY. Victoria celebrates Golden Anniversary of her reign. Birth of painter Marc Chagall. Death of Henry Ward Beecher, Jenny Lind. Birth of artist Georgia O'Keeffe.

1888 VALL; YELL; GREE; SIGN; HOUN; COPP. Brother Henry dies. Meets and marries Mary Morstan. Buys practice in Paddington. Jack the Ripper killings begin. Kaiser Wilhelm II takes throne. Hertz discovers radio waves.

1889 BOSC; STOC; NAVA; CARD; ENGR; CROO. Publishes SIGN. Daughter Mary Louise born. Publishes Micah Clarke, SIGN4. Birth of Adolf Hitler. Paris Exhibition and opening of Eiffel Tower. Second Int'l Franco-Russian Alliance. Strowger patents direct-dial telephone.

1890 WIST; SILV; BERY. Publishes White Company. Oscar Wilde publishes Picture of Dorian Gray. Suicide of Vincent Van Gogh. Birth of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Utah legislature bans polygyny.

1891 FINA. Travels as "Sigerson." Sells Paddington practice, returns to Kensington. Arranges for publication of SCAN, REDH, IDEN, BOSC, FIVE, TWIS in Strand. Mary Morstan dies, possibly in early 1892. Abandons Southsea practice, writes Doings of Raffles Haw. Returns to London and opens practice in Devonshire Place. Soon decides to give up medicine. First stories of ADVEN begin to appear in Strand Magazine. Thomas Hardy publishes Tess of the d'Urbervilles.

1892 Continues to travel. BLUE, SPEC, ENGR, NOBL, BERY, COPP, SILV published in Strand. Takes up skiing. Son Kingsley born. Gladstone again becomes Prime Minister. Death of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Kipling writes of "white man's burden." Invention of Diesel engine by Rudolf Diesel. Birth of John Paul Getty.

1893 Settles in Montpellier to conduct coal-tar derivatives research. CARD, YELL, STOC, GLOR, MUSG, REIG, CROO, RESI, GREE, NAVA, FINA published in Strand. Charles Doyle dies. Louise diagnosed with TB. Remainder of ADVEN and MEMOI stories published in Strand. Premiere of Under the Clock, an "extravaganza" in one act starring Charles H. E. Brookfield as Sherlock Holmes. Zipper invented. Chicago World's Fair (Columbian Exposition).

1894 Returns to London. EMPT; GOLD. Sells practice, returns to Baker Street. Successful lecture tour in America. Play Waterloo performed. Gladstone dies in office; Lord Rosebery becomes Prime Minister Dreyfus case begins in France. Dual Alliance between France and Russia. 1st steel-framed skyscraper built in Chicago. Nicholas II becomes Tsar.

1895 3STU; SOLI; BLAC; NORW; BRUC. Buys land in Hindhead for home; travels to Egypt. Publishes Stark Munro Letters. Salisbury regains office of Prime Minister. Death of Lord Randolph Churchill. H.G. Wells publishes The Time Machine. Lumiere brothers hold public film exhibitions in Paris. Death of Parnell, leader of Irish Home Rule. Röntgen discovers X-rays. Sino-Japanese War.

1896 VEIL; SUSS; MISS. Travels up Nile. Serves as war correspondent for British/Dervish fighting. Publishes Brigadier Gerard and Rodney Stone. First Modern Olympics held in Athens. Cracker Jack, Tootsie Rolls, and S&H Green Stamps introduced.

1897 ABBE; DEVI. Meets and falls in love with Jean Leckie. Publishes Uncle Bernac. Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Publication of Bram Stoker's Dracula. First World Zionist Congress. Klondike gold rush begins.

1898 Death of Lewis Carroll. H. G. Wells publishes War of the Worlds.. Lord Kitchener defeats Dervishes at Omdurman. German naval race with England. Death of Otto von Bismarck. Fashoda crisis, Spanish-American War

1899 DANC; RETI; CHAS. Volunteers for army, rejected. A Duet published. Second Boer War begins. Winston Churchill goes to South Africa as war correspondent. William Gillette produces and stars in Sherlock Holmes, in Syracuse, NY.

1900 SIXN; THOR. Serves in hospital unit in South Africa. Writes The Great Boer War; The War in South Africa: Its Causes and Conduct. Stands as Unionist candidate in Edinburgh, loses. Death of Sir Arthur Sullivan, Oscar Wilde. Paris Metro opens. Death of Friedrich Nietzsche. Publication of Freud's Interpretation of Dreams. Davis Cup tennis matches inaugurated. First Sherlock Holmes film, Sherlock Holmes Baffled, appears.

1901 PRIO HOUN published in Strand. Publishes HOUND. Death of Queen Victoria. Edward VII ("Bertie") ascends to throne. Assassination of William McKinley; Theodore Roosevelt becomes U.S. president. Australia becomes a Commonwealth. Birth of Walt Disney.

1902 SHOS; 3GAR; LADY; ILLU; REDC. Moves to rooms in Queen Anne Street. Remarries, returns to practice. Knighted. Lord Salisbury retires as Prime Minister; Arthur Balfour takes office. England signs peace treaty with Boers. Anglo-Japanese Alliance. 1st recording of Enrico Caruso. Death of Levi Strauss.

1903 BLAN; 3GAB; MAZA; CREE. Holmes retires. Publishes EMPT; NORW; DANC; SOLI. First stories of RETUR appear in Strand. Publishes Adventures of Gerard.

1904 Publishes PRIO; BLAC; CHAS; SIXN; 3STU; GOLD; MISS; ABBE. Anglo-French Entente Russo-Japanese War. Panama Canal started.

1905 Publishes SECO. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (L) becomes Prime Minister. Publication of Einstein's relativity theory

1906 Runs again as Unionist candidate, loses. George Edalji case. Becomes involved in Divorce Law Reform Movement. Louise Doyle dies. Publishes Sir Nigel. Social insurance and parliamentary reform commence International ban on women working night-shifts.

1907 Marries Jean Leckie. George Edalji released. Through the Magic Door published. Triple Entente. 1st Cubist show in Paris.

1908 Publishes WIST; BRUC. Herbert H. Asquith becomes Prime Minister as Liberal. Strand Magazine purlishes My African Journey by Winston Churchill. Bosnian crisis

1909 LION. Writes Crime of the Congo. Son Denis born. First cross-Channel airplane flight. Admiral Peary reaches North Pole.

1910 Publishes DEVI. Case of Oscar Slater taken up. Son Adrian born. Play Speckled Band first produced in London. Death of King Edward VII ("Bertie"). George V takes throne. Death of Mark Twain, Florence Nightingale. Union of South Africa formed.

1911 Publishes REDC; LADY. Death of Sir William Gilbert. Inauguration of air mail service. Chinese Revolution

1912 Leaves for America to infiltrate Irish secret society; travels to Chicago. Publishes Case of Oscar Slater, Lost World. Daughter Lena Jean born. Balkan crisis Sinking of Titanic.

1913 Publishes DYIN. Publishes Poison Belt. Modern brassiere invented.

1914 Returns to England. LAST. Assists Holmes in LAST. Forms local volunteer force. Writes To Arms! Ulster Crisis; World War I commences. Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand; World War I commences. World War I commences.

1915 Publishes VALL. Begins 6-vol history of British Campaign in France and Flanders. Publishes VALLE. Herbert Asquith remains Prime Minister for Coalition. Poison gas first used in war. Ford sells 1 millionth car. Gallipoli campaign begins.

1916 Visits fronts. Announces conversion to spiritualism. Battle of Jutland; Irish troubles. David Lloyd George (Coalition) become Prime Minister. Bloody battles at Verdun and the Somme. Assassination of Rasputin.

1917 Publishes LAST. Publishes LASTB. U.S. enters the Great War. First large-scale use of tanks. Russian Revolution. John Fitzgerald Kennedy born.

1918 Son Kingsley dies from combat wounds. Publishes New Revelation. Women over 30 allowed to vote. Armistice. Kaiser Wilhelm abdicates.

1919 Brother Innes dies. Publishes Vital Message. Government of India Act. Peace of Versailles. Weimar Republic established in Germany. Death of Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Peace of Versailles. Death of Andrew Carnegie.

1920 Travels to Australia to promote spiritualism. First Agatha Christie mystery novel published. U.S. adopts women's suffrage.

1921 Publishes MAZA. Mother dies. Wanderings of a Spiritualist published. Irish Free State.

1922 Publishes THOR. Lecture tour of America. Announces belief in fairies, publishes Coming of the Fairies. Lloyd George resigns. Bonar Law becomes Prime Minister, first to come from an overseas possession. Mussolini becomes Prime Minister of Italy. Washington Disarmament Conference.

1923 Publishes CREE. Returns to America and Canada. Publishes Our American Adventure. Stanley Baldwin become Prime Minister.

1924 Publishes SUSS: 3GAR. Publishes Our Second American Adventure; Memories and Adventures. J. Ramsay MacDonald becomes Prime Minister, heads first Labor Government; succeeded by Baldwin.

1925 Publishes ILLU. Presides over International Spiritualistic Congress in Paris.

1926 Publishes BLAN; LION. Publishes 3GAB; RETI. Publishes History of Spiritualism; Land of Mist.

1927 Publishes VEIL; SHOS. Oscar Slater freed. CASEB and Pheneas Speaks published. First television broadcast. Academy Awards inauguarated.

1928 Travels to South Africa.

1929 Dies under circumstances unknown. Visits Scandinavia, Holland, returns exhausted, has heart attack. Publishes Maracot Deep, Our African Winter. Baldwin again becomes Prime Minister. First talking motion picture. Ernest Hemingway publishes Farewell to Arms.

1930 Publishes Edge of the Unknown; dies July 7. First Sherlock Holmes radio show broadcast in U.S., starring William Gillette.

KEY TO CODES:

Code Tale

ABBE Abbey Grange

BERY Beryl Coronet

BLAC Black Peter

BLAN Blanched Soldier

BLUE Blue Carbuncle

BOSC Boscombe Valley Mystery

BRUC Bruce-Partington Plans

CARD Cardboard Box

CHAS Charles Augustus Milverton

COPP Copper Beeches

CREE Creeping Man

CROO Crooked Man

DANC Dancing Men

DEVI Devil's Foot

DYIN Dying Detective

EMPT Empty House

ENGR Engineer's Thumb

FINA Final Problem

FIVE Five Orange Pips

GLOR Gloria Scott

GREE Greek Interpreter

GOLD Golden Pince-Nez

HOUN Hound of the Baskervilles

IDEN Case of Identity

ILLU Illustrious Client

LADY Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax

LAST His Last Bow

LION Lion's Mane

MAZA Mazarin Stone

MISS Missing Three-Quarter

MUSG Musgrave Ritual

NAVA Naval Treaty

NOBL Noble Bachelor

Code Tale

NORW Norwood Builder

PRIO Priory School

REDC Red Circle

REDH Red-Headed League

REIG Reigate Puzzle (Squires)

RESI Residential Patient

RETI Retired Colourman

SCAN Scandal in Bohemia

SECO Second Stain

SHOS Shoscombe Old Place

SIGN Sign of Four

SILV Silver Blaze

SIXN Six Napoleons

SOLI Solitary Cyclist

SPEC Speckled Band

STOC Stock-broker's Clerk

STUD Study in Scarlet

SUSS Sussex Vampire

THOR Problem of Thor Bridge

3GAB Three Gables

3GAR Three Garridebs

3STU Three Students

TWIS Man with the Twisted Lip

VALL Valley of Fear

VEIL Veiled Lodger

WIST Wisteria Lodge

YELL Yellow Face

Code Book

ADVEN Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

CASEB Casebook of Sherlock Holmes

LASTB His Last Bow

HOUND Hound of the Baskervilles

MEMOI Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

RETUR Return of Sherlock Holmes

SIGN4 Sign of Four

STUDY Study in Scarlet

VALLE Valley of Fear

Back to Arthur Conan Doyle's Page

Year	Life of Sherlock Holmes	Life of John H. Watson	Life of Arthur Conan Doyle	Events in England	Events in Western Europe	Events in the World
1844	Siger Holmes and Violet Sherrinford marry.
1845	Sherrinford Holmes born.			Irish potato famine
1846	James Moriarty born.			Repeal of Corn Laws. Planet Neptune discovered.		Oregon settlement sets U.S. boundary at 49th parallel. Mormons commence move to Utah.
1847	Mycroft Holmes born.			Ten Hours' Act
1848					Second French Republic. Birth of painter Paul Gauguin.	Marx and Engels' Communist Manifesto published.
1851				Opening of the Crystal Palace	Foucault demonstrates earth's rotation with huge pendulum.	First Australian gold discoveries.
1852		John Hamish Watson born.		First Derby-Disraeli government		Polygyny instituted in Utah.
1853				Lillie Langtry born.	Tenor Edouard de Reszke born
1854	William Sherlock Scott Holmes born.	Family moves to Australia (date approx.).		Crimean War begins. Birth of Oscar Wilde.		Kansas-Nebraska Act. Sacramento becomes capital of State of California.
1855	Holmes family sails to Bordeaux			Lord Palmerston becomes Prime Minister
1856				Treaty of Paris ends Crimean War.	George Bernard Shaw born.	Sigmund Freud born.
1857				Joseph Conrad born	Publication of Flaubert's Madame Bovary.	Indian Mutiny
1858	Holmes family travels to Montpellier			Second Derby-Disrael government
1859			Arthur Conan Doyle born May 22 in Edinburgh, 2d child of Charles Doyle and Mary Foley	Palmerston's second administration; Darwin's Origin of Species published.
1860	Holmes family returns to England. Violet's father dies; Holmes family sails to Rotterdam, settles in Cologne.					Abraham Lincoln elected President
1861	Holmes family begins Continental tour.	Mary Morstan born.				Outbreak of American Civil War. Birth of Henry Ford.
1863				Metropolitan Railway (underground) opens in London.		Battle of Gettysburg
1864	Holmes family returns to England, leases villa in Kennington. Sent to a board school with Mycroft, Sherrinford sent to Oxford.				Prussia and Austria-Hungary defeat Denmark; beginning of Prussian expansion	Alexander II emancipates the serfs
1865	Severely ill.	Returns to England, attends Wellington College, Hampshire.		Rudyard Kipling born.		Assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
1866	Taken to Yorkshire, entered as day boy at grammar school near Mycroft.			Herbert George Wells born. Third Derby-Disraeli government formed.	War between Prussia and Austro-Hungarian Empire
1867				Extension of suffrage among male workers.		Canada born through British North America Act. Organization of Ku Klux Klan.
1868	Sails with parents to St. Malo, travels to Pau; enrolled in fencing salon.		Sent away to Hodder, prep. school for Stonyhurst-- Jesuit-run public school in Lancashire	Gladstone (Liberal Party) takes office as Prime Minister. Publication of Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone. Birth of Neville Chamberlain.		Birth of Mahatma Ghandhi.
1869					First performance of Wagner's Das Rheingold.	Completion of Suez Canal.
1870			Enters Stonyhurst, remains for 5 years, excelling at cricket and displays literary talent	Death of Charles Dickens. Irish land reform.	Franco-Prussian War. Italian troops take Rome.	Birth of Bernard Baruch.
1871	Holmes family returns to England			Gilbert and Sullivan form partnership. Publication of Darwin's Descent of Man.	Paris Commune; German Empire proclaimed at Versailles.	U.S. passes Ku Klux Klan Act, banning activities.
1872	Tutored by Professor James Moriarty. Enters Christ Church, Oxford.	Enrolls at University of London; works in surgery at St. Bartholomew's Hospital.		Disraeli's "Crystal Palace" speech
1873				Mass production of the typewriter begins.
1874	GLOR. Enters Caius College, Cambridge.		Visits London, stays with uncle Richard Doyle, sees Henry Irving in Hamlet	Disraeli (Conservative Party) becomes Prime Minister. Winston Churchill born.		Birth of Harry Houdini (Ehrich Weiss).
1875			Passes matriculation exam with honors, spends year at Jesuit school at Feldkirch, Austria	Disrael acquires the Suez Canal.	Birth of Albert Schweitzer.
1876			Decides to become doctor and enrolls at Edinburgh University. Meets Dr. Joseph Bell and Professor Rutherford.	Victoria becomes Empress of India.		Alexander Graham Bell demonstrates telephone.
1877	Takes rooms in Montague St. "Months of inaction."					Death of Brigham Young, leader of the Mormons. Thomas Edison patents phonograph. Publication of Alan Pinkerton's Molly Maguires and the Detective.
1878		Receives degree of doctor of medicine. Attends Netley for Army surgeons' course. Sails for India.	Takes part-time doctoring job	Second Afghan War begins. First performance of H..M.S. Pinafore.	Congress of Berlin; Austro-German Alliance	Birth of Carl Sandburg.
1879	MUSG. Appears on London stage in Hamlet. Sails for America with Sasanoff Shakespeare Co.		Charles Doyle goes into nursing home. Early stories published anonymously.	Zulu War begins.	Albert Einstein born.	Thomas Edison patents incandescent lamp. Birth of photographer Edward Steichen
1880	Returns to England from U.S.	Wounded at Battle of Maiwand; escapes to British lines. Suffers enteric fever at Peshawar. Returns to London on Orontes. Stays at private hotel in Strand.	Signs on as ship's doctor with Arctic whaler; 7-month voyage. Initial interest in spiritualism, paranormal.	Gladstone takes office again as Prime Minister		Birth of Douglas MacArthur.
1881	Meets John H. Watson. Takes up residence in Baker Street. STUD.	Meets Sherlock Holmes. Takes up residence in Baker Street. STUD.	Bachelor of Medicine rec'd. Signs on as ship's doctor with West African steamer. Nearly dies of fever.	Death of Benjamin Disraeli, Thomas Carlyle; Irish Land Act.	Birth of painter Pablo Picasso.	Tsar Alexander II assassinated; President James Garfield assassinated.
1882			Renounces Catholic faith. Joins George Budd, medical schoolmate, in practice in Plymouth. Becomes concerned about Budd's ethics and sets up own practice in Southsea, Portsmouth.	Death of Charles Darwin.	Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria and Italy.	Franklin Delano Roosevelt born.
1883	SPEC.		Publishes first story.		Death of Karl Marx, Richard Wagner.	French in Indochina. Birth of John Maynard Keynes. Mark Twain writes the first book on the typewriter.
1884		Travels to America, woos Constance Adams in San Francisco.	Begins first novel.			Birth of Harry Truman.
1885			Marries Louise Hawkins.	Lord Salisbury (Conservative) becomes Prime Minister. Death of General Charles George Gordon in Khartoum.		Indian National Congress formed.
1886	RESI, NOBL, SECO.	Returns to England. Weds Constance Adams, buys practice in Kensington.		Gladstone, then Salisbury serve as Prime Minister. Irish Home Rule Bill.		Birth of painter Diego Rivera.
1887	REIG; SCAN; TWIS; FIVE; IDEN; REDH; DYIN; BLUE.	Publishes STUD. 1st wife dies in December.	Publishes STUDY.	Victoria celebrates Golden Anniversary of her reign.	Birth of painter Marc Chagall.	Death of Henry Ward Beecher, Jenny Lind. Birth of artist Georgia O'Keeffe.
1888	VALL; YELL; GREE; SIGN; HOUN; COPP.	Brother Henry dies. Meets and marries Mary Morstan. Buys practice in Paddington.		Jack the Ripper killings begin.	Kaiser Wilhelm II takes throne.	Hertz discovers radio waves.
1889	BOSC; STOC; NAVA; CARD; ENGR; CROO.	Publishes SIGN.	Daughter Mary Louise born. Publishes Micah Clarke, SIGN4.		Birth of Adolf Hitler. Paris Exhibition and opening of Eiffel Tower.	Second Int'l Franco-Russian Alliance. Strowger patents direct-dial telephone.
1890	WIST; SILV; BERY.		Publishes White Company.	Oscar Wilde publishes Picture of Dorian Gray.	Suicide of Vincent Van Gogh.	Birth of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Utah legislature bans polygyny.
1891	FINA. Travels as "Sigerson."	Sells Paddington practice, returns to Kensington. Arranges for publication of SCAN, REDH, IDEN, BOSC, FIVE, TWIS in Strand. Mary Morstan dies, possibly in early 1892.	Abandons Southsea practice, writes Doings of Raffles Haw. Returns to London and opens practice in Devonshire Place. Soon decides to give up medicine. First stories of ADVEN begin to appear in Strand Magazine.	Thomas Hardy publishes Tess of the d'Urbervilles.
1892	Continues to travel.	BLUE, SPEC, ENGR, NOBL, BERY, COPP, SILV published in Strand.	Takes up skiing. Son Kingsley born.	Gladstone again becomes Prime Minister. Death of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Kipling writes of "white man's burden."	Invention of Diesel engine by Rudolf Diesel.	Birth of John Paul Getty.
1893	Settles in Montpellier to conduct coal-tar derivatives research.	CARD, YELL, STOC, GLOR, MUSG, REIG, CROO, RESI, GREE, NAVA, FINA published in Strand.	Charles Doyle dies. Louise diagnosed with TB. Remainder of ADVEN and MEMOI stories published in Strand.	Premiere of Under the Clock, an "extravaganza" in one act starring Charles H. E. Brookfield as Sherlock Holmes.		Zipper invented. Chicago World's Fair (Columbian Exposition).
1894	Returns to London. EMPT; GOLD.	Sells practice, returns to Baker Street.	Successful lecture tour in America. Play Waterloo performed.	Gladstone dies in office; Lord Rosebery becomes Prime Minister	Dreyfus case begins in France. Dual Alliance between France and Russia.	1st steel-framed skyscraper built in Chicago. Nicholas II becomes Tsar.
1895	3STU; SOLI; BLAC; NORW; BRUC.		Buys land in Hindhead for home; travels to Egypt. Publishes Stark Munro Letters.	Salisbury regains office of Prime Minister. Death of Lord Randolph Churchill. H.G. Wells publishes The Time Machine.	Lumiere brothers hold public film exhibitions in Paris. Death of Parnell, leader of Irish Home Rule.	Röntgen discovers X-rays. Sino-Japanese War.
1896	VEIL; SUSS; MISS.		Travels up Nile. Serves as war correspondent for British/Dervish fighting. Publishes Brigadier Gerard and Rodney Stone.			First Modern Olympics held in Athens. Cracker Jack, Tootsie Rolls, and S&H Green Stamps introduced.
1897	ABBE; DEVI.		Meets and falls in love with Jean Leckie. Publishes Uncle Bernac.	Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Publication of Bram Stoker's Dracula.	First World Zionist Congress.	Klondike gold rush begins.
1898				Death of Lewis Carroll. H. G. Wells publishes War of the Worlds.. Lord Kitchener defeats Dervishes at Omdurman.	German naval race with England. Death of Otto von Bismarck.	Fashoda crisis, Spanish-American War
1899	DANC; RETI; CHAS.		Volunteers for army, rejected. A Duet published.	Second Boer War begins. Winston Churchill goes to South Africa as war correspondent.		William Gillette produces and stars in Sherlock Holmes, in Syracuse, NY.
1900	SIXN; THOR.		Serves in hospital unit in South Africa. Writes The Great Boer War; The War in South Africa: Its Causes and Conduct. Stands as Unionist candidate in Edinburgh, loses.	Death of Sir Arthur Sullivan, Oscar Wilde.	Paris Metro opens. Death of Friedrich Nietzsche. Publication of Freud's Interpretation of Dreams.	Davis Cup tennis matches inaugurated. First Sherlock Holmes film, Sherlock Holmes Baffled, appears.
1901	PRIO	HOUN published in Strand.	Publishes HOUND.	Death of Queen Victoria. Edward VII ("Bertie") ascends to throne.		Assassination of William McKinley; Theodore Roosevelt becomes U.S. president. Australia becomes a Commonwealth. Birth of Walt Disney.
1902	SHOS; 3GAR; LADY; ILLU; REDC.	Moves to rooms in Queen Anne Street. Remarries, returns to practice.	Knighted.	Lord Salisbury retires as Prime Minister; Arthur Balfour takes office. England signs peace treaty with Boers.		Anglo-Japanese Alliance. 1st recording of Enrico Caruso. Death of Levi Strauss.
1903	BLAN; 3GAB; MAZA; CREE. Holmes retires.	Publishes EMPT; NORW; DANC; SOLI.	First stories of RETUR appear in Strand. Publishes Adventures of Gerard.
1904		Publishes PRIO; BLAC; CHAS; SIXN; 3STU; GOLD; MISS; ABBE.			Anglo-French Entente	Russo-Japanese War. Panama Canal started.
1905		Publishes SECO.		Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (L) becomes Prime Minister.		Publication of Einstein's relativity theory
1906			Runs again as Unionist candidate, loses. George Edalji case. Becomes involved in Divorce Law Reform Movement. Louise Doyle dies. Publishes Sir Nigel.	Social insurance and parliamentary reform commence		International ban on women working night-shifts.
1907			Marries Jean Leckie. George Edalji released. Through the Magic Door published.		Triple Entente. 1st Cubist show in Paris.
1908		Publishes WIST; BRUC.		Herbert H. Asquith becomes Prime Minister as Liberal. Strand Magazine purlishes My African Journey by Winston Churchill.	Bosnian crisis
1909	LION.		Writes Crime of the Congo. Son Denis born.		First cross-Channel airplane flight.	Admiral Peary reaches North Pole.
1910		Publishes DEVI.	Case of Oscar Slater taken up. Son Adrian born. Play Speckled Band first produced in London.	Death of King Edward VII ("Bertie"). George V takes throne.		Death of Mark Twain, Florence Nightingale. Union of South Africa formed.
1911		Publishes REDC; LADY.		Death of Sir William Gilbert.	Inauguration of air mail service.	Chinese Revolution
1912	Leaves for America to infiltrate Irish secret society; travels to Chicago.		Publishes Case of Oscar Slater, Lost World. Daughter Lena Jean born.		Balkan crisis	Sinking of Titanic.
1913		Publishes DYIN.	Publishes Poison Belt.			Modern brassiere invented.
1914	Returns to England. LAST.	Assists Holmes in LAST.	Forms local volunteer force. Writes To Arms!	Ulster Crisis; World War I commences.	Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand; World War I commences.	World War I commences.
1915		Publishes VALL.	Begins 6-vol history of British Campaign in France and Flanders. Publishes VALLE.	Herbert Asquith remains Prime Minister for Coalition.	Poison gas first used in war.	Ford sells 1 millionth car. Gallipoli campaign begins.
1916			Visits fronts. Announces conversion to spiritualism.	Battle of Jutland; Irish troubles. David Lloyd George (Coalition) become Prime Minister.	Bloody battles at Verdun and the Somme.	Assassination of Rasputin.
1917		Publishes LAST.	Publishes LASTB.		U.S. enters the Great War. First large-scale use of tanks.	Russian Revolution. John Fitzgerald Kennedy born.
1918			Son Kingsley dies from combat wounds. Publishes New Revelation.	Women over 30 allowed to vote.	Armistice. Kaiser Wilhelm abdicates.
1919			Brother Innes dies. Publishes Vital Message.	Government of India Act.	Peace of Versailles. Weimar Republic established in Germany. Death of Pierre-Auguste Renoir.	Peace of Versailles. Death of Andrew Carnegie.
1920			Travels to Australia to promote spiritualism.	First Agatha Christie mystery novel published.		U.S. adopts women's suffrage.
1921		Publishes MAZA.	Mother dies. Wanderings of a Spiritualist published.	Irish Free State.
1922		Publishes THOR.	Lecture tour of America. Announces belief in fairies, publishes Coming of the Fairies.	Lloyd George resigns. Bonar Law becomes Prime Minister, first to come from an overseas possession.	Mussolini becomes Prime Minister of Italy.	Washington Disarmament Conference.
1923		Publishes CREE.	Returns to America and Canada. Publishes Our American Adventure.	Stanley Baldwin become Prime Minister.
1924		Publishes SUSS: 3GAR.	Publishes Our Second American Adventure; Memories and Adventures.	J. Ramsay MacDonald becomes Prime Minister, heads first Labor Government; succeeded by Baldwin.
1925		Publishes ILLU.	Presides over International Spiritualistic Congress in Paris.
1926	Publishes BLAN; LION.	Publishes 3GAB; RETI.	Publishes History of Spiritualism; Land of Mist.
1927		Publishes VEIL; SHOS.	Oscar Slater freed. CASEB and Pheneas Speaks published.		First television broadcast.	Academy Awards inauguarated.
1928			Travels to South Africa.
1929		Dies under circumstances unknown.	Visits Scandinavia, Holland, returns exhausted, has heart attack. Publishes Maracot Deep, Our African Winter.	Baldwin again becomes Prime Minister.		First talking motion picture. Ernest Hemingway publishes Farewell to Arms.
1930			Publishes Edge of the Unknown; dies July 7.			First Sherlock Holmes radio show broadcast in U.S., starring William Gillette.