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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

terryb18

Gone but not forgotten R.I.P.
Posts #1 - #6 copied to this thread from the Aston Road North thread.

Another bit of useless information, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle lived at 63 Aston Rd North, Aston, between 1878 & 1881.

Terry
 
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taken today...arthur conan doyles blue plaque aston road north

lyn
 

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Posts #1 -#3 moved to this thread from the Aston Road North thread.

Apart from a few exceptions ... edit I think we are all aware that very little remains of this area of Aston Road North.
This however is intriguing, most members are aware that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle spent time at 63 Aston Road North between 1878 and 1881 here is a picture showing the original plaque (unveiled 29/10/1956).
The google street view attached shows what appears to be a very old section of wall where the later plaque is displayed.
Overlaying the google map onto a 1950s street map gives an excellent correlation and I think this section of wall would have been the original 63 Aston Road North.
What do you think?

EDITED 4/9/2025 date of unveiling was 1956 NOT 1976
 

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Yes Brummy-lad, I agree. I think it’s possible the footprint of the house where ConanDoyle stayed roughly covers the same spot as the current Titan Aston Academy. Viv.
 
And I still like this story (from https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/made-in-birmingham.31212/#post-566720):

Yes. Conan Doyle worked as a doctor in Aston while he was training to get his full qualification. One of the first surgeons in charge of the Thimble Lane dispensary ( a branch of the main city one) was reputed to be a friend of his. His name was David Holmes. It is more often accepted that the invented Holmes name came from another aquaintance, but I prefer this source
 
This is the only image I can find showing 63 Aston Road North, residence of Arthur Conan Doyle between 1878 and 1881.
The brickwork looks similar to the that on the image of the plaque unveiling in 1976 but I'm not sure that the school sign is correctly placed.
 

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Although not born in Birmingham and only lived here briefly, I feel that he should have a dedicated thread.


Originally the plaque in 1956 was attached to No. 63 but due to demolition (regretfully) a later plaque is now attached to No. 69.
 

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The only images I can find of No. 63, by 1967/68 it had been demolished and was part of the Thomas Startin Austin Dealership.
 

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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was not born in Birmingham, but he lived and worked in Aston (a district of Birmingham) between 1878 and 1881, during which time he wrote some of his earliest mystery stories and found inspiration for details that appeared in Sherlock Holmes' adventures
. While in the city, he worked as a chemist and briefly as a medical assistant, with some Birmingham locations and names finding their way into his stories, such as the short story "The Adventure of the Stockbroker's Clerk".
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Sherlock Holmes may have lived in Baker Street, London - but between 1878 and 1881, Aston Road North, Aston, was home to the detective's creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
 

See also forum thread under

"Did the Hound of the Baskervilles come from Brum ?"​

and yes a good idea to have a dedicated thread on Sir Arthur. Perhaps amalgamate threads?
 
The facts, which lie some distance from Birmingham. Those who know The Moor will appreciate the story. The term "moor" is how Devonians call Dartmoor.
Based on a local legend of a spectral hound that haunted Dartmoor in Devonshire, England, the story is set in the moors at Baskerville Hall and the nearby Grimpen Mire, and the action takes place mostly at night, when the terrifying hound howls for blood. After Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead with his face twisted in stark terror, Holmes is called upon to protect his heir, Sir Henry Baskerville. Narrating the story is Holmes’s assistant, Dr. Watson, who is sent to Dartmoor while the busy Holmes remains in London. Upon his arrival, Watson learns that an escaped convict is on the loose. More unsettling events occur, including the appearance of an unknown figure on the moor. Watson later discovers that the mysterious person is Holmes, who has been conducting his own investigation. Holmes deduces that the killer is Jack Stapleton, a neighbour who is actually Rodger Baskerville. Hoping to inherit the family estate, he has plotted to kill his relatives using a vicious hound that he has painted with phosphorous to appear sinister. The superstitious Charles suffered a heart attack after being frightened by the animal. Stapleton also hopes to kill Henry Baskerville but is thwarted by Holmes. Afterward Stapleton flees and is believed to have died, swallowed by Grimpen Mire.
 
A point (that may prove to be fictional !) about Sir Arthur's inspiration for his fictional name of Sherlock :

Aston was yet to become part of Birmingham - that would happen in 1911 - but it has been speculated the city's Sherlock Street was the source for the name of the fictional sleuth. (Source: Birmingham Mail)
 
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