At a meeting arranged by the magazine publishers Lippincott, Conan Doyle is commissioned to write what becomes The Sign of Four, the second Sherlock Holmes story.

1890

Publication of The Firm of Girdlestone. The Sign of Four published in Lippincott’s magazine. Leaves for Austria to study ophthalmology in Vienna.

1891

Opens short-lived oculist practice in Marylebone, London, half a mile east of Baker Street. First six Holmes short stories published in the Strand magazine. Abandons medical career and moves to Norwood, south-east London, to take up writing full time. Publication of The White Company.

1892

Birth of Kingsley Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes collection of short stories published.

1893

Louise diagnosed with tuberculosis. More Sherlock Holmes short stories published in the Strand and later collected as The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. In one of these, ‘The Final Problem’, Conan Doyle apparently kills off Holmes at the Reichenbach Falls. His father, Charles Doyle, dies in the same year. The Refugees published.

1894

Makes a very successful US lecture tour with his brother Innes. Publication of Round the Red Lamp, a collection of medical stories.

1896

Publication of The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard and Rodney Stone. The Field Bazaar, a Conan Doyle Holmes pastiche and the first new Holmes work since the detective’s ‘death’, is published in an Edinburgh University student magazine. Moves to Hindhead, Surrey.

1897

Publication of Uncle Bernac. Meets and falls in love with Jean Leckie.

1898

Publication of The Tragedy of the Korosko and Songs of Action.

1900

Serves as a volunteer doctor in South Africa during the Boer War and produces an account of the struggle in The Great Boer War. Stands (unsuccessfully) as Liberal Unionist candidate for Edinburgh constituency.

1901

The Hound of the Baskervilles, set before Holmes’s ‘official’ death in ‘The Final Problem’, begins publication in the Strand.

1902

Receives knighthood. The Hound of the Baskervilles published in book form.

1903

Publication of The Adventures of Gerard. Holmes properly resurrected in ‘The Empty House’, published in the Strand.

1905

The Return of Sherlock Holmes, the latest collection of Holmes short stories that began with ‘The Empty House’, published in book form.

1906

Stands (unsuccessfully) as Unionist candidate for Hawick on the Scottish Borders. Publication of Sir Nigel. Death of Louise Conan Doyle.

1907

Marries Jean Leckie. Publication of Through the Magic Door.

1908

Publication of Round the Fire Stories. Moves to Crow-borough, Sussex. A new Holmes short story, ‘The Singular Experience of Mr John Scott Eccles’, later renamed ‘The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge’, published in the Strand.

1909

Joins with journalist E. D. Morel (model for Ned Malone in The Lost World) to campaign against brutality of the Belgian Congo regime, and writes The Crime of the Congo. Birth of son Denis.

1910

Birth of Adrian. Holmes play, The Speckled Band, opens at the Adelphi, London. Holmes short story ‘The Devil’s Foot’ published in the Strand.

1911

Holmes short stories ‘The Red Circle’ and ‘The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax’ published in the Strand. Conan Doyle is converted to Irish Home Rule by Sir Roger Casement.

1912

The Lost World, now the most famous of Doyle’s non-Holmes stories, begins serialization in the Strand and is published in book form in October. Birth of Jean.

1913

Publication of The Poison Belt.