Arthur Conan Doyle

British writer and physician (1859–1930)

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Fame81.6
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United Kingdom rank#71
Writers rank#52
Wikipedia121.2K

Lived 1859–1930, aged 71United Kingdom

United Kingdom WritersWriter / Author

Wikipedia
122 languages
Cross-language footprint
Rank in United Kingdom
#71
Writers
Era
1859–1930
Aged 71
Known for
The Hound of the Baske…
1959

Summary

Updated 2026-08-14

He created the detective everyone knows and then tried to kill him off. The public wouldn't let Sherlock Holmes die, so Conan Doyle kept writing the stories that made him rich and famous while privately wishing he'd be remembered for anything else.

Biography

About

Born in Edinburgh in 1859, Doyle studied medicine and worked as a ship's doctor before opening a failing practice in Portsmouth, writing stories on the side. A Study in Scarlet introduced Sherlock Holmes in 1887, but it was the monthly stories in The Strand Magazine starting in 1891 that turned him into one of the highest-paid authors in Britain. Frustrated by the character's shadow over his other work, he killed Holmes in 1893; reader fury forced a resurrection in 1901's The Hound of the Baskervilles, and he wrote Holmes stories until 1927. Knighted in 1902, he spent his later years on politi…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle

said1903

I can tell you that it is no game for children, and I will confess that, in spite of my nine campaigns, I felt myself turn pale when the first ball flashed past me.

— (Of cricket) Adventures of Gerard (1903)

Arthur Conan Doyle

said1902

The highest morality may prove also to be the highest wisdom when the half-told story comes to be finished.

— The Boer War (1902)

Arthur Conan Doyle

saidJun 1901

What I hope is that, when the whole district is full of these little rifle clubs, we may then get a central range to which they could all adjourn.

— "A British Commando", The Strand Magazine (June 1901), referencing the NRA Headquarters at Bisley, Surrey and Conan-Doyle's desire to

Arthur Conan Doyle

said1894

The more we progress the more we tend to progress. We advance not in arithmetical but in geometrical progression.

— The Stark Munro Letters (1894)

Arthur Conan Doyle

said1894

When you look closely it is a question whether that which is a wrong to the present community may not prove to have been a right to the interests of posterity.

— The Stark Munro Letters (1894)

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