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Adrian Malcolm Conan Doyle (19 November 19103 June 1970) was the youngest son of Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Hol ...
and his second wife Jean, Lady Doyle or Lady Conan Doyle. He had two siblings, sister Jean Conan Doyle and brother Denis, as well as two half-siblings, sister Mary and brother Kingsley. Adrian has been depicted as a racing car driver, big-game hunter, explorer, and writer. Biographer Andrew Lycett calls him a "spendthrift playboy" who (with his brother Denis) "used the Conan Doyle estate as a milch-cow". He married Danish-born Anna Andersen, and was his father's
literary executor The literary estate of a deceased author consists mainly of the copyright and other intellectual property rights of published works, including film rights, film, translation rights, original manuscripts of published work, unpublished or partially ...
after his mother died in 1940. He founded the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Foundation in Switzerland in 1965. On his death, his sister Jean took over as their father's literary executor.


Additional Sherlock Holmes stories

Adrian Conan Doyle produced additional
Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...
stories, some with the assistance of John Dickson Carr. The basis of his production was to complete those tales referenced in his father's stories, which his father had never written. (Carr had published an "authorized" biography of Sir Arthur in 1949.) These additional Sherlock Holmes tales were written in 1952 and 1953, and a hardcover collection of the stories was published as '' The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes'' in 1954. They have been reissued subsequently, while other authors have also written Sherlock Holmes stories based on the same references within the original tales.


Discovery of unpublished Holmes story

On 12 September 1942, the
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
announced that an authentic, unpublished
Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...
story had been found by Adrian Conan Doyle. Supposedly written in his father's distinctive neat handwriting, the story was buried in a chest that contained family documents. (Actually, Jon Lellenberg reported in 1990, the manuscript was not in Sir Arthur's handwriting but typewritten.) Sir Arthur's daughter Jean said she knew the manuscript was not written by her father. Adrian Conan Doyle refused to publish it. A month later, The Baker Street Irregulars wrote a letter to the '' Saturday Review of Literature'', insisting that the story be published. In the United States, '' Cosmopolitan'' magazine obtained it and published it in their August 1948 issue under the uncharacteristic title "The Case of the Man who was Wanted". It was also published in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
's ''Sunday Dispatch'' magazine the following January. Sherlock Holmes expert Vincent Starrett doubted that the story was written by the elder Doyle and suggested that Adrian was the author. In September 1945, a letter was sent to Hesketh Pearson, one of Sir Arthur's biographers. It stated, "My pride is not unduly hurt by your remark that 'The Man who was Wanted' is certainly not up to scratch for the sting is much mitigated by your going on to remark that it carries the authentic trade-mark! This, I feel, is a great compliment to my one and only effort at plagiarism." The letter was written by an
architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
named Arthur Whitaker who had sent the story to Arthur Conan Doyle in 1911, suggesting that they publish it as a joint collaboration. Doyle refused, but sent Whitaker a "cheque for ten
guineas The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...
" in payment for the story. After seeing it attributed to Sir Arthur in the ''Sunday Dispatch'', Whitaker wrote a letter to Denis Conan Doyle stating that he was the true author. Denis forwarded the letter to his brother Adrian, who became angry, demanded proof, and threatened legal action. Whitaker had retained a carbon copy, and, after seeing this and listening to people who had read it in 1911, the Doyles admitted in 1949, that Whitaker was the author. The story that many people had accepted as the work of Sir Arthur has since been published as "The Adventure of the Sheffield Banker" in the collection ''The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes''.


Works about his father

Sir Arthur's widow, Jean, chose a spiritualist, the Rev. John Lamond, to write an authorised biography, ''Arthur Conan Doyle: A Memoir'' (John Murray, 1931). The memoir, which emphasised his
paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...
interests, was not what readers wanted, so after their mother's death, Adrian and Denis grudgingly allowed Hesketh Pearson to write ''Conan Doyle: His Life and Art'' (Methuen, 1943). However, Pearson's book offended Adrian and Denis by saying that the secret of their father's success was that he was the "common man". Adrian threatened criminal proceedings against Pearson's "fakeography", wrote an article in protest, and later, a book: ''The True Conan Doyle'' (John Murray, 1945). According to Lycett, "When the BBC commissioned an anniversary talk from Hesketh Pearson, Adrian announced that if it went ahead it would never broadcast another Sherlock Holmes story. The Corporation caved in."Lycett, pp. 464–66.


Arms


Bibliography

* '' The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes'' (1954, London, John Murray) * ''The True Conan Doyle'', (1945, London, John Murray; written about Arthur Conan Doyle, with a preface by Sir Hubert Gough)


Sherlock Holmes stories

''The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes'' (1954 collection)
(Author credits are as given in the book's table of contents.)
By Adrian Conan Doyle and John Dickson Carr * " The Adventure of the Seven Clocks" * " The Adventure of the Gold Hunter" * " The Adventure of the Wax Gamblers" * " The Adventure of the Highgate Miracle" * " The Adventure of the Black Baronet" * " The Adventure of the Sealed Room" By Adrian Conan Doyle * " The Adventure of the Foulkes Rath" * " The Adventure of the Abbas Ruby" * " The Adventure of the Dark Angels" * " The Adventure of the Two Women" * " The Adventure of the Deptford Horror" * " The Adventure of the Red Widow"


Non-Holmes works

* ''Heaven Has Claws'' (1952, London, John Murray) * ''Tales of Love and Hate'' (1960, London, John Murray) ** ''The Woman Who Slew''; ''Black Hyde''; ''Lady Moresby's Secret''; ''A Tooth for a Tooth''; ''The Red Swallowtail''; ''The Lover of the Coral Glades''; ''The Gunman of Corpus Christi''; ''Jungle Lore''; ''The Pearl of Dying Boys' Reef''; ''Johnny Death'' * ''Lone Dhow'' (1963, London, Murray)


References

;Citations * *


External links


The Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Literary Estate
official website of one copyright holder * Includes "Family Awaits a Message", Adrian on Sir Arthur's promise to communicate {{DEFAULTSORT:Doyle, Adrian Conan 1910 births 1970 deaths British expatriates in Switzerland English short story writers English mystery writers People from Crowborough Writers from Geneva Writers of Sherlock Holmes pastiches Adrian Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes Place of birth missing Place of death missing 20th-century British short story writers Adrian Conan 20th-century English writers