Charles Altamont Doyle (25 March 1832 – 10 October 1893) was an illustrator, watercolourist and civil servant. A member of an artistic family, he is remembered today primarily for being the father of author

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 ...

, creator of fictional character

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 ...

Family background

Born in London, Doyle was the son of artist John Doyle, a political cartoonist known as H.B., and Marianna (Conan) Doyle. The family had seven children, and three of his older brothers were artists: James William Edmund Doyle, Richard "Dickie" Doyle, and Henry Edward Doyle. The family was of Irish background but Doyle was born and raised in England. Similarly to his elder brother Richard, he had no formal training, apart from lessons in his father's studio.

Life and career

In 1849 Doyle moved to

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, to take up a post at the Scottish Office of Works, where he was employed as an assistant surveyor. On 31 July 1855, he married Mary Foley (1837–1920), his landlady's daughter. Together they became parents to several children (sources debate whether it was nine or ten), seven of whom survived childhood, including

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 ...

, John Francis Innes Hay (known as Innes or Duff), and Jane Adelaide Rose (known as Ida). To support his growing family, in addition to full-time employment Doyle continued to produce illustrations for at least 23 books, as well as several designs for journals. These included editions of ''The Pilgrim's Progress'' (1860) and ''Robinson Crusoe'' (1861), ''Beauty and the Beast'' (late 1860s), ''The Queens of Society'' (1872), and ''Our Trip to Blunderland'' (1877) a parody of

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet, mathematician, photographer and reluctant Anglicanism, Anglican deacon. His most notable works are ''Alice ...

. Although he exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy, Doyle was not as successful an artist as he wanted, and suffered depression and

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

. His paintings, which were generally of fairies, such as ''In the shade'' or ''A Dance Around The Moon'', or similar fantasy scenes, reflected his mood, becoming more macabre over time. In 1876 he was dismissed from his job and given a pension; in 1881 Doyle's family sent him to Blairerno House, a "home for Intemperate Gentlemen". After several escapades, in 1885 he was

sectioned Involuntary commitment, civil commitment, or involuntary hospitalization/hospitalisation, or informally in Britain sectioning, being sectioned, commitment, or being committed, is a legal process through which an individual who is deemed by a qual ...

after managing to "procure drink", and becoming aggressively excited, remaining confused and incoherent for several days afterwards. He was admitted to Sunnyside, Montrose Royal Lunatic Asylum. While there, his depression grew worse, and he began experiencing

epileptic Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by a tendency for recurrent, unprovoked seizures. A seizure is a sudden burst of abnormal electrical activity in the brain that can cause a variety of symptoms, rang ...

seizures and problems with short-term memory loss due to the effects of long term drinking. Nonetheless, he continued to paint. He completed illustrations for the July 1888 edition of his son's first Sherlock Holmes novel ''

A Study in Scarlet ''A Study in Scarlet'' is an 1887 Detective fiction, detective novel by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle. The story marks the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, who would go on to become one of the most well-known detective ...

''. During his period at the asylum he continued to work, producing volumes of drawings and watercolours in sketchbooks with fantasy themes such as elves, faerie folk, and scenes of death and heavenly redemption. His accompanying notes featured wordplay and visual puns, described as a "sort of bucolic phantasmagoria: mammoth lilypads and leafy branches, giant birds and mammals, sinister blossoms sheltering demons and damsels alike". Doyle created these illustrations to both protest his confinement and provide evidence of his sanity. He sent the drawings to his family as proof that he had been wrongfully committed, writing "Keep steadily in view that this Book is ascribed wholly to the produce of a MADMAN. Whereabouts would you say was the deficiency of intellect? Or depraved taste?" At other times he was more contented, contributing drawings and articles to the asylum's newsletter and sketching the staff. On 23 January 1892 he was admitted as a patient to the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, and was treated there until 26 May 1892. In May 1892 he was moved to the Crichton Royal Institution,

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

. He died from "a fit during the night" on 10 October 1893. He was buried in the High Cemetery in Dumfries.

Re-evaluation

His son, Arthur Conan Doyle, remembered his father with affection, describing him in his autobiography as "...full of the tragedy of unfulfilled powers and of underdeveloped gifts. He had his weaknesses, as all of us have ours, but he had also some very remarkable and outstanding virtues". In the Sherlock Holmes story " His Last Bow" (1917), Holmes uses the name ''Altamont'' as an alias. In 1924 he mounted an exhibition of his father's works at the Brook Galleries in London, where they were praised by

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...

. ''The Doyle Diary,'' containing a facsimile of works from a sketchbook he created from March to July 1889 while at Montrose, was published in 1978. This brought Doyle's work to wider attention and appreciation.

References

General reference

External links

MyNDIR (My Norse Digital Image Repository)
Illustrations By Charles Altamont Doyle for ''The Heroes of Asgard and the Giants of Jotunheim: Or, the Week and Its Story'', by Annie and Eliza Keary, 1857. *
"The spirits of the prisoners"
watercolour at National Gallery of NSW {{DEFAULTSORT:Doyle, Charles Altamont 1832 births 1893 deaths Charles Altamont Doyle English people of Irish descent History of mental health in the United Kingdom 19th-century English painters English male painters People with epilepsy People with mental disorders Charles Altamont