My Sherlock Holmes Chronology list

[Chronologist]

3 hours ago, HerlockSholmes said:

 

Just for comparison this is William S. Baring Gould’s chronology. As you might guess there a fair few others. Hats off to Chronologist.👍

Interesting list. I deliberately avoided looking at other's chronologies while I was compiling my own, because I wanted to draw my own conclusions. Some stray observations I have is that Baring Gould seems to have discarded the days of the months and year provided by Watson anytime they didn't line up with the historical days of the week. He also seems to have ascribed to the theory that Watson married more often than the two marriages mentioned. He seems to think Watson was married at least three times (I know there's one theory that Watson married 5 times, which I find silly). I've already finished my list, and it doesn't fully agree with his, but I'd be interested in comparing my completed list once I've finished posting it all a month and a half from now with this and other chronologies.

[Carol the Dabbler]

1 hour ago, Chronologist said:

Baring Gould seems to have discarded the days of the months and year provided by Watson anytime they didn't line up with the historical days of the week

You mean like, if Watson said "Tuesday, November 27, 1892" but November 27, 1892 was actually a Thursday, then Baring Gould would list the date only as "November 1892"?

Makes as much sense as anything, I guess -- short of querying Watson or checking his original notes, neither of which is likely to be possible at this point.

1 hour ago, Chronologist said:

I'd be interested in comparing my completed list once I've finished posting it all a month and a half from now with this and other chronologies.

I'll be interested in your findings!

 

[Chronologist]

2 hours ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

You mean like, if Watson said "Tuesday, November 27, 1892" but November 27, 1892 was actually a Thursday, then Baring Gould would list the date only as "November 1892"?

 

More like the opposite. He'd move the date to a different year where the date would fall on the weekday. Like in the example you made up, dating the story to Tuesday, November 27, 1891.

Baring Gould tried to provide a precise day, month, and year for all but two of the stories. I don't try to do that with my chronology. I do try to pinpoint which year each of the stories took place in (crucial for a chronology) and read each story very carefully for any mention of the date, but if Doyle/Watson don't give a fully precise date, I don't even try to come up with one unless I feel it can be reasonably deduced just from reading the story.

And while I'm on the subject of Baring Gould's list, I think I'll talk here about Watson's "first" marriage Baring Gould seemed to believe he'd had before he met Mary Morstan in "The Sign of the Four". This seems to be based on all the discrepancies found in "The Five Orange Pips", which Watson dates to 1887, where Holmes makes an unmistakable reference to Irene Adler even though her case was originally dated to 1888, and where Watson refers to his wife as visiting "her mother", even though according to "Sign", Mary Morstan's mother was already dead by the time of her father's disappearance and death in 1878. Baring Gould then places several stories that mention Watson's wife and marriage, but without specifying that she's Mary Morstan from "Sign" as taking place during this "first" marriage. 

An alternative theory (which I didn't come up with, but was already aware of) is that when Watson says in "Pips" that his wife was visiting "her mother", that what  he really meant was that Mrs. Mary Morstan Watson was visiting her former employer, Mrs. Cecil Forrester, whom she'd lived with for 5-6 years as a governess, and whose treatment of Mary in "Sign" Watson even describes as "motherly". Perhaps Watson subconsciously thought of Mrs. Forrester as Mary's "mother" when he wasn't giving it too much thought. I like this theory because it's so much simpler to believe Watson got a date wrong in one story, "Pips", than that he got so many other dates in so many other stories wrong.

[Carol the Dabbler]

10 minutes ago, Chronologist said:

He'd move the date to a different year where the date would fall on the weekday. Like in the example you made up, dating the story to Tuesday, November 27, 1891.

  I call that very odd.  Seems to me it'd be far more likely for Watson to misremember the day of the week or even the day of the month than to misremember the year!

14 minutes ago, Chronologist said:

An alternative theory (which I didn't come up with, but was already aware of) is that when Watson says in "Pips" that his wife was visiting "her mother", that what  he really meant was that Mrs. Mary Morstan Watson was visiting her former employer, Mrs. Cecil Forrester, whom she'd lived with for 5-6 years as a governess, and whose treatment of Mary in "Sign" Watson even describes as "motherly". Perhaps Watson subconsciously thought of Mrs. Forrester as Mary's "mother" when he wasn't giving it too much thought. I like this theory because it's so much simpler to believe Watson got a date wrong in one story, "Pips", than that he got so many other dates in so many other stories wrong.

Occam's Razor strikes again!  

 

[Chronologist]

The Noble Bachelor

Date: “autumnal” season, “within a week” after “Oct. 4th”, “a few weeks before” Watson’s marriage to Mary Morstan, (the day and month listed is an impossible date), a “four-year-old drama”, “forty-one years” after “1846”.

Comments:

More than once in this case the season is referred to as “autumnal “. “Oct. 4th” is the date on the hotel bill Holmes finds on the back of the note Lestrade found, and he comments that it was dated “within a week” of the wedding and disappearance. Watson states at the start that this is a “four-year-old drama”. Since this story was first published in April, 1892, that suggests this story takes place in either 1888 or late 1887. The latter is more likely since “1846” is listed as the year of Lord Robert’s birth in the reference book Holmes looks him up in, and Holmes comments that would make him “forty-one-years of age” even though the reference book doesn’t mention the day or month of that birth. 

Watson also states that this story takes place “a few weeks before” his own marriage. This makes the story either the very last story before, or the very first story after “The Sign of the Four” where Watson first met and fell in love with Mary Morstan. Since Watson doesn’t seem to have anything to preoccupy his time except this case, this suggest that it’s the last case before “Sign”, especially since neither Watson nor Miss Morstan appear to have any living family members, so they wouldn’t have to invite very many people to their wedding and could’ve gotten married fairly quickly. 

But that would make the day and month provided in this story, “Oct. 4th” an impossible date. “Sign” has two contradictory dates mentioned, but either date would’ve been before October 4th. 

While the date and month provided are impossible, and it’s equally impossible to determine the correct day and month, within the context of the full chronology, it doesn’t matter. All that really matters is that this story is the penultimate case within the first time period of this chronology, when Watson was still a bachelor.

Current Canon Placement:

After “The Speckled Band” and before “The Sign of the Four”.
 

[Chronologist]

The Beryl Coronet

Date: “February”, no mention of Watson’s marriage.

Comments:

“February” is the only date given. Also, Watson appears to be living full time at 221B Baker Street, with no mention of his marriage. This would suggest this story takes place during the first time period when Watson was still a bachelor. In determining the chronology in cases like these, I go by the publication order and which of the four time periods this story would appear to take place in. Disregarding “The Noble Bachelor” as an outlier (since it’s clearly the penultimate story from this time period, soon followed by “The Sign of the Four” as the final story in this time period), the most recent published story from this time period is “The Speckled Band”, which is set in April, 1883. Therefore, I’m placing this story in the February after that in 1884.

Current Canon Placement:

After “The Speckled Band” and before “The Noble Bachelor”.
 

[Chronologist]

The Copper Beeches

Date: “early spring” sometime after “A Scandal in Bohemia”, “A Case of Identity”, “The Man with the Twisted Lip”, “The Noble Bachelor”, and “The Blue Carbuncle”

Comments:

This story references no fewer than five past published stories as taking place before this. The one with the most recent precise date is “The Man with the Twisted Lip” which occurred on June 19, 1889. “The Blue Carbuncle” also references “Twisted” as a past case and occurs on the second morning after Christmas. Assuming “Carbuncle” takes place the same year as “Twisted”, that would place “Carbuncle” on December 27, 1889. The only date given for this story is “early spring”. Since this story takes place after “Carbuncle”, the earliest possible date would be in early spring of 1890, making this one of the only three cases Watson worked on with Holmes that year as mentioned in “The Final Problem”.

This is one of three cases (the others are “The Cardboard Box” and “The Hound of the Baskervilles”) that has a rather curious chronology, as it appears to take place after Watson’s marriage to Mary Morstan, but where Watson appears to be living with Holmes for an extensive period of time (a fortnight in this case) with no mention of his marriage. What was going on with Watson’s marriage and medical practice that he could have that much free time to spend with Holmes is anyone’s guess.

Current Canon Placement:

After “The Blue Carbuncle” and before “The Red-Headed League”.

Full Chronology after The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

I.    1882-1887, Holmes and Watson are sharing rooms at 221B Baker Street as bachelors.

1.    A Study in Scarlet. March 4, 1882
2.    The Speckled Band. Early April, 1883
3.    The Beryl Coronet. February, 1884
4.    The Noble Bachelor. Autumn, 1887
5.    The Sign of the Four. September, 1887

II.    1888-1891. Watson’s marriage to Mary Morstan

6.     A Scandal in Bohemia. March 20, 1888
7.     A Case of Identity. April 14, 1888
8.     The Boscombe Valley Mystery. June 3, 1888
9.     The Five Orange Pips. Late September, 1888
10.     The Man with the Twisted Lip. June 19, 1889
11.     The Engineer’s Thumb. Summer, 1889
12.     The Blue Carbuncle. December 27, 1889
13.     The Copper Beeches. Early Spring, 1890
14.     The Red-Headed League. October 9, 1890
 

[Chronologist]

THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

Silver Blaze

Date: None given. No mention of Watson’s marriage.

Comments:

For the first time, a story provides no indication of the date whatsoever. No year, month, season, not even (as in “A Case of Identity”) a day of the month without mentioning the month. Nor is there any mention of past published cases. The only indication of when this story takes place is that Watson appears to be sharing rooms with Holmes full time with no mention of his marriage, indicating this is during the first time period when both Holmes and Watson were bachelors. When I have so little to go on, I rely on the publication order of the stories set in the apparent time period. The most recently published story from the first time period is “The Beryl Coronet”, which is set in February without mentioning a year. I’m assuming “Blaze” takes place in the same year, which I’ve set as 1884. In “Coronet”, snow is mentioned and is a factor in the case. In “Blaze”, no snow is mentioned, so presumably all of it has melted by this time, or enough of it to not be a factor in the case. 

Current Canon Placement: 

After “The Beryl Coronet” and before “The Noble Bachelor”.
 

[Chronologist]

The Cardboard Box

Date: “August”, sometime after “The Sign of the Four”.

Comments:

Holmes mentions “A Study in Scarlet” and “The Sign of the Four” as past cases, the latter being the case where Watson first met and fell in love with his wife Mary Morstan. As I’m of the opinion that Watson married her soon afterwards, before any other case, I would place this story in the second time period, during Watson’s first marriage. With no year given, I go by the publication order. The most recent published story in this time period is “The Copper Beeches” which is set in early spring, in which I’ve determined to have been in 1890. Therefore, I place this story after “Beeches”, in August, 1890. According to “The Final Problem”, Watson worked with Holmes on only three cases in 1890. By my chronology, those three cases were “The Copper Beeches”, “The Cardboard Box”, and “The Red-Headed League” in that order.

This is one of three puzzling cases in the chronology (the other two are “The Copper Beeches” and “The Hound of the Baskervilles”) that appear to take place after Watson’s marriage, but with no mention of that marriage and with Watson sharing rooms with Holmes for an extensive period of time (although in this case, it’s only three days). Here there’s a partial explanation, in that Watson states that he wanted to go on holiday, but a “depleted bank account” caused him to postpone it. Possibly only Mary could go on the full holiday, and Watson chose to send her off early, while he spent the first part of it more cheaply with Holmes before he could afford to go join her.

Current Canon Placement:

After “The Copper Beeches” and before “The Red-Headed League”.
 

[Carol the Dabbler]

38 minutes ago, Chronologist said:

Watson states that he wanted to go on holiday, but a “depleted bank account” caused him to postpone it. Possibly only Mary could go on the full holiday, and Watson chose to send her off early, while he spent the first part of it more cheaply with Holmes before he could afford to go join her.

Or maybe Mary was visiting a friend or relative, leaving Watson at loose ends.  In either case, he may have decided to visit Holmes in order to keep from being lonely and/or bored while she was away.

 

[Chronologist]

The Yellow Face

Date: “early spring”, no mention of Watson’s marriage.

Comments:

Since Watson appears to be sharing rooms with Holmes with no mention of his wife, this story presumably takes place during the first time period when they’re both bachelors. With no year mentioned, and no past published stories mentioned, I go by the publication order. The most recent published story set in this time period is “Silver Blaze”, which had no indications of its date. The most recent published story from this time period before that was “The Beryl Coronet”, set in February, where snow on the ground is mentioned and is even a factor in the case. In “Silver Blaze”, no snow is mentioned, so it had all probably melted by then. “The Yellow Face” does have a slight indicator of the date, that it’s “early spring”, and Watson even goes so far as to describe how, “the first faint shoots of green were breaking out upon the elms, and the sticky spear-heads of the chestnuts were just beginning to burst into their fivefold leaves.” This suggests that the story is set very early in the spring, which leads me to believe that this story takes place in 1885, the year after “The Beryl Coronet” and “Silver Blaze”.

Current Canon Placement: 

After “Silver Blaze” and before “The Noble Bachelor”.
 

[Chronologist]

The Stock-Broker’s Clerk

Date: “June”, “SHORTLY after” Watson’s marriage to Mary Morstan.

Comments:

Watson provides us with the month right at the start, with the inference that it’s within the first year of his marriage in 1888. An earlier published story, “The Boscombe Valley Mystery”, was also set in a June after Watson’s marriage without specifying a year. Due to the publication order, I placed “Boscombe” in the first year of Watson’s marriage in 1888. “Boscombe” also provides a day of the month of “June 3d”, something this story does not. Due to the early date in “Boscombe”, I’m placing this story after “Boscombe”.

Current Canon Placement:

After “The Boscombe Valley Mystery” and before “The Five Orange Pips”.

[Chronologist]

The “Gloria Scott”

Date: (the time Holmes relates this story to Watson) “winter”, no mention of Watson’s marriage.

Comments:

The bulk of this story is a flashback within a flashback set in the year 1855. The original flashback is supposedly set thirty years later as Holmes’ first case before he met Watson, “thirty years” being mentioned more than once, which is absurd since that would be around 1885, when Holmes and Watson were already sharing rooms together as bachelors for some time. Twenty-five years would be more likely. But for this chronology, I’m solely interested in when Holmes told this story to Watson. Since there’s no mention of Watson’s marriage, I’m inclined to believe this story was told to Watson during the first time period. Going by publication order, the most recently published story from this time period is “The Yellow Face”, which I’ve set in the year 1885. I’ve chosen to believe that Holmes told Watson this story sometime after that, perhaps in the winter of that year. Which means that I’ve set the time when Holmes told this story to Watson in the year 1885, the same year the original flashback supposedly took place in!

Current Canon Placement:

After “The Yellow Face” and before “The Noble Bachelor”.
 

[Chronologist]

The Musgrave Ritual 

Date: (the time Holmes relates this story to Watson) “winter”, sometime after Holmes told Watson the story of “The ‘Gloria Scott’”, no mention of Watson’s marriage.

Comments:

There’s not much to indicate when the flashback that is the main story took place, other than before “A Study in Scarlet”. Again, as in “The ‘Gloria Scott’”, I’m solely interested in the time Holmes told Watson this story. Holmes refers to having already told Watson the story of “’Scott’”. Both these “flashback cases” are told to Watson during winter. It’s safe to assume they were both told in the same winter. And, since my chronology otherwise doesn’t have any case set in the year 1886, even though Holmes and Watson apparently spent that whole year together, I’ll place “’Scott’” being told in winter at the end of 1885, while I’ll place this case being told in the same winter at the start of 1886.

Current Canon Placement:

After “The ‘Gloria Scott’” and before “The Noble Bachelor”.
 

[Carol the Dabbler]

9 minutes ago, Chronologist said:

... since my chronology otherwise doesn’t have any case set in the year 1886, even though Holmes and Watson apparently spent that whole year together, I’ll place “’Scott’” being told in winter at the end of 1885, while I’ll place this case being told in the same winter at the start of 1886.

Well, you gotta put 'em somewhere, right?  

 

[Chronologist]

The Reigate Squire

Date: “a week after” more than “Three days” after “the fourteenth of April”, “’87”

Comments:

“[T]the fourteenth of April” is the date Watson receives a telegram that Holmes is in Lyons, having taken ill from working on his latest case. Watson’s able to visit him within 24 hours after that, “Three days later” they’re back in Baker street, “a week after” that they arrive at Colonel Hayter’s home at the start of this case. This ultimately gives us the fairly precise date of April 25, 1887.

Current Canon Placement: 

After “The Musgrave Ritual” and before “The Noble Bachelor”.
 

[Chronologist]

The Crooked Man

Date: “summer” “a few months after” Watson’s marriage

Comments:

“[A] few months after” implies within less than a year after Watson’s marriage, so I date this story in 1888. Going by publication order, the most recently published story set in the summer of 1888 is “The Stock-Broker’s Clerk”, set in June. I place this story soon after “Clerk”.

Current Canon Placement:

After “The Stock-Broker’s Clerk” and before “The Five Orange Pips”.
 

[Chronologist]

The Resident Patient

Date: “October”, “towards the end of the first year during which Holmes” and Watson “shared chambers in Baker Street”

Comments:

Dating this story is fairly straightforward. “[T]owards the end of the first year” Holmes and Watson were sharing rooms in Baker Street indicates this story took place the same year (and after) “A Study in Scarlet”, which I’ve concluded occurred in 1882.

Current Canon Placement:

After “A Study in Scarlet” and before “The Speckled Band”.
 

[Chronologist]

The Greek Interpreter

Date: “summer”, sometime after at least one of Watson’s Holmes stories had been published.

Comments:

Mycroft addresses Watson by saying, “I hear of Sherlock everywhere since you became his chronicler.” This implies that at least some of Watson’s stories have been published by this time. The only Holmes stories that had been published prior to Holmes’ supposed death in May, 1891 were “A Study in Scarlet” and “The Sign of the Four”. “Scarlet” was published in November, 1887, while “Sign” was published in February, 1890. Since, in the “The Final Problem” Watson states that he only has record of three cases with Holmes in 1890, and I’ve already decided those three cases were “The Copper Beeches”, “The Cardboard Box”, and “The Red-Headed League”; and since Mycroft’s statement is at least vague enough that it’s possible only one of Watson’s Holmes stories had been published at this point, I’m inclined to believe that this story takes place in the summer after the publication of “Scarlet”, the Summer of 1888. Going by publication order, the most recently published story taking place in the same season and year is “The Crooked Man”, so I’m placing this story soon after that. No mention is made of Watson’s marriage, but the main events of this story take place over the course of a single night, making it more plausible than the other stories that seem to take place after Watson’s marriage that don’t mention it.

Current Canon Placement:

After “The Crooked Man” and before “The Five Orange Pips”. 
 

[Chronologist]

The Naval Treaty

Date: “THE JULY which immediately succeeded” Watson’s marriage, “Nearly ten weeks” after “the twenty-third of May”.

Comments:

Fairly close to a precise date. “The July which immediately succeeded” Watson’s marriage would be in the year 1888. “[T]he twenty-third of May” is the date of the theft, and Holmes is called in “Nearly ten weeks” later, which would make this within the last week of July, 1888.

Current Canon Placement:

After “The Greek Interpreter” and before “The Five Orange Pips”.

[Chronologist]

The Final Problem 

Date: From “April 24th” to “May” “fourth”, “1891”

Comments:

“April 24th” is the day Holmes came to Watson and arranged the trip to the Continent. “May” “fourth” is the day of Holmes’ final confrontation with Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls. The fact that the year of this case is “1891” is mentioned several times. A fully clear, precise set of dates.

Current Canon Placement:

After “The Red-Headed League”. Also, the most recent story to date.

Full Chronology after The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

I.    1882-1887, Holmes and Watson are sharing rooms at 221B Baker Street as bachelors.

1.     A Study in Scarlet. March 4, 1882
2.     The Resident Patient. October, 1882
3.     The Speckled Band. Early April, 1883
4.     The Beryl Coronet. February, 1884
5.     Silver Blaze. 1884
6.     The Yellow Face. Early Spring, 1885
7.     The “Gloria Scott”. Winter, late 1885
8.     The Musgrave Ritual. Winter, early 1886
9.     The Reigate Squire. April 25, 1887
10.     The Noble Bachelor. Autumn, 1887
11.     The Sign of the Four. September, 1887

II.    1888-1891. Watson’s marriage to Mary Morstan

12.     A Scandal in Bohemia. March 20, 1888
13.     A Case of Identity. April 14, 1888
14.     The Boscombe Valley Mystery. June 3, 1888
15.     The Stock-Broker’s Clerk. June, 1888
16.     The Crooked Man. Summer, 1888
17.     The Greek Interpreter. Summer, 1888
18.     The Naval Treaty. Late July, 1888
19.     The Five Orange Pips. Late September, 1888
20.     The Man with the Twisted Lip. June 19, 1889
21.     The Engineer’s Thumb. Summer, 1889
22.     The Blue Carbuncle. December 27, 1889
23.     The Copper Beeches. Early Spring, 1890
24.     The Cardboard Box. August, 1890
25.     The Red-Headed League. October 9, 1890
26.     The Final Problem. April 24 – May 4, 1891
 

[Carol the Dabbler]

1888 was a busy year, eh?

 

[Chronologist]

23 hours ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

1888 was a busy year, eh?

 

It sure was. Which makes a kind of sense. In the first year of his marriage, Watson probably had fewer patients to occupy his time, so probably felt more free to make frequent visits with his old pal and take part in his adventures. As time wore on, and his medical practice became more successful, he'd have less occasion to visit Holmes on a whim (although in 1889, he'll have two cases with a quite extensive leave, the bigger one coming right up), by 1890, he could afford to visit Holmes for only three cases that year, and in 1891 he'll have only one extended case with Holmes that'll turn out to be the last case where both Holmes and Mary Morstan Watson will still be alive. 😢

[Chronologist]

THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES

Date: The story is set “five years” after “1884”, starting “some three months” after “May 14th” (this date is incompatible with the rest of the dates), continues “Twenty-four hours” later, resumes at “the end of the week”, stretches on to “October 13th”, “A fortnight” after Seldon’s escape from Princetown (which happened “three days” before Watson and Sir Henry arrived at Baskerville Hall), thru “Oct. 15th”, thru “October 16th”, thru “October 17th”, begins to reach its climax on “the eighteenth of October” continuing over the next two days. The final chapter is set at “the end of November”.

Comments:

“1884” is the year inscribed on Dr. James Mortimer’s walking stick, and Holmes comments that was “five years ago”, setting the year of this story precisely in 1889. “May 14th” is the date of the newspaper article reporting the death of Sir Charles Baskerville, which Dr. Mortimer comments was “some three months ago”, suggesting the story starts in August, but that doesn’t line up well with the rest of the dates in this story. “October 13th” is the date of Watson’s first letter where he comments that it’s been “A fortnight” since Seldon’s escape from Princetown. This suggests that Seldon broke out on September 30. When Watson and Sir Henry first arrived at Baskerville Hall, they were told Seldon had “been out three days now”, which suggests that Watson and Sir Henry arrived on October 2. Earlier in the story, it was established that they would go to Baskerville Hall at “the end of the week”. This suggests the story began very late in September, on what would be the last partial week of September and the first partial week of October. “Oct. 15th” is the date of Watson’s second letter to Holmes. ““October 16th” is the date of Watson’s first entry in his diary. “October 17th” is the date of Watson’s second entry in his diary. Watson then notes that “the eighteenth of October” is the day he reunited with Holmes. The rest of the events before the final chapter take place over the next two days. 

Overall, this story (from the time Holmes and Watson became involved in it) appears to have started in late September, no earlier than September 25 (just before the start of the week; if they met Sir Henry “Twenty four hours” later, their meeting would be the start of the week) and no later than September 29 (Holmes and Watson meet Sir Henry “Twenty-four hours” after Dr. Mortimer presents the case to them, and Sir Henry tells them he’ll go to Baskerville Hall “At the end of the week”; if the story began on September 30, “Twenty-four hours” later would’ve been October 1 and Sir Henry would’ve just said “tomorrow”), and concludes (not counting the last chapter) on October 20, a little less than a full month.

This is one of three puzzling cases in dating this chronology (the other two are “The Copper Beeches” and “The Cardboard Box”) that appear to take place after Watson’s marriage to Mary Morstan and before Holmes’ supposed death in “The Final Problem”, but where there’s no mention of Watson’s wife and he appears to be sharing rooms with Holmes for an extensive period of time. This is by far the longest of these cases, lasting only slightly less than four full weeks, nearly three of those weeks Watson spends with Sir Henry. What was going on in Watson’s marriage and medical practice that would give him that much free time is beyond this chronology’s purpose to speculate.

The last chapter jumps ahead to “the end of November”. Watson mentions this was the earliest occasion he had to talk to Holmes about the case, revealing Holmes had been working on two other major cases since then, and that it was only at the conclusion of the second major case that Holmes felt free to talk about the Hound of the Baskervilles. It’s possible Watson returned to his wife soon after October 20, tried to visit Holmes a couple of times since then, only to find Holmes engaged in those two major cases, and that on his third visit Holmes was finally free to discuss the Hound. It should be noted that Sir Henry and Dr. Mortimer visited them that afternoon and Holmes takes Watson to a concert that evening, so it’s possible this is another extensive period of Watson with Holmes instead of his wife, although this period may be no more than part of an afternoon and into the evening.

Current Canon Placement:

After “The Engineer’s Thumb” and before “The Blue Carbuncle”.

Full Chronology after The Hound of the Baskervilles

I.    1882-1887, Holmes and Watson are sharing rooms at 221B Baker Street as bachelors.

1.     A Study in Scarlet. March 4, 1882
2.     The Resident Patient. October, 1882
3.    The Speckled Band. Early April, 1883
4.     The Beryl Coronet. February, 1884
5.     Silver Blaze. 1884
6.    The Yellow Face. Early Spring, 1885
7.    The “Gloria Scott”. Winter, late 1885
8.    The Musgrave Ritual. Winter, early 1886
9.    The Reigate Squire. April 25, 1887
10.     The Noble Bachelor. Autumn, 1887
11.     The Sign of the Four. September, 1887

II.    1888-1891. Watson’s marriage to Mary Morstan

12.      A Scandal in Bohemia. March 20, 1888
13.      A Case of Identity. April 14, 1888
14.      The Boscombe Valley Mystery. June 3, 1888
15.      The Stock-Broker’s Clerk. June, 1888
16.      The Crooked Man. Summer, 1888
17.      The Greek Interpreter. Summer, 1888
18.      The Naval Treaty. Late July, 1888
19.      The Five Orange Pips. Late September, 1888
20.      The Man with the Twisted Lip. June 19, 1889
21.      The Engineer’s Thumb. Summer, 1889
22.      The Hound of the Baskervilles. Late September – late November, 1889
23.      The Blue Carbuncle. December 27, 1889
24.      The Copper Beeches. Early Spring, 1890
25.      The Cardboard Box. August, 1890
26.      The Red-Headed League. October 9, 1890
27.      The Final Problem. April 24 – May 4, 1891
 

[Chronologist]

THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

The Empty House

Date: “April”, soon after “March 30, 1894”

Comments:

“March 30, 1894” is the date of the Honourable Ronald Adair’s murder. Watson later comments that the main events of this story were in “April”, so at least two days after the murder.

Current Canon Placement:

After “The Final Problem”. Also, the most recent story to date.