My Sherlock Holmes Chronology list

[Chronologist]

THE CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

The Illustrious Client

Date: “September 3, 1902”

Comments:

With a day, month, and year, we’re given a fully precise date. Of even greater interest to this chronology is that Watson is no longer sharing rooms with Holmes, the story with the earliest date where Watson stopped living with Holmes after Holmes’ Return and before Holmes’ retirement.

Current Canon Placement:

After “The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax” and before “His Last Bow”.
 

[Chronologist]

The Blanched Soldier

Date: “January, 1903”

Comments:

This story, narrated by Holmes himself, provides the month and year, close enough to a precise date. Of even greater interest is that this story has the only canonical mention of Watson’s second wife.

Current Canon Placement:

After “The Illustrious Client” and before “His Last Bow”.

[Carol the Dabbler]

1 hour ago, Chronologist said:

The Blanched Soldier . . . has the only canonical mention of Watson’s second wife.

Don't think I have that story where I can get at it.  If you can easily get at yours, what exactly does Holmes say?

 

[Chronologist]

22 hours ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

Don't think I have that story where I can get at it.  If you can easily get at yours, what exactly does Holmes say?

 

"The good Watson had at that time deserted me for a wife, the only selfish action which I can recall in our association. I was alone."

https://ignisart.com/camdenhouse/canon/blan.htm

I consider the above site the best place available for all the Holmes stories (except for the original, unaltered version of Resident Patient).

[Chronologist]

The Mazarin Stone

Date: “summer”, sometime after “February 13, 1892” and “The Empty House”. Watson is no longer sharing rooms at 221B Baker Street with Holmes.

Comments:

We’re told near the start of this story that it takes place in “summer”. “February 13, 1892” is the date Holmes sites of a robbery in the train de-luxe to the Riviera that Count Sylvius was apparently involved in. When Billy points out the lifelike dummy of Holmes placed by the window, Watson remarks, “We used something of the sort once before,” an unnamed, yet unmistakable reference to “The Empty House”.

The story doesn’t provide a more precise date, and normally I would rely on the publication order for when I’d place this story in the canon. But there’s a problem with that. 

All the Sherlock Holmes stories were initially published in magazines before being published as books, all of them in the Strand Magazine after “The Sign of the Four”. For the first three Holmes anthologies, “Adventures”, “Memoirs”, and “Return”, all the stories were initially published in the Strand at three regular intervals of a new Holmes story once a month for 12-13 months, from July 1891 to June 1892 for “Adventures”, from December 1892 to December 1893 for “Memoirs”, and from October 1903 to September 1904 for “Return” with the last story “The Second Stain” published a couple months later in December of that year. For these first 37 short stories, the order in which they were published in the Strand and the order in which they appeared in the book anthologies were all exactly the same (except for “The Cardboard Box”, which was kept out of most early editions of “Memoirs” due to Victorian squeamishness, a bit of pointless trivia I chose to ignore). Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would continue to write and publish Holmes stories for the next 23 years until 1927, but intermittently, a couple stories in one year (often several months apart from each other), just one story in another year, and so on. The interval was often several years apart from each other. When it came time to publish them in book form in the anthologies “Bow” and “Case-Book”, the order in which they were first published in the Strand and the order in which they appear in the book anthologies are not the same. In “Bow” this never became a problem because for the only two stories there with no precise date, “The Red Circle” and “The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax”, the publication order and anthology order were the same in relation to each other.

But that’s not the case with “Case-Book”. “The Mazarin Stone” was first published in 1921, the earliest published story in “Case-Book” (as well as the earliest story to indicate there came a time after Holmes’ Return and before his retirement where Watson stopped sharing rooms with him) but it’s the third story in the book anthology. The first story, “The Illustrious Client”, is also set after Watson stopped living with Holmes, and has the earliest precise date for this fourth time period, September 3, 1902, and was first published in 1924. The second story, “The Blanched Soldier”, has the only mention of Watson’s second wife (the most likely reason Watson stopped living with Holmes), is set in January 1903, and was published in 1926. If I was only going by magazine publication order, and since the only date given in “Stone” is “summer”, I’d be dating “Stone” in the summer before Client in 1902.

But there are problems with this. “The Three Garridebs” is set in late June 1902 and indicates Holmes and Watson are still living together. In “Stone”, Holmes deduces that Watson now has an active, busy medical practice, which would take some time to establish. Given these facts, I suspect it’s no accident that “Stone” is placed in the book anthology after “Soldier” the only story that mentions Watson’s second wife. I feel that by placing “Stone” after “Soldier”, the publisher (and possibly Doyle himself) was actively encouraging the reader to think of Watson’s wife mentioned in “Soldier” as the reason why he’s no longer living with Holmes in “Stone”.

From here on, if there’s a story in “Case-Book” with an imprecise date, where the publication order and anthology order are not the same, I will go with the anthology order. Therefore, I’m placing “Stone” in the summer after “Soldier” in 1903.

Current Canon Placement:

After “The Blanched Soldier” and before “His Last Bow”.
 

[Chronologist]

The Three Gables

Date: None given. Watson “had not seen Holmes for some days” implying he’s no longer sharing rooms with him.

Comments:

The only indication of when this story seems to take place is that Watson doesn’t appear to be living with Holmes suggesting either the second time period (during Watson’s first marriage to Mary Morstan) or the fourth time period (during Watson’s second marriage). With my publication order bias, I’m inclined to believe it’s the fourth time period. This is reinforced when Mrs. Maberley comments in her letter, that “my late husband, Mortimer Maberley, was one of your early clients,” and Holmes remarks it had been “some years”, implying Holmes has been a detective for some time by this point. And with my anthology order bias, I’m inclined to set this story after the most recent previous story in this anthology set in the same time period, “The Mazarin Stone”, in the same year as “Stone”, 1903.

Current Canon Placement:

After “The Mazarin Stone” and before “His Last Bow”.
 

[Chronologist]

The Sussex Vampire

Date: “Nov. 19th.” to “Nov. 21st.” Sometime after Holmes related to Watson, and possibly after the publication of, the story of “The ‘Gloria Scott’” (which was published in April, 1893). Holmes and Watson appear to be sharing rooms at 221B Baker Street full time.

Comments:

Here we’re given a day and month, but not the year. “Nov. 19th.” Is the date of the letter the attorneys of Robert Ferguson sent to Holmes. “Nov. 21st.” is the date of the letter Holmes sends back to the attorneys at the end of the story. Holmes mentions “The ‘Gloria Scott’” and notes that Watson “made a record of it”. “The ‘Gloria Scott’” was Holmes’ first case that he related to Watson during the first time period. Holmes' comment that Watson “made a record of it” implies that this story takes place after “The ‘Gloria Scott’” was published (April, 1893), during the time when Watson thought Holmes was dead, which makes it more likely this story is set in the third time period. Watson comments upon seeing his old friend, Robert Ferguson, “There is surely nothing in life more painful than to meet the wreck of a fine athlete whom one has known in his prime. His great frame had fallen in, his flaxen hair was scanty, and his shoulders were bowed. I fear that I roused corresponding emotions in him.” The fear Watson expresses at the end is confirmed when Ferguson remarks to him, “You don’t look quite the man you did when I threw you over the ropes into the crowd at the Old Deer Park.” Which suggests that by the time of this story, Watson is noticeably aging and that this story is at a late date.

Like I’ve said, when a story like this published after the publication of the full anthology “The Return of Sherlock Holmes”, where there’s no indication of a year, and where Holmes and Watson appear to be sharing rooms full time, I choose to date it sometime after the latest story in my chronology published in “Return”, “The Priory School”, which I set in 1901, and set this story later in that same year. And with Nov 19-21 being fairly late in the year, I place this story after any other story that meets all of the above criteria, but doesn’t have a month mentioned.

Current Canon Placement:

After “The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax” and before “The Illustrious Client”.
 

[Chronologist]

The Three Garridebs

Date: “the latter end of June, 1902”

Comments:

We’re given a month and a year and are even told it was late in the month, fairly close to a precise date. Of greater interest is the fact that this story has the latest explicit date where Holmes and Watson are still sharing rooms together at 221B Baker Street. “The Illustrious Client”, with the precise date of “September 3, 1902,” just a little over two months after “Garridebs”, is the story with the earliest explicit date where Holmes and Watson are no longer living together. In “The Blanched Soldier”, set in January 1903 and narrated by Holmes, Holmes’ states that “Watson had deserted me for a wife,” the most likely explanation for why Watson finally moved out. So, judging by this story and “Client”, Watson probably married in either July or August of 1902.

Current Canon Placement:

After “The Sussex Vampire” and before “The Illustrious Client”.
 

[Chronologist]

The Problem of Thor Bridge

Date: “October 3rd.” Holmes and Watson appear to be sharing rooms at 221B Baker Street full time.

Comments:

“October 3rd.” is the date of the letter Gibson writes to Holmes at the start of the story. Like “The Sussex Vampire”, we have a day and month, but not the year. When we have a story published after the publication of the full anthology “The Return of Sherlock Holmes”, where there’s no indication of a year, and where Holmes and Watson appear to be sharing rooms full time, I choose to date it sometime after the latest story in my chronology published in “Return”, “The Priory School”, which I set in 1901, and set this story later in that same year. And since “October 3rd.” is fairly late in the year, I place this story after any other story that meets all of the above criteria, but doesn’t have a month mentioned, but before “Vampire”, which has a later day and month.

Current Canon Placement:

After “The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax” and before “The Sussex Vampire”.
 

[Chronologist]

The Creeping Man

Date: “early in September of the year 1903”, starting when the night of “September 4th” would’ve been “the night before last” and when the night of “September 5th” would’ve been “last night”, so the first day with Holmes on the case would’ve been September 6 which is stated to be “Sunday”. The last day would’ve been the week from that “Tuesday” which seems like an error.

Comments:

The night of September 4 is the night Trevor Bennet saw Professor Presbury climbing down the stairs on all fours and is described as “the night before last.” The night of September 5 is when Edith Presbury sees her father staring out at her from her second story window and is described as “last night”, making the first day Holmes is on the case definitely September 6, which is on a Sunday. Later Holmes describes the “nine-day intervals” of Presbury’s frightening behavior and notes that the last incident “was on September 3d” which is clearly a mistake on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s part since it was already established it was September 4. Holmes declares the next likely incident would occur on a week from Tuesday, which doesn’t make sense since that’s well past the “nine-day intervals”. It’s much more likely the final day of this story is on a Sunday, 9 days after September 4, on September 13, 1903.

The greatest interest in this story for the chronology is that Watson describes it as “one of the very last cases handled by Holmes before his retirement from practice.”

Current Canon Placement:

After “The Three Gables” and before “His Last Bow”.

[Chronologist]

The Lion’s Mane

Date: “Towards the end of July, 1907”

Comments:

Holmes narrates this story, and near the start gives us the month and year and even tells us it’s near the end of that month, fairly close to a fully precise date. It also establishes, quite definitively, the final three stories of this chronology, “The Creeping Man”, “The Lion’s Mane”, and “His Last Bow” in that order.

Current Canon Placement: 

After “The Creeping Man” and before “His Last Bow”.
 

[Chronologist]

The Veiled Lodger

Date: “late in 1896”

Comments:

At the start Watson gives us a precise enough date to suit this chronology. Curiously, this story seems to indicate that Watson isn’t sharing rooms with Holmes at 221B Baker Street at this time, and only drops by for occasional visits, when everything else in Canon would suggest that Watson lived with Holmes full time from 1894 until his second marriage in mid-1902. Watson’s absence from Baker Street at this time is every bit as inexplicable as his extended absences from his first wife Mary Morstan in “The Copper Beeches”, “The Cardboard Box”, and especially “The Hound of the Baskervilles”.

Current Canon Placement: 

After “The Missing Three-Quarter” and before “The Abbey Grange”.
 

[Chronologist]

Shoscombe Old Place

Date: “May”, Holmes and Watson appear to be sharing rooms at 221B Baker Street full time.

Comments:

Midway through the story Watson tells us that he and Holmes reach Shoscombe on a “May evening”, but never gives a year. When a story published after the publication of the full anthology “The Return of Sherlock Holmes” doesn’t mention a year, and where Holmes and Watson appear to still be living together, I place the story after the latest story in my chronology published in “Return”, “The Priory School” which I set in the year 1901. As it happens, “Priory” is also set in May, starting on May 16. That still leaves enough time in May to place “Shoscombe” after- very shortly after- “Priory” but before any other story I set in 1901.

Current Canon Placement: 

After “The Priory School” and before “The Red Circle”.
 

[Chronologist]

The Retired Colourman 

Date: “summer”, “within two years” after “Early in 1897”.

Comments:

“Early in 1897” is when Josiah Amberley married, and Holmes states that the present is “within two years” of that. If I had nothing else to go on, I would date this story in late 1898. But a little later, Watson tells us that it’s “summer”. Summer isn’t generally regarded as late in the year, and if it was summer, 1898, Holmes would more likely have said “within a year and a half”, so it’s more likely the year is 1899.

Although which of these years this story takes place in is kind of a moot point for this Chronology due to the scarcity of published cases set in this period. Without placing this story in 1899, there’d be no other published story that can be definitely set in 1899. And with all 60 stories now published, there can still be no story that can be definitely set in 1900. So, whether this story was set in 1898 or 1899, its Canon Placement in the Chronology would be exactly the same either way: after “The Dancing Men” and before “The Priory School”.

Current (and Final) Canon Placement:

After “The Dancing Men” and before “The Priory School”.

The Final Full Sherlock Holmes Chronology

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 Second Stain. July, 1888
19.      The Naval Treaty. Late July, 1888
20.      The Five Orange Pips. Late September, 1888
21.     The Valley of Fear. January 7 – June, 1889
22.      The Man with the Twisted Lip. June 19, 1889
23.      The Engineer’s Thumb. Summer, 1889
24.      The Hound of the Baskervilles. Late September – late November, 1889
25.     The Dying Detective. November 30, 1889
26.      The Blue Carbuncle. December 27, 1889
27.      The Copper Beeches. Early Spring, 1890
28.      The Cardboard Box. August, 1890
29.      The Red-Headed League. October 9, 1890
30.      The Final Problem. April 24 – May 4, 1891

III.    1894-1902. Holmes and Watson are once again sharing rooms at 221B Baker Street, Holmes as a bachelor, Watson as a widower.

31.     The Empty House. April, 1894
32.     The Norwood Builder. August, 1894
33.     The Golden Pince-Nez. Late November, 1894
34.     Charles Augustus Milverton. December 4-14, 1894
35.     The Six Napoleons. 1895
36.     Wisteria Lodge (except for the last scene). Late March, 1895
37.     The Solitary Cyclist. April 23, 1895
38.     Black Peter. Early July, 1895 (The last scene of Wisteria Lodge takes place after this story at the earliest, late September, 1895)
39.     The Three Students. 1895
40.     The Bruce-Partington Plans. November, 1895
41.     The Missing Three-Quarter. February, 1896
42.     The Veiled Lodger. Late 1896
43.     The Abbey Grange. Winter, early 1897
44.     The Devil’s Foot. March 16, 1897
45.     The Dancing Men. Late July – August, 1898
46.     The Retired Colourman. Summer, 1899
47.     The Priory School. May 16, 1901
48.     Shoscombe Old Place. May, 1901
49.     The Red Circle. 1901
50.     The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax. 1901
51.     The Problem of Thor Bridge. October 3, 1901
52.     The Sussex Vampire. November 19-21, 1901
53.     The Three Garridebs. Late June, 1902

IV.  1902-1914. Watson’s second marriage.

54.     The Illustrious Client. September 3, 1902
55.     The Blanched Soldier. January, 1903
56.     The Mazarin Stone. Summer, 1903
57.     The Three Gables. 1903
58.     The Creeping Man. September 6-13, 1903
59.     The Lion’s Mane. Late July, 1907
60.     His Last Bow. August 2, 1914
 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Wow, all done, huh?  Your first post (February 9th) said "over the next couple of months," and it's been two months to the day -- though that's not too surprising since there are 60 stories and there were 28 days and 31 days in February and March, respectively.

Thanks, Chronologist!

 

[Chronology Dude]

I love what you've accomplished here! I am particularly fascinated with your dates for 'The Gloria Scott' and 'The Musgrave Ritual' because you date them based on when Holmes told Watson about them instead of when the events actually took place in the past. No other chronology I have in my 37-chronology database does that. Bravo!

[Carol the Dabbler]

Hey, Chronology Dude -- welcome to Sherlock Forum!  

I'm certainly no original-stories expert, but regarding dating "envelope" stories by when the main action took place vs dating them by when the "envelope" occurred, I can see it either way.

There are also stories like Study in Scarlet and Valley of Fear where the actual action takes place during two or more eras.  I suspect most people tend to chronologize (?) those by the most recent layer, partly because it's most likely to involve Holmes.  Chronologist's system is consistent with that, though Holmes' involvement in an "envelope" is merely as story teller, which may be why many other chronologists don't count it.

By the way, nice to have another Hoosier on board!

 

[Chronology Dude]

Yep, right here on the southside of Indianapolis. A 25-year member of The Illustrious Clients of Indianapolis (the local Sherlock Holmes society).
Two things:
1. Tell me more about this "envelope" system you follow. I'm intrigued, and I don't think I've ever heard anyone else talk about it.
2. Can I include your chronology in my database? I have almost 40 collected timelines from around the world and through time and would be honored to include yours. It's a great piece of work, and it would be a welcome edition.

Keep up the good work. I don't know where you'll go from here, but I'm in.

[Carol the Dabbler]

6 hours ago, Chronology Dude said:

Tell me more about this "envelope" system you follow. I'm intrigued, and I don't think I've ever heard anyone else talk about it.

Hope I didn't confuse you!  It's a term I've come across in discussions of movies and tv shows, where the main story is essentially a flashback.  People are talking about it or following up on it in the current-day part, which makes a sort of "envelope" around the flashback.  Examples would be Little Big Man, the Star Trek two-part episode The Menagerie, and lots more that I'm not thinking of just now.

This sort of thing is also called a "framing" story, which I've just discovered (thanks to the internet) is actually the more common term.  So in Study in Scarlet, the Holmes & Watson parts form a "frame" around Jefferson Hope's back story.

6 hours ago, Chronology Dude said:

Can I include your chronology in my database?

Chronologist was on the forum yesterday, but about half an hour before you made your first post.  If you don't get a response within a few days, you could try sending a private message.

 

[Chronology Dude]

Looking again I realize I should've sent that to Chronologist. I'll give it a few days. Thanks!

[Carol the Dabbler]

Not a problem!

 

[Chronologist]

Go right ahead Chronology Dude. If anything, I'd love it if you posted some of these other chronologies here so I can see where we agree and where we don't.

[Chronology Dude]

Wonderful! And you have a deal. If you want to get a better idea of what I'm doing in my little corner of the Sherlockian world, check out my latest post over at the Historical Sherlock blog.
Enjoy!

[Inspector Baynes]

Hum.  This will be one I work through soon... holding several chronologies from others, always wanting to 'get at it', yet always setting it aside for other more immediate interests. 

I do not wish this to be said of me as I re-engage in the affairs of Doylean and Sherlckian escapades in the world: 
"...the time has come when we feel that we have a right to ask you straight how much you do know of the business."

[CurtTheGamer]

On 2/15/2022 at 1:00 PM, Chronologist said:

There's one bit of annoying censorship trivia you should probably be aware of. All the Holmes short stories were originally published individually in the Strand magazine before being published together in anthology book form. "The Cardboard Box" was the second story in the Memoirs cycle published in the Strand, after "Silver Blaze" and before "The Yellow Face", but it was kept out of most early book editions of Memoirs, due to its exceptionally gruesome content. But "Cardboard" starts off with a neat opening scene where Holmes deduces Watson's silent train of thought and makes a comment that 's a direct reply to what Watson's thinking, as if he's reading Watson's mind. The editors who were too squeamish for "Cardboard" still liked this opening scene enough they decided to put it at the start of "The Resident Patient", which somewhat butchers the opening of "Patient", which now started off as a "hot August evening" (the opening scene from "Cardboard") and then just a few paragraphs later has Watson complain about how bitterly cold this autumn is! The original, unaltered version of "Patient" doesn't have this contradiction. The publishers that left "Carboard" out of Memoirs wouldn't publish it until they placed it as part of His Last Bow.

Unfortunately, the earliest editions of Complete Sherlock Holmes stories would keep "Cardboard" out of Memoirs, stick it in Bow, and keep the butchered opening of "Patient" so that both "Cardboard" and "Patient" had the same identical opening scene. 

Check the Volume II you just got. Is "Cardboard" in His Last Bow? If so, there's a good chance that Volume I will have the butchered version of "Patent" with the same identical opening scene. If that's the case, then for these two stories only, "Cardboard" and "Patient", you should read them in this online version of Memoirs:

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/834/834-h/834-h.htm

It contains "Cardboard" as a part of Memoirs, as it should be, and includes the original, unaltered, unbutchered version of "Patient".

Interestingly enough, my copy of The Complete Sherlock Holmes (the Barnes and Noble edition) actually does include The Cardboard Box as part of His Last Bow rather than as part of Memoirs, but it still includes the original version of The Resident Patient without the duplicate section from The Cardboard Box. I remember being so confused by this back when I read the books in my spare time back in my school years, as the copies in the school library had the butchered version of The Resident Patient. At the time, I just assumed that maybe that the canon explanation was that Dr. Watson was throwing random events from his notes into stories where they didn't necessarily happen at that time, and accidentally put this one into two separate stories. I found out the real explanation with a bit of Googling shortly afterwards. When I bought the Barnes and Noble edition back a month or so ago, this was actually the very first thing I checked in the book. I was kind of disappointed that they placed The Cardboard Box as part of His Last Bow, but very happy that it had the original version of The Resident Patient. The former is a minor point as I can easily flip to Cardboard Box and read that it the order it should be placed in. The latter is the more important point.