When you think of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle you think of Sherlock Holmes, but in fact, his life was so much more interesting than the character he created. Arthur Conan Doyle was born on May 22, 1859, to Charles Altamont Doyle and Mary Foley Doyle in the Edinburgh United Kingdom. Doyle was the second child born of 10 children (Encyclopedia Britannica). He had an unstable childhood. His father was chronically ill and had a hard time supporting the family.(University of Minnesota) Doyle’s mother instilled a love of romances and the English code of honor in him (Victorian reading project). This would serve him later in life in his writing. Once his father died, he was supported by wealthy uncles. He was raised as a Catholic, but that would change …show more content…
At the University he excelled at sports but found lectures boring (Victorian reading project). This changed when he met Dr. Joseph Bell. Dr. Bell was considered the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes, Doyle’s most famous character. He taught Doyle the importance of observation (Encyclopedia Britannica). He started writing short stories as a way of supporting himself in school. Even at a young age, Doyle took any opportunity to travel (Victorian reading project). In 1887, the first Sherlock Holmes book was written called A Study in Scarlet (University of Minnesota). Through his studies and travels, he came to turn his back on his Catholic religion and his uncles turned their backs on him. For the first time in his life, he was forced to make his own way in the world (Victorian reading project). He used his medical degree to become an MD and started a medical practice with a friend, but found it difficult and opened his own practice (Victorian reading project). He was not very successful and began writing again. After 5 short stories about Holmes, he became bored with his most famous character. He did eventually kill Holmes off in order to spend more time on writing his historical stories, but the public outrage was great (University of