Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born to a strict Irish- Catholic family in Edinburg, Scotland on May 22, 1859 (Carr 5). His father’s name was Charles Doyle, and his mother was Mary Foley (Carr 4). Arthur was considered the idol of his mother’s heart for nothing had seemed to trouble her since his birth (Carr 5). She adored Arthur who, in turn, also greatly adored her (Carr 7). Mary was a well educated woman who loved to tell her son outlandish stories that would later spark his writing career (“Arthur Conan Doyle Biography Doctor Journalist, Author (1859-1930)”). His father, Charles, wanted to bring him up to be a successful businessman and a sound mathematician, but Arthur loath arithmathis. He greatly favoured books and literature over arithmetics as his earliest admiration among authors, Captain Mayne Reid of the buffaloes and the …show more content…
Even if he was well-respected in the art world, Charles has had a life-long drinking problem and depression that put him out of work and placed him in mental hospitals. Though in his earlier stages, Charles didn’t physically abandon them, but mentally he did. This caused their mother to be, mentally and later physically, a single parent. Though Arthur was affected by his father’s condition, he was also proud of him (“Conan Doyle Info”). At the age of 9, he was sent off to a jesuit preparatory school in England at Hodder Place, Stonyhurst from 1868 to 1870. Studying at Stonyhurst College for the next five years, he found boarding school brutal for he was bullied by his classmates and hated punishment practiced by the school against the students. In time, he found peace in storytelling and gained an audience amongst younger students. Arthur graduated from Stonyhurst College in 1876. His parents thought that he would follow in the family’s footsteps and study art, but he surprised them when he went for a medical degree at the University of Edinburgh