Where did Arthur Conan Doyle get his idea for Sherlock Holmes?

Answer 1

Arthur Conan Doyle was inspired by one of his old masters in university. He was called Joseph Bell. Doyle admired Bell immensely for his cool attitude, razor-sharp mind and brilliant powers of deduction. Bell becamse Holmes, and Doyle became Watson. But Holmes' attire was based on someone else, the illustrator's younger brother.

Answer 2

It was a Doctor Bell. Doyle went to medical school where Dr Bell taught. Doyle was fascinated that Dr Bell could logically deduce so much information about a patient. Dr Bell could tell, with high accuracy, the occupation of a patient by noting callouses on a particular part of a thumb, a way of wearing an article of clothing, a wear spot in the trousers, and other seemingly trivial details. This information was useful in the diagnosis of disease or injury.

Doyle never completed Med school, but immortalized the doctor as the character Sherlock Holmes. Perhaps the sidekick Dr Watson is intended to be Doyle himself.

Answer 3

Doyle was said to have based Holmes after Dr. Joseph Bell, for whom Doyle had worked as a clerk at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. Like Holmes, Bell was noted for drawing large conclusions from the smallest observations. Sir Henry Littlejohn, Lecturer on Forensic Medicine and Public Health at the Royal College of Surgeons, is also cited as a source for Holmes. Littlejohn served as Police Surgeon and Medical Officer of Health of Edinburgh, providing for Doyle a link between medical investigation and the detection of crime.

Answer 4

Arthur Conan Doyle got his inspiration from a man called Dr. Joseph Bell who was his professor when he was in school.§Dr. Joseph Bell.