When the hell was Watson married in the Canon?
One persistently curious problem with the chronology of our good doctor's manuscripts is the inconsistencies of his year of marriage. This, along with the fact that he never refers to his wife by name after "The Sign of Four", has led many to, within reason, speculate that Watson has been married a grand total of THREE times. Remember, he marries again in the early 20th century, as Holmes tells us in "The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier".
In "A Scandal in Bohemia", the first short story and the first story to occur after "The Sign of Four" and his engagement to Mary Morstan, the year is 1888 and he is still somewhat of a newlywed. From the story after next, "A Case of Identity", which occurs in 1888, Watson is out of Baker Street and presumably married.
In "The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor", we are just a few weeks off from his impending marriage. He says the scandal of this story is four years old. The story was published in 1892, so we can assume that the year was about 1888. Watson alludes to "autumnal winds", so he was married sometime in the autumn months, perhaps.
"The Man With the Twisted Lip" occurs in June 1889, and Watson is comfortably settled in wedlock, and is well familiar with his wife's sociability and friends, given his remarks after Kate Whitney's visitation.
However, problems start for us in "The Five Orange Pips", when the year is decidedly 1887 and Watson is somehow married. Then, in "The Engineer's Thumb", Watson tells us it is the summer of 1889, "not long after my marriage".
And then, quite mysteriously and without any notice, he is back lodging in Baker Street sometime in 1890 at the very least, per "The Copper Beeches". I make this inference of the year by the reference made in the story to the previous case of "The Blue Carbuncle", which had occurred in December 1889. (I infer the date of THAT story from references in it to other cases of '89).
His wife appears to have disappeared. And then, with Holmes's return in "The Empty House" in 1894, we learn that Watson has had a personal loss. Is it possible Watson was separated from his wife Mary, and she died perhaps after a reconciliation? Or did Watson leave Mary Morstan sometime in early 1890, when he temporarily lodged with Holmes, and eventually take up with a woman, who then died sometime before 1894?
Watson, what on earth?! I have some inkling that he lead an unhappy union with Mary -- I will write up on this soon -- so I believe he either divorced or she died and no mention was made, then he took up with another woman, potentially married her, and lost her rather quickly during The Hiatus years of 91-94.
annaxmalina
jacobvanloon
janainaart
stormborns
germansingergirl
