Where Holmes and Watson were in 1895 - hiding from the Oscar Wilde trials
It is a truth universally acknowledged that [I should really stop quoting Pride and Prejudice immediately…] Holmes’s and Watson’s leaving London in The Three Students is connected with the Oscar Wilde trials. Yet 3STU is not the only story set in 1895. To conclusively say that they were in reality doing their best to avoid the public eye the other three stories have to be considered too. 31 of the 60 stories are set in Baker Street, which makes the setting of the 1895 stories interesting…
The Solitary Cyclist: late April
On referring to my note-book for the year 1895 I find that it was upon Saturday, the 23rd of April, that we first heard of Miss Violet Smith. Her visit was, I remember, extremely unwelcome to Holmes […]
I should be none the worse for a quiet, peaceful day in the country, and I am inclined to run down this afternoon and test one or two theories which I have formed.” […]
A rainy night had been followed by a glorious morning, and the heath-covered country-side with the glowing clumps of flowering gorse seemed all the more beautiful to eyes which were weary of the duns and drabs and slate-greys of London. Holmes and I walked along the broad, sandy road inhaling the fresh morning air, and rejoicing in the music of the birds and the fresh breath of the spring.
That is 1) ridiculously romantic and 2) proof that they were indeed quite keen on not seeing anyone (Holmes initially wanted to reject the client and changed his mind when it became clear that the case was going to be in the country, which then prompted several excursions there).
The Three Students: late April/early May
It was in the year ‘95 that a combination of events, into which I need not enter, caused Mr. Sherlock Holmes and myself to spend some weeks in one of our great University towns […] It will be obvious that any details which would help the reader to exactly identify the college or the criminal would be injudicious and offensive. So painful a scandal may well be allowed to die out. With due discretion the incident itself may, however, be described, since it serves to illustrate some of those qualities for which my friend was remarkable. I will endeavour in my statement to avoid such terms as would serve to limit the events to any particular place, or give a clue as to the people concerned.
Or to give a clue as to what really happened. In the year 1895 there were the Oscar Wilde trials, which caused a great many men who were more or less openly gay to “go on holiday” for a few months. Universities were supposed to be more progressive than cities: for example, Oscar Wilde met Robbie Ross at uni. The “painful scandal” Watson is talking about here is about three students who are meant to sit a Greek exam, but one of them cheats. That’s not a scandal: it is basically impossible to do perfectly in a Greek exam. This means this: they had to flee from London because of the public awareness the spectacular trials had caused and went to a friend of Holmes’s. But of course Watson could not say it like that, so he had to invent a virtually new case.
The fact that even though Holmes is clearly everything but thrilled at being anywhere but Baker Street, he is not in London anyway, is fairly obvious: My friend’s temper had not improved since he had been deprived of the congenial surroundings of Baker Street. Without his scrap-books, his chemicals, and his homely untidiness, he was an uncomfortable man.
This is important because 3STU is not the only case where Holmes and Watson leave London for a prolonged period of time. What are they doing in that “university town”? The given reason (research into old charters) is more than suspicious. Yet if you consider the circumstances of the Oscar Wilde trials in April and May it becomes clear that the best thing to do if the slightest rumour about you existed, was to flee. And given Watson’s writing, such rumours must have circulated.
Another suggestive quotation: The exercise consists of half a chapter of Thucydides. The exam papers that are left on the professor’s desk are taken from Thucydides, probably by his most famous work on the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides was a Athenian historian who lived in the 5th century BC and is known for being an analyst and “scientific” writer – he credits humans with their actions, not the gods. Furthermore, Athens (the most “glorious” city in Greece) was his home, but he was exiled for something that was not his fault. Does this sound like someone? Holmes, maybe? Here, Watson had to choose an author, so he chose one who mirrors Holmes.
Moreover, Watson will not identify the town even ten years later: a clear sign that they had to protect somebody – and their hiding place.
It starts with a few clues of exactly how Watson sees Holmes: “I have never known my friend to be in better form, both mental and physical, than in the year ‘95.” and “Holmes, however, like all great artists, lived for his art’s sake” (come on, sound even more like Oscar Wilde – oh, not possible, I understand…). He also calls the year “memorable”, which it must have been – Holmes and Watson spent a nice part of it most purposefully not in London, i.e. hiding somewhere.
The story is set in early July. Just as a reminder, Wilde lost his third trial against the Crown on May 25, and everybody involved who had not made his way to the country or continent yet or had returned like Holmes and Watson, did so then. Initially, Watson is at home in Baker Street, but Holmes is not: my friend had been absent so often and so long from our lodgings, which implies that even though Holmes has to be in London for some reason, he does his best in order not to be available or even findable. Watson even tells us explicitly that and exactly how Holmes is hiding: Holmes was working somewhere under one of the numerous disguises and names with which he concealed his own formidable identity. He had at least five small refuges in different parts of London, in which he was able to change his personality.
But what other 1895 cases does Watson refer to?
In this memorable year ’95, a curious and incongruous succession of cases had engaged his attention, ranging from his famous investigation of the sudden death of Cardinal Tosca (ITALY)–an inquiry which was carried out by him at the express desire of His Holiness the Pope–down to his arrest of Wilson, the notorious canary-trainer, which removed a plague-spot from the East End of London (UNSAVOURY PART OF LONDON, and according to Google Maps SIX MILES from 221b Baker Street). Close on the heels of these two famous cases came the tragedy of Woodman’s Lee, and the very obscure circumstances which surrounded the death of Captain Peter Carey (IN THE COUNTRY). No record of the doings of Mr. Sherlock Holmes would be complete which did not include some account of this very unusual affair.
He is never at home or somewhere reachable…
The whole thing ends with this line from Holmes: “If you want me for the trial, my address and that of Watson will be somewhere in Norway – I’ll send particulars later.” Apart from the pun on the trial, this mostly shows that Holmes is taking the chance of leaving the country, apparently “for a case”, for a very long time – he had virtually no case-connected reason to go to Norway (he could have sent wires to clear up the loose strands, as he always does, and anyway Norway is not important for the case), but Norway is far enough from London to be safe, is it not? To put it in a nutshell, the case begins with Holmes hiding and ends with Holmes and Watson leaving the country on a trip that will mean that they will not be traceable for a while – Holmes’s detective friend (and he does like Hopkins) only gets a “promise for later”.
The Bruce-Partington Plans: November
Watson begins the narrative with a statement of the date: “in the third week of November, in the year 1895”, and goes on to clarify that he and Holmes have not left the flat for four days, asserting that this happened because of the “dense yellow fog”. Translation: it has been six months since Oscar Wilde’s trials, the waters have mostly calmed down, but it would still be unwise to be too noticeable to the outside world, and Holmes and Watson are hiding. Indeed, so much so that only Jupiter leaving his orbit (i.e. Brother Mycroft) can drag them out of Baker Street. This impression is reinforced by the association of the colour yellow with caution – they simply cannot risk being overly visible, but are in Baker Street because everything else (given Holmes’s famous habits) would attract even more attention.
In conclusion, Holmes and Watson do their best not to be where people could find them throughout the year 1895, starting comparatively “small” in The Solitary Cyclist, where the situation is not too dangerous yet and they thus still officially live in Baker Street, to the full-out flight in The Three Students, which is set exactly during the most important trial, over the slightly less conspicuous “I’m out working” of Black Peter, which ends with a long holiday in Norway for Holmes and Watson, to lying low in 221b in order not to avoid suspicion and trying not to appear in public at all. Watson, you are terrible at hiding evidence in your stories…
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