Birth in Edinburgh of Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, Creator of Sherlock Holmes
May 22, 1859
Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle is born in Edinburgh on May 22, 1859, the eldest of ten children born to Irish parents, Charles Doyle and Mary Foley. A trained physician, he would go on to achieve global fame as the creator of Sherlock Holmes, one of literature’s most enduring and iconic detectives. Doyle’s Irish heritage and upbringing in a creative, if financially troubled, household influenced both his worldview and his prolific literary output, which spanned detective fiction, historical novels, science fiction, and spiritualist writings.