The city of Plymouth is situated on the south-west coast of Devon (total population is approximately 244,000).  It overlooks one of Europe's largest natural harbours, Plymouth Sound, and is sited between the mouths of the rivers Plym and Tamar.  The city of Plymouth was founded on 1st November 1914, following the amalgamation of the three towns, Plymouth, Devonport and East Stonehouse.  The area has a rich maritime heritage and is still home to the largest operational naval base in Western Europe.  During 1941, extensive areas of Plymouth were damaged by the Luftwaffe in the Blitz.

Between 1876 and 1881, Arthur Conan Doyle (hereafter ACD) attended Edinburgh University Medical School.  During that time, he was taught by Dr. Joseph Bell, upon whom the character Sherlock Holmes was based.  In 1879, ACD met and befriended a final year medical student called George Turnavine Budd (hereafter GTB).  The latter man belonged to an influential family of largely Devon-born physicians and perhaps crucially, was some four years older than ACD.

Between April and June 1882, GTB employed the newly qualified ACD as a junior medical partner at his surgery in Durnford Street, in the affluent town of East Stonehouse (now a district of Plymouth).  During their seven week partnership, ACD resided with GTB and his young wife in a splendid apartment at Elliot Terrace that overlooks Plymouth Sound.  However, ACD soon became concerned about his partner’s unorthodox approach to medicine and also doubted whether he could earn a living. 

During June 1882, GTB and ACD dissolved their partnership.  ACD decided to open his own surgery and "went prospecting to Tavistock in Devon but could not see anything to suit".  On-route, he stopped at a public house in Roborough.  This excursion inspired him to write an article entitled Dry Plates on a Wet Moor that was published in The British Journal of Photography in November 1882.  The “genius” referred to in this article is probably GTB, who also appears very thinly disguised in a short story entitled Crabbe’s Practice (1884).  In 1892, ACD wrote a Sherlock Holmes story entitled The Adventure of Silver Blaze that is set about Tavistock.  Later, ACD referred to GTB as ‘Dr James Cullingworth’ in two books entitled The Stark Munro Letters (1895) and Memories and Adventures (1924).

Around 24th June 1882, ACD departed from Plymouth aboard a steamship that was bound for Portsmouth in Hampshire.  He later recalled that he was armed with only £10 in his pocket and a “devil-may-care optimism of youth as to the future”.  By 1st July 1882, ACD had opened a practice at 1, Bush Villas, Elm Grove, Southsea.  However, business was often slow and so he turned increasingly to writing in order to supplement his income.

On the evening of 18th November 1909, ACD returned to Plymouth to deliver a lecture at the Guildhall that was entitled The Congo Atrocity.  He was part of a deputation from the Congo Reform Association that sought to publicise the ill treatment of the Congolese population by King Leopold II of Belgium.  ACD was accompanied by a founding member, Edmund Dene Morel, a journalist, author and socialist politician.  The meeting was called at the behest of John Yeo, the then Mayor of Plymouth, who also presided.  It was well attended and ACD’s lecture was warmly received.  He was extended a vote of thanks by the then Mayor of Devonport, William Littleton.

Around the summer of 1910, ACD was elected the captain of a Marylebone Cricket Club team that participated in several successive annual cricket tours of Devon.  Later, he recalled that during these tours, he played various local teams including Plymouth, Exeter and Devonshire.

During 1912, ACD had a serialized story entitled The Lost World published in The Strand Magazine.  It features a larger than-life character called Professor George Challenger.  It is widely agreed that Challenger is modelled upon Professor William Rutherford who taught both GTB and ACD at Edinburgh University.  However, it is likely that ACD also used elements of GTB's personality for this character (as well as the Christian name).  Certainly, each was predisposed to violent abruptness and scientific egoism.  Interestingly, ACD received help for the story from the South American explorer, Percy Fawcett.  Between 1882 and 1886, Fawcett attended Newton Abbot Proprietary College along with Bertram Fletcher Robinson.  In 1897, Fletcher Robinson co-authored a book entitled Football with GTB's brother, James Budd.  There are striking similarities between Fletcher Robinson and the novel's narrator, Edward Malone.

On 22nd February 1923, ACD returned to Plymouth for the final time and stayed at the Grand Hotel.  The following evening, he delivered a lecture at the Guildhall that was entitled The New Revelation.  This meeting was presided over by one W. H. Watkins on behalf of Solomon Stephens, the then Mayor of Plymouth.  It is interesting to note that the Grand Hotel is located next to Elliot Terrace where ACD had resided with GTB during 1882 (see below).  

In November 1923, ACD had an article entitled My First Experiences in Practice published in The Strand Magazine.  In October 1924, a slightly revised version of this article was republished as the sixth chapter of his autobiography entitled Memories and Adventures (London: Hodder & Stoughton).  In each case, ACD used the pseudonym ‘Dr. James Cullingworth’ to refer to GTB, despite the fact that his former friend and senior partner had died some 35 years before.  It appears that ACD adopted this approach in order to protect the reputation of GTB's descendents.  

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

By Paul Spiring © 2008.