I agree with the speculations fellow members have put forward regarding
Holmes' financial side of his detective work. I think it may reflect the
fact that in some sense Doyle saw his creation as a true 'amateur' as in the
old cricketing days when the whole of the English team were (unpaid)
'amateurs' rather than the paid professionals of today. It is difficult to
remember in our present era where money is utterly central to everything and
everytone that in Victorian times a 'gentleman' did not discuss money, and I
think holmes would have been very embarrassed to ask outright for a fee.
Perhaps his good friend the Doctor took care of that side most of the time,
sending invoices to clients!?


-----Original Message-----
From: SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia@...
[mailto:SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia@...] On Behalf Of sridhar
C
Sent: 04 April 2006 15:45
To: SherlockHolmesSocietyofIndia@...
Subject: Re: [sherlock holmes society of india] On Holmes's and Watson's
financial positions

Dear SHians,

What Faisal here has said ought to have been puzzling me ever since I
began reading the Canon, but it has not. Only goes to show how one can just
see and not observe. But perhaps, each new adventure was so interesting that
I could scarcely let my attention wander to such questions! Good point,
Faisal.

Holmes' abilities indeed generally seem to reach the public through mainly
2 ways. One is through the papers when, on occasion, the Yard demeans itself
by saying that they were assisted in the matter by SH. At other times, it is
generally a client who, by word of mouth, passes on the 'goods' to
friends/relations/colleagues.

As to why Holmes didn't claim credit (or cash) in several cases, is
perhaps a bit like...well take an example. Say there is a person (X) who
would like to get married. He, however, does not want to advertise his
desire in the papers or the Net or in any other known media source for such
matters. But he does definitely want to get married. When asked he says,
"I'm sure the right girl will come to me and ask me to marry her." Now he is
not in any way egoistic or crazy or silly. He just does not want to
advertise. Maybe he has trust/faith enough in his friends and/or relations
to enable him to find the suitable life companion.

Now, I don't know if the above was clear enough or was a suitable enough
example, but it might, just might, explain the curious question of Holmes
and Publicity (or not).


Sridhar


faisal mujeeb <faisal_mujeeb@...> wrote:
Dear Sherlockians,
The topic being discussed this
month,"Holmes and Watson's financial status",is
intriguing enough.While all have put forth their views
regarding the non materialistic aspect of Holmes
approach to his profession,I would also like to bring
another thing to your notice.
It is indeed common knowledge that
Holmes seldom demanded a fee for his invaluable
services,but for the occasional exception like in "The
Adventure of The Priory School".Holmes often says that
the work itself is its reward.But at the same time we
have also seen him refuse to accept any credit in
certain cases like 'The Adventure of the Empty House'
and 'The Adventure of the Norwood Builder'.Though it
is modest of him to do such a thing,dont you think it
would have served him better to have acknowledged his
services in such cases.If not anything it would have
only brought him more cases!!The work he so much
yearns for!
Indeed there is the fact that a MASTER
LIKE HOLMES WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER OFF EVEN WITHOUT
ANY PUBLICITY!!I only thought of bringing the point to
the notice of all you avid fans of Holmes.What say?

YOURS SINCERELY,
FAISAL ABDUL MUJEEB
--- pinaki roy <monkaroy@...> wrote:


---------------------------------
Dear Sherlockians,


I often wonder:
what are the precise financial statuses of Sherlock
Holmes and John Hamish Watson? Both are not,
identifiably, well-off when they are first introduced
to each other at the biochemical laboratory of Saint
Bartholomew's Hospital, London in "A Study in
Scarlet": Watson is confessedly with "an income of
eleven shillings and six pence a day", and one can
guess the monetary reserves a biochemical student has
when he cannot rent a flat alone and wants to share it
with one as impoverished as Watson. Over the years,
however, their economic affluence increases. Watson
becomes a busy, practising doctor and Holmes a private
investigator who is not averse to charging hefty fees
from his aristocratic clients. As far as my
interpretations are concerned: viewed in the Marxist
perspective, both Holmes and Watson initially and
finally belong to the proletariat, with an ambiguous
societal status in the years between. In the final
years, Holmes turns
to bee-farming, a proletarian occupation, whereas the
physician, who is first an ex-armyman, is left without
a practice. Incidentally, Holmes's deerstalker also
puts him in the proletarian group. However, the level
of financial resources these two have had accumulated
is revealed in Holmes's usage of the telephone in "The
Adventure of the Three Garridebs" (a rarity but for
the affluent in the 1920s) (Howard K. Elcock's
illustration of the investigator with the phone has
become famous) and his reference to Watson's car in
"His Last Bow" during his conversation with Martha.
And, I wonder whether Holmes's obsession with the
smoking pipe - he is illustrated everywhere with an
oversized one - does not transform the very pipe into
a phallic symbol: that of Holmes's aggressive
masculinity. What do the esteemed Sherlockians have to
say on this?

In
"The Last Bow", Holmes seems to have returned from his
self-imposed exile in Sussex to get involved in active
investigation again. Interestingly, William S.
Baring-Gould, in the second volume of "The Annotated
Sherlock Holmes" (New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1967)
explains that the detective allowed Prime Minister
Herbert Henry Asquith (premiership - 1908-1916) to
persuade him to forsake his preoccupation with the
bee-farming and return to active duty (pp. 801).

Thanking you,

(Pinaki Roy)


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