William Stuart Baring-Gould (1913–10 Aug 1967) was a noted

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

scholar, best known as the author of the influential 1962 fictional biography, '' Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street: A Life of the World's First Consulting Detective''.

Biography

He was a grandson of

Sabine Baring-Gould Sabine Baring-Gould ( ; 28 January 1834 – 2 January 1924) of Lew Trenchard in Devon, England, was an Anglican priest, hagiographer, antiquarian, novelist, folk song collector and eclectic scholar. His bibliography consists of more than 1,240 ...

He married Lucile "Ceil" Marguerite Moody in 1937. He was creative director of ''Time'' magazine's circulation and corporate education departments from 1937 until his death.

Writing

In 1955, Baring-Gould privately published ''The Chronological Holmes'', an attempt to lay out, in chronological order, all the events alluded to in the Sherlock Holmes stories. Three years later, Baring-Gould wrote ''The Annotated Mother Goose: Nursery Rhymes Old and New, Arranged and Explained'', with his wife, Lucile "Ceil" Baring-Gould. The book provides a wealth of information about nursery rhymes, and includes often-banned bawdy rhymes. In 1967, Baring-Gould published '' The Annotated Sherlock Holmes'', an annotated edition of the Sherlock Holmes canon. Baring-Gould also wrote ''The Lure of the Limerick'' a study of the history and allure of limericks; it included a collection of limericks, arranged alphabetically, and a bibliography''; and Nero Wolfe of West Thirty-fifth Street: The life and times of America's largest private detective'', a fictional biography of

Rex Stout Rex Todhunter Stout (; December 1, 1886 – October 27, 1975) was an American writer noted for his detective fiction. His best-known characters are the detective Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin, who were featured in 33 novels and ...

's detective character

Nero Wolfe Nero Wolfe is a brilliant, obese and eccentric fictional armchair detective created in 1934 by American mystery writer Rex Stout. Wolfe was born in Montenegro and keeps his past murky. He lives in a luxurious brownstone on West 35th Street in Ne ...

; in this book, Baring-Gould popularised the theory that Wolfe was the son of Sherlock Holmes and

Irene Adler Irene Adler is a fictional character in the Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A former opera singer and actress, she was featured in the short story " A Scandal in Bohemia", published in July 1891. Adler is one of the ...

. The two books were published posthumously, in 1968 and 1969, respectively.

Major works

* ''The Chronological Holmes'', 1955 (with revisions from an earlier edition that appeared in ''

The Baker Street Journal ''The Baker Street Journal'' is a quarterly journal devoted to Sherlockiana published by The Baker Street Irregulars. Leslie S. Klinger has called it "the leading publication" in the study of Sherlock Holmes. History After the formation of The B ...

'' in 1948) * ''

Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street ''Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street: A Life of the World's First Consulting Detective'' is a 1962 novel by William S. Baring-Gould. The book purports to be a biography of Sherlock Holmes. It is considered to be the "definitive" biography of Sherloc ...

'', 1962 * ''The Annotated Sherlock Holmes'', 1967 * ''The Lure of the Limerick'', Panther Books, London, 1968 * ''Nero Wolfe of West Thirty-Fifth Street'', 1969

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baring-Gould, William S. 1913 births 1967 deaths Sherlock Holmes scholars 20th-century English non-fiction writers 20th-century English male writers English male non-fiction writers William S. Time (magazine) people