BLAN

[mafief]

BLAN
The Adventure of Blanched Soldier
The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes
Words: 7788
Where was Watson living? With his wife (second wife?)
Pre/Post Reichenbach (May 1891)? Post. January 1903

Characters:
Sherlock Holmes
John Watson (mentioned, not in it)
Mr. James M. Dodd (Jimmie)
Colonel Emsworth (Emsworth the Crimean V. C.)
Lance-Corporal Godfrey Emsworth
Godfrey Emsworth’s mother
Ralph, the butler
the butler’s wife and Godfrey’s nurse
station-master (mentioned)
innkeeper (mentioned)
Mr. Kent (surgeon)
Baldy Simpson
Anderson
Sir James Saunders

Locations:
221B Baker Street
Throgmorton Street (near Threadneedle street! A location in BERY)
Tuxbury Old Park, near Bedford (30-60 min north of London)
Diamond Hill outside-Pretoria (mentioned)
Buffelsspruit, outside Pretoria, on the Eastern railway line (mentioned)
Eustonn station

Other crimes/criminals/cases mentioned:
Finishing up Abbey School, in which the Duke of Greyminster (Priory School and the Duke of Holderness?)
commission from the Sultan of Turkey
“I was able once to do him a professional service, and he is ready to advise as a friend rather than as a specialist. His name is Sir James Saunders."

Other studies mentioned:

Questions about the story
“Mr. James M. Dodd seemed somewhat at a loss how to begin the interview”
- That doesn’t make sense. Why would he begin the interview when Holmes is interviewing him?

Boer War – Second Boer War (11 October 1899 and ended on 31 May 1902)
- What is a Boer?
- “January, 1903, just after the conclusion of the Boer War” – It ended in May 31, 1902…

Middlesex Corps?

Imperial Yeomanry?

“his handkerchief in his sleeve instead of in his pocket” This was a habit for someone in the military?

“As to Middlesex, your card has already shown me that you are a stockbroker from Throgmorton Street.” What does Middlesex have to do with Throgmorton St? Throgmorton is in City of London (London proper? Maybe?)

Throgmorton St and Threadneedle St – is this in the financial district? Does London have a financial district?

Trap = carriage?

“half-timbered Elizabethan foundation and ending in a Victorian portico”?

“Godfrey’s nurse” – From what I understand, it was not fashionable for women of means to nurse their children. This really makes no sense to me as the safest source of food for the infants would be the mom’s breastmilk.

smoky skin?

Veldt?

Took a week after the initial interview to go to Tuxbury Old Park

“We were clearing brother Boer”

Hansen’s disease (Leprosy) links:
- https://www.cdc.gov/leprosy/transmission/index.html
- http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs101/en/
- https://www.omicsonline.org/belgium/hansens-disease-hd-leprosy-peer-reviewed-pdf-ppt-articles/

"I have the ordinary knowledge of the educated medical man,"
- So, he should be called Dr. Kent, not Mr. Kent. Right?


Other things about Holmes
Backhanded compliments (See first paragraph)

Grudgingly admits Watson is right about how to tell a story.

“The good Watson had at that time deserted me for a wife, the only selfish action which I can recall in our association.”

“sit with my back to the window and to place my visitors in the opposite chair, where the light falls full upon them”

Kept a diary, record, of when cases took place

abnormally acute set of senses

“And here it is that I miss my Watson. By cunning questions and ejaculations of wonder he could elevate my simple art, which is but systematized common sense, into a prodigy.” Ah ha! Appreciation for Watson’s writing.


Other things about Watson
“worried [Holmes] to write an experience of [his] own”

Modest

“The good Watson had at that time deserted me for a wife…”
- Third marriage according to Baring-Gould
- I’m generally of the opinion that there was only one wife (Mary) but exploring why Watson would leave him after Reichenbach would be interesting/sad

Comments

[smallhobbit]

Right. *rolls up sleeves*

Firstly, 'Watson had left me for a wife'. I am firmly of the opinion Watson and Lestrade moved in together. Clearly, this could not be advertised as such, which was why Holmes speaks of the 'wife.' The Private Journal of Dr Watson which I wrote for Round 5 will give further details - Chapters 62 onwards, although there are hints in the earlier chapters.

Mr. James M. Dodd seemed somewhat at a loss how to begin the interview - Holmes is sitting quietly waiting for Dodd to say something and explain why he has come, which is difficult for Dodd.

A Boer was an Afrikaans speaking descendant of the original Dutch settlers in South Africa. The Boer War was an attempt by the British government to take over the parts of South Africa held by the Boers. The Veldt is the large area of open grassland in the country. Pretoria is the capital of South Africa and where the peace treaty for the Boar War was signed. Clearing brother Boer means forcing them to leave their lands.

Six months after the end of the war isn't particularly a long time - especially given how long it would take the troops to return, since they would need to travel by sea.

Imperial Yeomanry were a volunteer cavalry regiment formed specifically to fight in the Boer War. The Middlesex Corps was part of this - formed by men from Middlesex.

The City of London was the original boundary of London. It's a very small part of what is now the city, and is sometimes referred to as 'the square mile' which gives you an idea of the size. Up until recently this was the big financial district, containing the Bank of England, as well as all the other major financial institutions. It still has its own police force, which is not part of the Metropolitan Police (Met police).

As you can tell from street names, like Threadneedle Street, in medieval times this would have been the location of the tradesmen's guilds. London has grown considerably since this time.

Middlesex is a county, (the administrative district). London north of the Thames was in Middlesex, south of the Thames was in Surrey.

Yes, a trap would be a small horse drawn carriage. (Small in size and often drawn by a small horse or pony.)

The house had initially built in Elizabethan times - around 1580, when the wooden frame of the building would be left exposed and the spaces between the timbers were filled with
plaster, brick or stone. About three hundred years later a fancy entrance for the front door had been added on.

Kent is a surgeon. Whilst a medical practitioners he would have been Dr Kent, when he became a surgeon he would then be Mr Kent.

[mafief]

Might as well interpret it this way since there are lots of different ways to interpret the canon and timeline and whoever you want to ship. For Lestrade, that would be very gutsy of him. How would it not raise suspicions when Watson moving in with him?

Spent some time googling City of London. Lots of neat stuff!

The Middlesex comment and the rest of it makes more sense now. :)

[smallhobbit]

Watson and Lestrade would just be two gentlemen taking rooms together, just as Holmes and Watson did. And no-one else would know.