John Hamish Watson, MD or The Mystery of the Carried Gun

Among readers of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, there has always been speculation about the identity of Dr. Watson’s mentioned but never named “service revolver”^[1] and that has dovetailed with my interest in Victorian armament.  So I have put together a list of possible suspects.  Let me say I am by no means a sage on Holmesian literature and the study of British firearms of the Victorian period is a tangled web at best.  Further, the study of British 19^th century cartridges and manufactures is even more fraught with confusion.  But first, let me set out some pertinent information about our esteemed Dr. Watson.  Self-depreciating, Watson seldom talked about himself outside of the chronicled adventures with Holmes, so we have do a little detective work ourselves. 

We find out in A Study in Scarlet, by Arthur Conan Doyle (written 1886, pub 1887) that Watson got his medical degree in 1878 and at some point afterward he joined the British army (rank unknown), at some time and then attached to the 66^th Berkshire Regiment of Foot (no doubt in the capacity as doctor).  He was wounded during the 2^nd Anglo-Afghan War at the Battle of Maiwand (27 July 1880).  Doyle may have also lumped the catastrophic retreat to Kandahar into the action, but probably not the subsequent  Battle of Kandahar and the relief action itself.  Dr. Watson survived the battle and his wound, and he recuperated for a few months (presumably in India or possibly South Africa) before returning from overseas to London and leaving the army.  That would make it at least 1881 or so, (with travel time added) that Watson meets Holmes in London, presuming they met fairly soon after his arrival.  Another indicator of the time frame is that the ever-perceptive Holmes did not comment on Dr. Watson’s wound so it must have fully healed, nor did Watson suggest it slowed him down in the least during A Study in Scarlet, indicating a full recovery.

As a side note, Dr. Watson was not the bungling second-rater or stooge as depicted on the stage and in later films^[2], but a battle-hardened veteran and combat doctor, exposed to the grueling life on the frontier as well as having seen (and treated) casualties and a horrific battle, retreat, siege, battle again and relief, not seen since the Sepoy Mutiny (or the earlier 1^st Afghan War) just a generation previously.  He survived a wound and was willing to go on to adventures with his new-found friend and later roommate, Sherlock Holmes, about a year after these traumatic events.  Watson’s toughness, resourcefulness, and overall pluck were overshadowed by his reluctance to put himself forward when writing these stories.  Consider that Watson never put himself forward in the Holmsian screeds nor even wrote a memoir about horrific the Battle of Maiwand, so that you never see the real Dr. Watson.  But if you read a bit about the battle and the 66^th you might get the idea of the level of carnage and bravery of the action.

Back to our story.  If you presume that Watson carried his standard issue pistol from Afghanistan in at least the first few adventures, then it would probably be the approved and issued Adams Mk III in .450 caliber.  It was a large-framed, bulky military holster revolver and not conducive to concealed carry necessary for a detective, nor would it fit well into all but the largest overcoat pocket.  The Mark III was directly descended from the venerable percussion revolver of Sepoy Mutiny and Crimean War fame, with numerous upgrades such over the years such as the action being modified from double action only to a double action/single action mechanism and to take metallic cartridges.  This much-modified product of years of tinkering and the final product, the Adams Mk III was finally declared obsolete for the British Army in 1882.  The replacing gun was nearly as bulky, the Enfield revolver in 1882, which was replaced again, this time by the Webley Mk I in 1887, a much more compact and modern gun.  The Webley series of revolvers continued to serve Britain for decades. 

However, because many British officers had the option to choose and purchase their own pistols, it might have been another weapon than the official Adams Mk III.  Also, seeing that Watson, having been an ex-military man and a modern detective, he might have just purchased a newer, more state-of-the-art gun every time a useful new model came out to keep up with technology.  So it would not be a single gun, but a suite of revolvers suited to specific purposes (like concealment) used by Dr. Watson over the years, such as the Webley R.I.C or a Webley Bulldog, which were not British military issue service guns, but quite popular officer purchase weapons and for carry with police and private individuals.  The Royal Irish Constabulary (R.I.C.) was a popular British police issue gun and there were and many copies were made on the Continent as well.  Yes, London Police carried guns and they had been armed off and on since 1883, with 821 receiving firearms instruction that year.   Even earlier, police were irregularly armed over the previous decades and even earlier they carried a light sword as well as a brace of flintlock pistols, but that is beyond our story.

I have handled a number of guns listed here over the years such an early Adams models, a number of Bulldogs, both British made and popular Belgian copies as well as the time-honored Webley Mk I through the Mark VI.  Excluding the Adams because of its great size, they all are sturdy and functional, moderately concealable, eminently carryable on the person without a holster and had stout, heavy cartridges for close work and very popular in their day.  The Adams traces its origin back to the muzzle loading, percussion cap era of the early 1850s with constant updates, while retaining the same large frame, with a rather weak cartridge but was the standard service arm of the British army for a long time.

To further muddy the waters, the author himself (Doyle), was apparently not well versed in arms or weapons terminology and made a few errors himself:  Referring to an Eley’s No. 2 (a large bore rifle cartridge) when he might have meant a Webley Revolver No. 2 in .440 rimfire or possibly a Webley R.I.C. No. 2, which would have a variety of loads from .450 to .320  (The Speckled Band, 1892).   The Eley Brothers made and imported cartridges of all types but they never made firearms.  He also mentions Boxer cartridges, which refers to a type of patented cartridge primer system, not to any particular cartridge and certainly not to any specific gun (Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, 1894).  Given number of gun references in Watson’s narratives, apparently firearms were lying all about the apartment and certainly daggers adorned the walls.  I’m sure they shared guns or had a common arsenal. 

The true answer to this gun quandary is that the Ely Number 2 references was probably to a cartridge very similar to a .22 CB cap ^[7] and fired from a variety of small guns (single shot and revolver) made for indoor target shooting much like a gallery or saloon gun.  The Number No. 2 Ely cartridge had no propellant powder and the bullet was just sent down the barrel by the power of the primer only.  I told you it was confusing and Doyle’s unfamiliarity with firearms and cartridges of the late Victorian  period just muddies already murky waters. The only other alternative is another Eley No. 2 (headstamped such, see illustration) for an express rifle and 4 ½ inches long – clearly not a pistol round and not for shooting indoors, at least I wouldn’t do so.   See footnotes ^{[3] [4] [5] [6]}

So what we have here are probably several guns used by the good doctor (and his partner Holmes as well) over a period of years.  The first of the bunch being the pistol that Watson carried in Afghanistan and in the first adventures.  Later he probably procured smaller, more modern pistols as his career continued through the decades.  Some of the best guesses for later guns would be the Webley R.I.C. or Bulldog (and copies) and possibly later than that, the venerable military issue Webley Mk I (adopted 1887 and available as a civilian purchase model).  All of these later guns are somewhat compact and have powerful cartridges.  But ultimately, there is no proof positive of any particular gun being used by Dr. Watson in his adventures beyond the shadow of a doubt.  With this final Holmesian mystery about which gun(s) Watson might have carried, I leave the reader with the admonishment that it is indeed not elementary at all.

                                                                              CoastConFan
Postscript
I actually originally wrote the bones to this article about three years ago, mostly in response to a Propnomicon post about a cased prop Watson gun, but let the article languish uncompleted.  Once I came back to the subject, I found that a few others had attempted to figure out the Watson gun question, so I decided to polish up the article and publish it finally.  I had intended to also produce a second Holmsean weapons article about the air gun used by Col Moran in the Adventure of the Empty House, but it didn’t go much beyond the outline stage.  Hopefully I’ll get that article put together.

Footnotes (of course)

[1] "I have my old service revolver and a few cartridges."  Dr. John Watson to Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlet.

[2] Early depictions of Sherlock Holmes and Watson have actor William Gillette set the stage in his interpretation of Holmes and the associated clichés.  Most notably, Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce followed the Gillette formula in film.  Lately some of the caricatures have been rehabilitated and the clichés have finally been retired.   See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_actors_who_have_played_Sherlock_Holmes

[3] Because of this confusion on gun loadings, many guns had the calibers stamped on the barrel, often with specific manufactures recommended or mandated.  Many novices mistake the cartridge attribution information stamped on the barrel or frame for the model of the gun.  The danger of using the wrong loadings has only increased with time as more powerful smokeless cartridges might be used in more fragile black powder frames with dire consequences.

[4] There was an article published in the magazine Black Mask:  John Stanley attended several gatherings of the Baker Street Irregulars and even authored a monograph on the handguns used by Holmes and Watson that appeared in the July 1948 issue of Black Mask.  Vol 31 No 4.  The cover was by Peter Stevens, "Leave Killing to the Cops" by Curtis Cluff.  I haven’t been able to find a copy, but this might lead somebody to put the article on line. 

[5] In The Hound of the Baskervilles, he has Holmes emptying “five barrels into the creature’s flank,” he undoubtedly meant five chambers as I doubt Holmes was carrying an obsolete pepperbox revolver.  In The Musgrave Ritual (1893) Holmes says, ... ”I have always held, too, that pistol practice should distinctly be an open-air pastime; and when Holmes in one of his queer humours would sit in an armchair, with his hair-trigger and a hundred Boxer cartridges, and proceed to adorn the opposite wall with a patriotic V.R. done in bullet-pocks, I felt strongly that neither the atmosphere nor the appearance of our room was improved by it.”  Again, Boxer is a primer system not a cartridge manufacturer.  Besides it was probably Eley No. 2s he was shooting with a saloon gun shooting CB caps, as anything else would have done more than just pock the wall plaster.

[6] A few additional gun-related quotes written by the good Doctor:

In The Adventure of the Speckled Band, (1892) Holmes suggests, “An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen who can twist steel poker's into knots. That and a tooth-brush are, I think, all that we need.”  In The Adventure of the Dying Detective, (1913) Doctor Watson reveals that, “His [Holmes] occasional revolver practice within doors ... made him the very worst tenant in London.”  Apparently he wasn’t evicted for shooting holes in the walls back in The Musgrave Ritual.

[7] CB standing for Conical Bullet and BB for Bulleted Breech, but for our purposes they are about the same.  The term BB bears no relationship to our modern spring guns and airguns firing copper coated iron .177 cal “BBs” we are now familiar (You’ll put your eye out).  The CB cap was developed by Louis-Nicolas Flobert originally in 1845, one of the oldest self contained metallic cartridges, although it contained no powder, it just uses the power of the primer as the propellant.

Links of Interest

A discussion about British service revolvers http://www.historicalfirearms.info/post/42792026011/adams-revolver-british-army-mark-iii-model-of

Notes on the arming of British police

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_use_of_firearms_in_the_United_Kingdom

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Metropolitan_Police_Service

http://books.google.com/books/about/Arming_an_Unarmed_Police.html?id=soAiAAAAMAAJ

http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/50819_ch_1.pdf

Notes on saloon, salon, parlor guns and their craze.   
You can also Google the manufacturers Flobert and Remington for examples.

http://www.peashooter85.com/post/24126077151/what-is-a-parlor-gun-during-the-mid-to-late

http://www.peashooter85.com/post/41241729784/the-little-bb-cap-rare-today-and-only-made-by-a

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallery_gun

http://www.frontiernet.net/~pinetreerifle/fireside/22rimfirehistory.html

http://www.pyramydair.com/article/Zimmerstutzen_February_2011/82

http://www.ctmuzzleloaders.com/ctml_experiments/parlor_pistol/parlor_pistol.html

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=105658

http://www.littlegun.be/ma_collection/belgique/be%20pqrstuvwxyz/a%20be%20pieper%20henri%20gust%20block%20gb.htm

Sherlock Holmes Tough Guy  http://mcmurdoscamp.wordpress.com/trifling-monographs/sherlock-holmes-tough-guy/

 NOTE THAT MANY OF DOYLE'S WORKS ARE AVAILABLE FOR FREE DOWNLOAD AT PROJECT GUTENBERG IN A VARIETY OF ELECTRONIC FORMATS:  http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/

A Brief History of Trench Coats

From Macintosh to Burberry:  adventures, private eyes, military officers, and the fashionable trench coat.

The trench coat, in its present configuration, has been around for a just over a century now and they continue to be both fashionable and functional.  A trench coat is a medium weight single or double-breasted belted coat that is knee length or slightly longer.  They can be made of gabardine or of closely woven cotton and even leather.  Trench coats can also have a removable liner to make them lighter for milder weather.  Generally they function as a lightweight greatcoat and have the added benefit of being rain proof as well as a windbreaker for brisker weather.  They usually come in a variety of colors, although lighter colors are predominating, such as cream or fawn.

 Trench coats evolved from a need for a much lighter weight greatcoat that was also weatherproof.  The military in particular embraced the concept, although early on it was a private purchase item.  The civilian coat was militarized into the form we know now with epaulets and equipment d rings just before the First World War.  In fact, the term trench coat was coined in the First World War by troops, as it wasn’t military nomenclature to describe the handy coat.  By this time many European powers and the U.S. adopted the trench coat I the form we know.

The beginning of trench coat saga begins with Aquascutum in the 1850s, claiming to have come up with the clothing item, although their coat wasn’t quite the trench coat we have come to know.  It wasn’t until the invention of gabardine a hundred years ago by Burberry, that the coats became the lightweight accessory we now know and love.  Previously, there were coats treated with rubber and other waterproofing along with having a tight weave fabric.  The new gabardine coats pretty much replaced the oilcloth dusters and rubberized raincoats of the 19^th century.

Although the British military had made the trench coat an acceptable military item as early as 1901, it was still private purchase.  When World War One began, trench coats were in high demand.  Even America caught trench coat mania and stocks disappeared as fast as they could be made and shipped.  Arising out of the horrors of the trenches, the trench coat became an acceptable item for everyday civilian wear, even to this day.  Dealers in outdoor and adventure equipment such as Harrods and Abercrombie and Fitch (founded 1892) carried trench coats along with other adventure gear.

 

Wearing a trench coat meant that you might have military experience or was prepared for every eventuality from foul weather to foul deeds.  The pulp writers picked up on trench coat mania and ground out endless stories of trench coast clad private eyes and adventurers.   

Even Tintin, the Hergé comic book hero, often wears a trench coat.  Film also celebrated the trench coat and it’s no nonsense image, by having both heroes and villains wearing them along with snap-brim fedoras.  Trench coats could also mean menace and not only with P.I.s but spies as well.  An aura of mystery and danger surrounded the trench coat.  Consider that the popular cartoon character Carmen Sandiego sports a trench coat and matching fedora as a modern illustration of danger in a trench coat and intrigue.

For you H. P. Lovecraft fans, Burberry gabardine clothing was worn by polar explorers including Roald Amundsen, the first man to reach the South Pole, and Ernest Shackleton, who led a 1914 expedition to cross Antarctica.  George Mallory wore a gabardine jacket on his attempt on Mount Everest in 1924.  I can only imagine that Miskatonic Antarctic Expedition would be using the same garb in their trek to the Mountains of Madness.  

                                                CoastConFan

Image and patch by Propnomicon

  

Updates:  see the post on fedora hats, 2 July 2012

See post about slouch hats, 28 April 2014,

Slouch Hats, Bush Hats, Big Game Hunters, and Explorers

Call of Cthulhu RPG – Be Prepared, Even When You Are Not

Or, "What has its got in its pocketses"? Adventurers find the darndest things of use in a pinch, even a found ring.

Here is a short list of handy items for a Call of Chtulhu player character to have in his/her pockets or person. Most of them are very common things, found everywhere, but oh so useful to the cunning-minded. An additional plus is that none of them are illegal and apt to be overlooked in a search. I have left off some obvious items like flashlights, burglar tools, guns and the like because they would not normally be carried everyday. This list is for common pocket items only. I suppose there is even a use for pocket lint as tinder in making a fire. The idea is to think and carry items correct for your character and era.

For example: Matchbook/lighter/matchbox, common string, magnifying glass, pen knife multi blade, small notebook with pencil, handkerchief, business cards, shoelaces, pocket watch/wrist watch, ring, brooch, paperclips and a couple rubber bands, keys, comb and pocket mirror, toothpick, whistle, a bit of wax, cough drops, gloves, umbrella/cane, hat, a piece of chalk, compass, fountain pen, coins, tobacco, & etc.

Matches or lighter is pretty obvious: make an emergency light or set a fire. Common string is more than just tying up packages – with a bent paperclip as a hook you can fish for a key or open a latch. Stout enough string can make a trap to trip or make a racket. Magnifying glass can start a fire, make glyphs large enough to read and all the typical uses. Pen knife is seldom considered a danger, but many have screwdrivers, scissors, file, along with a small sharp blade. Business cards can be left as a sign to others you have been there, work as a makeshift note card and make a nice shim for wiggling tables at your favorite restaurant. A whistle or compass may be on your watch chain. Watches are import for telling the present time and for telling time elapsed. You can also use a watch to calculate speed if you are handy. Paperclips can be bend into various useful shapes. Rubber bands have uses too if you are going to be a Mac Gyver type character. At the least, you can shoot them at each other.


A bit of soft wax can be used to make an impression of a key or a seal stone. It will also burn. Cough drops are just nice to have. You can use the rubber bands to launch the cough drops at people. A piece of chalk is always useful whether you are in a sewer or making a journey to the center of the earth. A compass is obvious, but they are also set into knife handles and the like. Some items are always on your person like cuff links, neck ties, coat buttons, hat pins, glasses, false teeth, handkerchief and would elicit no surprise from somebody searching you and would be in no danger of confiscation by crooks, culties or police.   That bit of twine or loose button just might save your life.  Think, think, think.

Update Sept 2015, Propnomicon has an excellent article about what people used before duct tape – adhesive plaster aka sticking plaster.  It seems a very necessary article for the 1920s and 1930s adventurer and is often overlooked in the inventory.  I certainly did.  His article is well worth viewing.  http://propnomicon.blogspot.com/2015/09/before-there-was-duct-tape.html