Image to come: Conan Doyle's handwritten notes for A Study in Scarlet.
Sherrinford Holmes and Ormond Sacker
“Was Sherlock Holmes always called Sherlock?”
In 1886 a young doctor in Southsea named Arthur Conan Doyle was sketching out a detective story. His early notes survive, and they introduce a rational, clear-thinking detective called Sherrinford Holmes, who shares lodgings with a friend called Ormond Sacker.
By the time A Study in Scarlet was published the following year, both had changed. Sherrinford became Sherlock. Ormond Sacker became John Watson, a much plainer name that suits the steady, ordinary companion who tells the stories. A reader is meant to see the world through Watson’s eyes, and a name like Ormond Sacker would have drawn too much attention to itself.
The notes have been displayed at the Museum of London, where visitors could see the world’s most famous detective before he had quite become himself.
Late in life, Conan Doyle recalled the early name as “Sherringford”, with an extra g, but his own notes spell it without one. Even the author misremembered his first draft.
Look closer: Ian Fleming did the opposite of Conan Doyle. He went looking for the dullest name he could find.