Arthur Conan Doyle

Photo in header: Arthur Conan Doyle by Walter Stoneman, for James Russell & Sons bromide print, circa 1916 © National Portrait Gallery, London

22 May 1859 – 7 Jul 1930

Conan Doyle was a British writer – originally a physician – best known for Sherlock Holmes, one of the most vivid and enduring characters in English fiction.

In later life he supported spiritualism and attempted to find proof of existence beyond the grave. He wrote ‘The History of Spiritualism’ in 1926 and was a member of the paranormal investigation organisation The Ghost Club.

His book ‘The Coming of the Fairies’ (1921) discussed theories about the nature and existence of fairies and spirits. He was convinced that the Cottingley Fairies photographs were real. These photographs were later revealed to be a hoax.

Proclaiming his belief in the afterlife, on August 5, 1920, Conan Doyle gave a lecture entitled ‘Death and the Hereafter’ at Torquay Town Hall to a mainly female audience. The meeting was presided over by local builder and Freemason Henry Paul Rabbich, the then President of Paignton Spiritualist Society and Vice-President of the Southern Counties Union of Spiritualists.

Conan Doyle later wrote that the Town Hall “was next to a church, and just as I started to speak the church bells began ringing, and I had to shout all the time.”

In February 1923, Conan Doyle stayed at the Victoria Hotel in Belgrave Road and gave a lecture entitled ‘The New Revelation’ at the Pavilion, presided over by Torquay’s Mayor GH Tredale.

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