Book Launch: The Men Who Were Sherlock Holmes: A True-life Victorian Murder Mystery

Book Launch: The Men Who Were Sherlock Holmes: A True-life Victorian Murder Mystery

Join us for at the archives for the launch of author Daniel Smith's new book!

By London Metropolitan Archives

Date and time

Thu, 23 May 2024 19:00 - 21:00 GMT+1

Location

London Metropolitan Archives

40 Northampton Rd London EC1R 0HB United Kingdom

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About this event

  • 2 hours

Book Launch: The Men Who Were Sherlock Holmes: A True-life Victorian Murder Mystery

In 1893, young army officer Cecil Hambrough was murdered at the sprawling Ardlamont estate in Scotland, unleashing one of the most gripping court cases Victorian Britain had ever known. Even more remarkably, the case brought together two pioneering forensic experts – Joseph Bell and Henry Littlejohn – two men upon whom Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes happened to be based. It is their involvement in the Ardlamont affair that reveals how the world’s most famous detective came to be: the worlds of crime fiction and crime fact were about to collide spectacularly.

In this extraordinary book, Daniel Smith outlines the key roles of the two men whose powers of deduction had so inspired Doyle and explores the real-world origins of Sherlock Holmes through the prism of a mystery as engrossing as any case the Great Detective ever tackled.

An intro to the work, a meet and greet and an oppurtinity for book signings. Everyone welcome!

Organised by

We're London Metropolitan Archives (LMA), one of the largest historical archives in the UK. We're based in leafy Clerkenwell close to Farringdon and Angel tubes and look after a vast and unique collection of manuscripts, maps, photos, books and films that tell the story of London, right back to 1067. If you haven't visited an archive before, we're a bit like a library or museum, but with millions of unique historical documents waiting to be explored; you choose what we want to see and we put the history of London in your hands. Not everyone has time to research though, so our exhibitions and events program delves into the archives and presents the fascinating history of the capital for you to enjoy. We're open to everyone, whether you’re visiting an exhibition, joining a history talk or tracing your family history. Browse our program and start discovering London's history today.

Our free exhibition Unforgotten Lives explores the lives of Londoners of African, Caribbean, Asian and indigenous heritage who lived and worked in the city between 1560 and 1860. We're open Mon, Tues, Thurs 10-4.30pm and Weds 10-7pm, and one Saturday a month. For full details, visit our webpages at www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma

Free