John H. Watson
Dr Watson's first name is mentioned on only three occasions. Part one of the very first Sherlock Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet, is subtitled Being a reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D., Late of the Army Medical Department.[4] In "The Problem of Thor Bridge", Watson says that his dispatch box is labeled 'John H. Watson, M.D'.[5] Mary (Watson's wife) calls him 'James' in "The Man with the Twisted Lip"; Dorothy L. Sayers speculates that Mary may be referring to his middle name Hamish (an Anglicisation of Sheumais, the vocative form of the Scottish Gaelic for James, Seumas), though Doyle himself never addresses this beyond including the initial.[6]
In A Study in Scarlet, Watson, as the narrator, recounts his earlier life before meeting Holmes. It is established that Watson received his medical degree from Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, the University of London in 1878, and had subsequently gone on to train at Netley as a surgeon in the British Army. If one assumes that Watson entered the University of London at around the age of twenty-five, he would have been born around 1853. He joined British forces in India, saw service in the Second Anglo-Afghan War, was wounded at the Battle of Maiwand (July 1880) by a Jezail bullet in the shoulder,[Note 1] suffered enteric fever and was sent back to England on the troopship HMS Orontes following his recovery.[7]
In 1881, Watson runs into an old friend of his named Stamford, who tells him that an acquaintance of his, Sherlock Holmes, is looking for someone to split the rent at a flat in 221B Baker Street. Watson meets Holmes for the first time at a local hospital, where Holmes is conducting a scientific experiment. Holmes and Watson list their faults to each other to determine whether they can live together. The first of Watson's "confessions" is that he keeps a bull pup. Concluding that they are compatible, they subsequently move into the flat. When Watson notices multiple guests frequenting the flat, Holmes reveals that he is a "consulting detective" and that the guests are his clients.[8]
By this time, Watson has already become impressed with Holmes' knowledge of chemistry and sensational literature. He witnesses Holmes' amazing skills atdeduction as they embark on their first case together, concerning a series of murders related to Mormon intrigue. When the case is solved, Watson is angered that Holmes is not given any credit for it by the press. When Holmes refuses to record and publish his account of the adventure, Watson endeavours to do so himself. In time, Holmes and Watson become close friends.
