Click the tartan to view its entry in The Scottish Registers of Tartans which includes registration details, restrictions, and registrant information.
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Sherlock Holmes Day
"The game is afoot!"
~ "The Adventure of the Abbey Grange," Arthur Conan Doyle, 1904
This namesake tartan was designed for fans and Sherlockian societies as a tribute to the Arthur Conan Doyle's famous literary detective! Born in Scotland with Irish ancestry, Doyle's lineage is represented in the blue and green in the design; the lighter blue with the brown edging represents the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland,the location of the climactic confrontation between Sherlock Holmes and his arch-nemesis, Professor James Moriarty; and the gold strip represents Sherlock Holmes status as one of the leading detectives of London. Some Sherlock fans are participants in "The Great Game", an intriguing and ongoing pursuit in which enthusiasts strive to resolve anomalies and clarify details about Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson from Arthur Conan Doyle's canon of 56 short stories and four novels. By treating the great detective and his assistant as real people, with Conan Doyle as Watson's literary agent, amateur game players strive to deduce missing information combined with contemporary history to construct detailed biographies and resolve contradictions within the Holmesian universe. Two frequently studied mysteries are the location of Dr. Watson's war wound, described as being in his shoulder in "A Study in Scarlet" and in his leg in "The Sign of Four," and his actual first name, given as John in "A Study in Scarlet" and "The Problem of Thor Bridge" but referred to as James in "The Man with the Twisted Lip." It's Elementary, dear tartan wearers! 📚🔎
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes stories, was born this day, May 22, 1892.
This newer tartan, registered in 2017, was according to the official register:
"Created to show his followers that a tartan has been designed in his name. The creator of Sherlock Holmes was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was born in Scotland with Irish ancestry, hence the blue and green in the tartan. The lighter blue with the brown edging represents the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland, and the gold/yellow strip represents the deductive clarity of Sherlock Holmes as one of the leading detectives of London."
First appearing in print in 1887 (in A Study in Scarlet), the character's popularity became widespread with the first series of short stories in The Strand Magazine, beginning with "A Scandal in Bohemia" in 1891.
All but one are set in the Victorian or Edwardian eras, between about 1880 and 1914. Most are narrated by the character of Holmes's friend and biographer Dr. Watson, who usually accompanies Holmes during his investigations and often shares quarters with him at the address of 221B Baker Street, London, where many of the stories begin.
For a list of the official canon of Sherlock Holmes works, click the photograph of Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes from the 1939 film "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes."