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George Edalji
'The case of George Edalji - a special investigation by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle'. So began an open letter to the editor of the Daily Telegraph, on Wednesday, 9th January 1907. George Edalji, a young solicitor from Great Wyrley near Birmingham, had been imprisoned for horse mutilation. Edalji, who consistently maintained his innocence, had asked Doyle to help him clear his name.
Observing Edalji in a hotel lobby before their first meeting, Doyle realised that the young man was severely short-sighted as he was reading a newspaper held very close to his eyes. The atrocities were committed at night, and someone with such poor vision would have found them impossible to do.
Doyle suspected that Edalji had been targeted by the police because he was of mixed race and – due to his myopia – had odd-looking eyes. (This was a time when racial prejudice was rife in society and in the police.) The evidence against Edalji was circumstantial, and relied on dubious expert witnesses. Doyle decided to use his celebrity to make a ‘big noise’ so that the Home Office would feel obliged to re-open the case: something which they had previously refused to do. Eventually Edalji was given a free pardon, and consequently the Court of Criminal Appeal was established.
As well as copies of letters Conan Doyle wrote to the newspapers about George Edalji case, the Collection also holds over 300 original documents relating to the case. These papers include original police reports, letters from Conan Doyle to the police officers in charge, character references for George Edalji and letters from George protesting his innocence.
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A Map of Great Britain
A map of Great Briatin which hung on the wall of Sherlock Holmes' study
Pterodactyls from The Lost World, Strand Magazine
Pterodactyls from The Lost World in The Strand Magazine, July 1912
Photo of Arthur Conan Doyle honouring W T Stead's memorial
Photograph of Arthur Conan Doyle with his wife, Jean, George Vale Owen, Mr Ticknor and other…
Conan Doyle at the Seaside
This photograph was taken during a Doyle family holiday in 1913 in the Essex seaside resort of…
Photograph of the Study for Sherlock - finishing touches
Putting the finishing touches to Portsmouth MIND's creation of a Study in Sherlock
Photo of South View Lodge - 53 Kent Road in Southsea
Conan Doyle bought this house in June 1896.(February 2015)
Books in the Playing Sherlock Exhibition
Examples of the books from the Collection selected for the Playing Sherlock Exhibition.
Tea poster
Tea towel designed by Jackie Goodrum (2016) based on the set of the BBC series, Sherlock
Photograph of Arthur Conan Doyle with Craigie Aitchison KC
Taken in Edinburgh after the Oscar Slater Appeal hearing, 10 July 1928. (July 2012)
Photograph of Conan Doyle taken in Portsmouth
Doyle threw himself into the life of the city and set up his practice in Elm Grove.
Photo of Arthur Conan Doyle standing by Innes Conan Doyle's grave
After the end of the First World War, Conan Doyle's brother, Innes, took part in relief work in…
The Railway Tour of Canada
Doyle and his wife travelled Canada on a tour of the newly opened Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in…
Photo of Arthur Conan Doyle with Jasper Ball Club and Edson team before a baseball game
Arthur Conan Doyle with Jasper Ball Club and Edson team before a baseball game, 14 June 1914…
Mummy Disguise from To Catch a Thief workshop
A thousand-year-old mummy, swathed in bandages (with stitches in his head and one red eye) is…
Photo Arthur Conan Doyle on a boat returning from the Boer War
Arthur Conan Doyle with Bertram Fletcher Robinson and H W Nevinson returning from South Africa on…
Photograph of Arthur Conan Doyle cycling
A postcard of Arthur Conan Doyle on a bicycle.
Photo from the 1925 Lost World production
Lewis Stone as Sir John Roxton, Bessie Love as Paula White, Lloyd Hughes as Edward Malone.
Photo of Conan Doyle in the Garden at Bignell Wood
Arthur Conan Doyle hoping to attract fairies in the garden of Bignell Wood.

- 1A Map of Great Britain
- 2Pterodactyls from The Lost World, Strand Magazine
- 3Photo of Arthur Conan Doyle honouring W T Stead's memorial
- 4Conan Doyle at the Seaside
- 5Photograph of the Study for Sherlock - finishing touches
- 6Photo of South View Lodge - 53 Kent Road in Southsea
- 7Books in the Playing Sherlock Exhibition
- 8Tea poster
- 9Photograph of Arthur Conan Doyle with Craigie Aitchison KC
- 10Photograph of Conan Doyle taken in Portsmouth
- 11Photo of Arthur Conan Doyle standing by Innes Conan Doyle's grave
- 12The Railway Tour of Canada
- 13Photo of Arthur Conan Doyle with Jasper Ball Club and Edson team before a baseball game
- 14Mummy Disguise from To Catch a Thief workshop
- 15Photo Arthur Conan Doyle on a boat returning from the Boer War
- 16Photograph of Arthur Conan Doyle cycling
- 17Photo from the 1925 Lost World production
- 18Photo of Conan Doyle in the Garden at Bignell Wood
