“the revolting business” [CARD]
It's always pleasant to get along with others. It is, of course, how all great things are accomplished: through collaboration, pooling of resources, and scale.
Not everyone is able to get along, though. When ancient man turned to an agricultural society rather than a hunt-and-gather society, it required working with others. This not only led to conflicts with other growing societies, but to squabbles from within.
Rebellion typically arises when one group feels oppressed under a harsh leadership, with certain rights having been stripped from them. They organize, rise up, and see the results of their work (either negative or positive).
A couple of rebellions in the Sherlock Holmes stories come to mind:
- "The Gloria Scott": a mutiny aboard a ship of prisoners that led to the ship's demise and the delivery of incognito survivors to their destination.
- The Hound of the Baskervilles: Sir Hugo held the Baskerville seat during "the Great Rebellion," meaning the English Civil War (1642 –1651)
- A Study in Scarlet: John Ferrier and Jefferson Hope were considered rebels against the church's authority
- The Sign of Four: Jonathan Small tells of the 3d Bengal Fusiliers at the Fort of Agra and how, when the Great Mutiny broke out, he joined them "to meet the rebels at Shahgunge," and upon returning to the fort, the Four used the existence of rebels to mask their heist.
- "The Crooked Man": Corporal Henry Wood was sent into battle amid "ten thousand rebels round us, and they were as keen as a set of terriers round a rat-cage," before being captured by a group of them.
But perhaps it is the would-be mutineer John H. Watson we should have kept our eyes on the whole time — an Army man with experience in India and Afghanistan. He told us early on that he was considering rising up against Sherlock Holmes:
"I might have rebelled against these exasperating solos..." (STUD)
For more on the mutiny in "The Gloria Scott" listen to Episode 27 of Trifles:
Meanwhile, let's see if we can keep in check the instinct of the boys at Baker Street Elementary...
Baker Street Elementary follows the original adventures of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, as they and their friends work through the issues of elementary school in Victorian London. An archive of all previous episodes can be viewed at the Baker Street Elementary website.
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