Baker Street Elementary – My Dirty Little Lieutenant

by Scott Monty March 17, 2024

“Wiggins has just been up to report” [SIGN] 

aka "Kean"

Sherlock Holmes didn't have an easy time with the Baker Street Irregulars. This group of rag-tag street urchins made a memorable first appearance in A Study in Scarlet:

“What on earth is this?” I cried, for at this moment there came the pattering of many steps in the hall and on the stairs, accompanied by audible expressions of disgust upon the part of our landlady.

“It’s the Baker Street division of the detective police force,” said my companion, gravely; and as he spoke there rushed into the room half a dozen of the dirtiest and most ragged street Arabs that ever I clapped eyes on.

By the time we get to The Sign of Four, they appear again — and appear to have doubled in number, once again exasperating Mrs. Hudson:

At this moment there was a loud ring at the bell, and I could hear Mrs. Hudson, our landlady, raising her voice in a wail of expostulation and dismay.

“By heaven, Holmes,” I said, half rising, “I believe that they are really after us.”

“No, it’s not quite so bad as that. It is the unofficial force,—the Baker Street irregulars.”

As he spoke, there came a swift pattering of naked feet upon the stairs, a clatter of high voices, and in rushed a dozen dirty and ragged little street-Arabs. 

Sherlock Holmes warned them against future tumult when he delegated authority to Wiggins:

“In future they can report to you, Wiggins, and you to me. I cannot have the house invaded in this way.”

Thus has the tradition continued with Wiggins, who Sherlock Holmes called “my dirty little lieutenant.” The head of the Baker Street Irregulars (which now count their membership as a little over 300) is called "Wiggins," and the office is currently held by Michael Kean.

Michael joined I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere on Episode 198: 

And to think it all began at Baker Street Elementary...

–

Or, "tenets," as we say around here

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 www.bakerstreetelementary.org.