“Holmes refused a knighthood” [3GAR]
One would think that ending up on the monarch's Honours List for the New Year would an honor, indeed. After all, becoming a member of the orders of chivalry is not something that just any individual can expect to happen.
So it seems surprising that Sherlock Holmes would have "refused a knighthood for services which may perhaps some day be described," as Watson related in "The Three Garridebs."
However, there may be a very simple explanation for this, aside from Holmes's natural recalcitrance, and it is associated with the date of the story.
"The Three Garridebs" is considered by chronologists to have taken place in 1902 or 1903. According to Wikipedia,
"Honours have been awarded at New Year since at least 1890, in which year a list of Queen Victoria's awards was published by the London Gazette on 2 January. There was no honours list at New Year 1902, as a list had been published on the new King's birthday the previous November, but in January 1903 a list was again published."
If we accept 1902 as the date of 3GAR, could it be that Holmes felt slighted for not receiving the accolade in the traditional manner? Or perhaps he would have preferred to receive the knighthood from Queen Victoria herself, rather than King Edward VII.
After all, we know that at the conclusion of "The Bruce-Partington Plans" in 1895, he
"spent a day at Windsor, whence be returned with a remarkably fine emerald tie-pin. When I asked him if he had bought it, he answered that it was a present from a certain gracious lady..."
Given the "patriotic V.R." Holmes shot into the wall of Baker Street (MUSG), he did seem to have spot in his heart for the queen.
The boys at Baker Street Elementary haven't quite figured out the honor associated with an honorific yet...
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.
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