“This fellow could speak English and did his housekeeping for him.” [WIST]
In the Canon, we of course get both. Mrs. Hudson as landlady, no doubt reassured by the rent ("his payments were princely" — 'The Dying Detective') and housekeeper, who, as part of her duties, provided nourishment of a more than limited variety.
While we might think of tidying up as the core role of a housekeeper, the fact is that meal preparation was also an important one. Lest we forget, Sherlock Holmes himself claims credit at being someone skilled in that area in The Sign of Four:
“Only that I insist upon your dining with us. It will be ready in half an hour. I have oysters and a brace of grouse, with something a little choice in white wines — Watson, you have never yet recognized my merits as a housekeeper.”
And when he planned a little cold supper for Robert St. Simon and the newly-wedded Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton in 'The Noble Bachelor,' he was no less selective:
There were a couple of brace of cold woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of ancient and cobwebby bottles.
The spartan living on the moor The Hound of the Baskervilles ("a loaf of bread, a tinned tongue, and two tins of preserved peaches") must have been a difficult sacrifice indeed for our epicurean housekeeper.
Let's see what Mrs. Hudson is preparing 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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