The Red-Headed League

"The Red-Headed League" is the most famous of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. It first appeared in "The Strand Magazine" in August 1891, with illustrations by Sidney Paget. Conan Doyle ranked "The Red-Headed League" second in his list of his twelve favorite Holmes stories. It is also the second of the twelve stories in "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", which was published in 1892.

Plot Summary

Set in 1890, a London pawnbroker named Jabez Wilson comes to Holmes and Watson. He tells them that his young assistant Vincent Spaulding, some weeks ago had shown him and urged him to respond to a want-ad offering work to only red-headed male applicants. Wilson the next morning had waited in a long line of fellow red-headed men, was interviewed and was the only applicant hired. He was well-paid for several weeks of doing obviously useless clerical busywork in a lonely office, but finally one morning a sign on the locked office door inexplicably announced: "THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE IS DISSOLVED." Wilson then went to the landlord, who said that he'd never heard of Duncan Ross, the person who formed the league. After Holmes' client leaves (having given the detective a description of Spaulding), he decides to see Spaulding, whom Holmes notices has dirty pant knees. Holmes then taps on the pavement in front of the pawnbroker's shop. With the case solved, he calls Inspector Jones and Mr. Merryweather. The four confront the thieves, John Clay and his helper Archie (they were Spaulding and Ross in disguise), who contrived the Red-Headed League rigamarole just to keep Wilson out of his shop while they did digging in the basement in order to break into the bank vault next door. Back at Baker Street, Holmes explains to Watson how he solved the case.

Analysis

It has been noted that the dates given in the story do not match the characters' descriptions of time passing. The date that Wilson sees the advertisement is April 27, 1890 and he has been at work for 8 weeks (~2 months) at copying out in longhand, the Encyclopedia. However the date on the door telling of the league being dissolved is that of October 21, 1890, 6 months after the ad was placed! Dorothy L. Sayers analyses this discrepancy and demonstrates that the dates must have been August 4th and October 4th respectively,

Other media

In the television adaptation starring Jeremy Brett, the scheme was masterminded by Professor Moriarty and Clay is Moriarty's star pupil of crime.

In the Sherlock Holmes parody "Without a Clue", starring Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley, Clay and Archie are shown breaking into the Royal Gallery.

In early editions of Arthur Conan Doyle's autobiography, Memories and Adventures, he mentions an organisation called "The Glove" as an inspiration for The Red-Headed League. In later volumes this reference has been removed.

References

* Dorothy L. Sayers, "The Dates in "The Red-Headed League", reprinted in "17 Steps to 221B Baker Street" (George Allen and Unwin, 1967) pp.57-67.

External links