The Society Welcomes Jacquelynn Morris, ASH, to Charter Membership

The Society is pleased to announce the Charter Membership of Jacquelynn Morris, ASH, a renowned Sherlockian who resides in Laurel, Maryland, with an interest in introducing young people to The Sacred Canon. Ms. Morris was sponsored by Prof. Donald Pollock as a Charter Member.

Jacquelynn’s biography:

Jacquelynn Morris came to the Sherlockian community through the Granada series with Jeremy Brett and David Burke, and later, Edward Hardwicke. Having read the Sacred Canon in childhood, she found the Brett series, which portrayed many of the original stories intact, much more enjoyable than most of the Rathbone and Bruce films. Her primary complaints with the Rathbone films was the great liberties they took; in particular, with the character of Dr. John H Watson.

Not even realizing such things as scion societies existed, she came to Watson’s Tin Box after a chance encounter with a Tin Box member at a mystery fiction conference. She has been a member of the Tin Box since the late 1990s, having led the group twice for a year’s term each. She is also the member of and a frequent attendee of meetings of other societies on the East Coast.

Jacquelynn has presented papers at the Sherlock Holmes/Arthur Conan Doyle Symposium in Dayton, Ohio, Mrs Hudson’s Cliffdwellers in New Jersey, The Red Circle of Washington, DC, the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Maryland, and the Newberry Library in Chicago, Illinois. She has also delivered toasts at meetings of The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes, of which she has been a member since 2010. Her ASH investiture name is “de novo,” from The Abbey Grange.

Bringing the Sacred Canon to young people has been a focus of Jacquelynn’s Sherlockian endeavours. She is co-chair of the annual Watson’s Tin Box Sherlock Holmes Essay Contest for seventh grade students, and invites speakers from the younger Sherlock Holmes community to speak at A Scintillation of Scions, the annual symposium she created in Maryland. Among the younger community and through the Scintillation, Jacquelynn supports such groups as The Baker Street Babes, Sherlock NYC, Sherlock DC, and 221B Con.

In addition, Jacquelynn has been actively involved in the campaign to save Undershaw, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s former home in Hindhead, Surrey, England. She is an ambassador for the cause and has worked closely with Lynn Gale of The Undershaw Preservation Trust. She was among the judges of fan submitted essays and poems for Sherlock’s Home: The Empty House by MX Publishing; proceeds from the sale of the books will go to The Undershaw Preservation Trust.

The BSI Manuscript Series book, The Wrong Passage, contains an essay written by Jacquelynn in the chapter, “Two Singular Deaths…Two Virtual Inquests,” where she attempts to prove, by analyzing what information Watson provides, just what poison it was that Anna Coram ingested and what the likely outcome of that must have been.

Though considered a long-time Sherlockian, Jacquelynn has always considered herself, in her heart of hearts, to be a Watsonian. She is proud and honoured to be a member of The John H Watson Society.

Jacquelynn is also a member of:

Watson’s  Tin Box of Ellicott City
The Denizens of the Bar of Gold
Mrs. Hudson’s Cliffdwellers of New Jersey
The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes

Please join in extending the Society’s warm greetings to our new member: “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”