Category: News

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Welcome to Sandy Kozinn 

The Society extends a warm welcome to Sandy Kozinn to Charter Membership. Sandy writes:”Although in my 30 years or so as a Sherlockian I’ve had a few things published, primarily in The Serpentine Muse and Prescott’s Press, my forte seems to be the short, rhymed toasts and readings at scions, with hopes that humor might be found therein.  I also spend an inordinate amount of time on line, primarily with Welcome Holmes and The Hounds of the Internet, where I’m known as Esmerelda.

Outside Canonical pursuits, I’m a very proud mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, all while still insisting I’m only 35.”

Societies:

ASH – “Esmeralda”
Mrs. Hudson’s Cliffdwellers – “The Pawky Humorist”
Paritsu
Priory Scholars
SBIOS
STUD — “The Insoluble Puzzle”
Sherlock Holmes Society of London (Associate)
The Three Garridebs – “Artesian Well”

And I attend as many other New York area meetings as I can.

The Founding and Charter Members are delighted to have the “pawky puzzle” Esmeralda join us for a sip at the ever-flowing artesian well that is Dr Watson.

Please join in extending the Society welcome:

“You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”

 

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Welcome to Lynn Walker, D. Min., BSI, SHSL

The Society is pleased to welcome Dr. Lynn Walker, BSI “The Long Island Cave Mystery,” SHSL. Dr. Walker writes:

“I’ve been involved in the study of the life and works of Mr.
Holmes and Dr. Watson for more than 40 years, and have had a few essays
published in the BSJ, as well as one in the SHJ, and one in Violets and
Vitriol, edited by S. E. Dahlinger. I am a Retired Lt Col, U.S. Army Medical Department; a Chaplain, Lt Col, Civil Air  Patrol, USAF Auxillary; a clergywoman; and a human services administrator.”

Dr. Walker belongs to:

» The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes  (The Head of a Private School at Walsall)
» The Baker Street Irregulars (Long Island Cave Mystery)
» The Diogenes Club of Washington, DC (Lady Frances Carfax
* Sherlock Holmes Society of London

Please join in extending a warm welcome to Lynn Walker and in the Society’s greeting to new members:

“You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”

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Welcome to Frank A. Mentzel

The Founding and Charter Members of the Society extend a warm welcome to Frank A. Mentzel, a distinguished Sherlockian who shares with the boy in buttons the delightful possession of a poor memory, thereby allowing each of them to constantly re-read the Sacred Canon as if it is for the first time!His biography on Sherlockian Who’s Who states: I am a life-long Sherlockian who is active in several local scion societies. Having a very poor memory, every time I read an Adventure, it’s as if I am reading it for the first time.  I am an avid reader of the many pastiches available.

Mr. Mentzel is also a member of the following:

» The  Six Napoleons of Baltimore
» Watson’s Tin Box of Ellicott City
» The Denizens of the Bar of Gold
» The White Rose Irregulars of York
» The Society of the Naval treaty
» The Red Circle of Washington, D.C.
» The Carlton Club
» The Hounds of the Internet
» The Diogenes Club of Washington, DC (Percy Phelps)

Please join in extending the warm welcome of the Society to Mr. Mentzel with our traditional greeting to members:

“You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”

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A Banner Day for the Society!

Today the Society welcomes into Charter Membership four new members. Dr. Bruce Parker is highlighted below. He is joined by three additional Charter Members whose biographies have yet to be received by the boy in buttons. They will be futher highlighted when their personal information arrives and the Chair, Prof. Don Yates, has determined and conferred their Bull Pup monikers. Until then, we welcome: Lynn Walker; Frank Mentzel; and Sandy Kozinn.

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Welcome to Charter Member Prof. Bruce Parker, M.D., BSI, SHSL

The Society extends a warm welcome to the eminent Sherlockian, Prof. Bruce Parker, MD, BSI “A Garroter by Trade,” SHSL. Dr. Parker is a radiologist and is a Professor (Emeritus, Active) of Radiology and Pediatrics, Stanford University and a Professor of Radiology and Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine. He is also a member of the following

» The Sherlock Holmes Society of London
» The  Baker Street Irregulars (A Garrotter by Trade)
»  The Scowrers and Molly Maguires of San Francisco
» The Persian Slipper Club of San Francisco
» The Knights of the Gnomon

Dr. Parker writes:

When I was 12 my father, a member of the Amateur Mendicant Society of Detroit, gave me the canon which I read in its entirety and became forever addicted. In 1971 I became a member of the Scowrers and Molly Maguires of San Francisco. In the late 1970s I taught the nation’s first undergraduate course at Stanford University in “Sherlock Holmes and the development of the British Detective novel”. I was Course Director for two Sherlockian Seminars at Stanford with John Bennett Shaw. In 1985 I gave the Sherlock Holmes course to Stanford students resident at Magdelen College, Oxford. In 1983 I was inducted into the BSI (A Garrotter by Trade). I am also a member of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London, the French Sherlock Holmes Society, and the Knights of the Gnomon of Redwood City. My latest Sherlockian  activities have been lecturing on “Sherlock Holmes and Medicine” and “The Antecedents of Sherlock Holmes” in a number of different venues.Please join in extending to Dr. Parker the Society’s traditional welcome to members:

“You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”

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Welcome to Charter Member Michael J. Quigley

The Society welcomes Michael J. Quigley to Charter Membership. He is a member of numerous Sherlockian organisations, including:

» The Red Circle of Washington, D.C.
» The Six Napoleons of Baltimore
» Watson’s Tin Box of Ellicott City
» The Sherlock Holmes Society of London
» Baker Street Builders
» The Beacon Society
» Le peloton des cyclistes solitaires
» La Société Sherlock Holmes de France
» The Diogenes Club of Washington, DC (Mycroft Holmes (Gasogene)

Mr Quigley credits his interest in Watsonia and Sherlockiana to a gift of The Annotated Sherlock Holmes he received from his grandmother in 1980, thereby beginning a lifelong adventure with Sherlock Holmes. From Holmes, he learned how to become a keen observer of mere trifles that have served him well in the world of human intelligence. Quigley formalized his love of the Grand Game in 2009 when he joined several scion societies of the Baker Street Irregulars, including the Red Circle of Washington, DC; the Six Napoleons of Baltimore; and Watson’s Tin Box. He is also the founder of a new scion society, the Diogenes Club of Washington, DC (an invitation only Sherlockian scholarly scion for present and former government employees and service members of the Armed Forces).

Mr. Quigley’s extensive biography can be viewed at Sherlockian Who’s Who: http://www.sh-whoswho.com/index.php

Please join in welcoming Mr. Quigley with the Society’s greeting:
“You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”

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Chair Confers Bull Pup Monikers to Members

After weeks of great deliberations, deep Canonical studies, and other arcane and mystical consultations held within the ethers, the Founding Chair of The John H Watson Society, Prof. Don Yates, has conferred upon all members their “Bull Pup” monikers. Each members is given a bull pup moniker in order to keep green forever Dr Watson’s companionship of a bull pup, as yet unnamed, as related in A Study In Scarlet.

With this historic and weighty responsibility successfully concluded, the Membership Director has caused Membership Certificates to be engrossed with the proper monikers, authenticated by the Chair, and dispatched via the morning post to all members forthwith.

Members will find their Society monikers in quotes next their names in the Society listings found on the Membership Information and the Society and Editorial Board pages of the website.

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Welcome George Vanderburgh, M.D. to Charter Membership

The Society welcomes the distinguished and eminent Sherlockian, Dr. George Vanderburg, to Charter Membership. Dr. Vanderburgh is The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, the publisher of over 600 book titles to date, one of the great independent publishers of North America.

Retired from his service as a Flight Surgeon for the Canadian Armed Services,  and his subsequent career as a family physician in Shelburne, Ontario, Dr. Vanderburgh is also a member of the following clubs and organisations:

*   The Speckled Band of Boston
» The Beacon Society
» The Bootmakers of Toronto
» The Sherlock Holmes Society of London
» The  Maiwand Jezails
» The Mycroft Holmes Society of Syracuse
» The  Clients of Adrian Mulliner

Please join in welcoming this renowned Sherlockian and the Society’s first Canadian member to The John H Watson Society with our traditional greeting:  “You have been in Afgahanistan, I perceive.”

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Thank You to Mr. Roger Johnson, SHSL

The Society wishes to express its sincere thanks to Mr. Roger Johnson, Editor of The Sherlock Holmes Journal of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London, and of the Society’s newsletter “The District Messenger,” in which he has kindly mentioned the John H Watson Society. We welcome inquiries of all those interested in membership and especially extend Charter Membership invitations to our Holmesian and Watsonian colleagues who are fellow members of The Sherlock Holmes Society of London. The SHSL is a pre-eminent Sherlockian organisation with the full panoply of events, activities, publications, and gatherings befitting a highly-developed and exceptionally well-organised and well-run society. The John H Watson Society can only aspire in future to the levels attained by this extraordinary role model in our well-loved spiritual home of London.

Please take a few delightful moments to explore the SHSL website and to read the current issue of “The District Messenger.”  http://www.sherlock-holmes.org.uk/
We can but offer our highest recommendation for membership in this vital and important Sherlockian society which is open to one and all with an interest in things Watsonian and Sherlockian (or as known in the UK: Holmesian).

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Welcome Caitlin Yates, NVNSH to Charter Membership

The Society welcomes Caitlin Yates to Charter Membership. Caitlin is a member of the Napa Valley Napoleons of S.H. and a life-long Sherlockian cum Watsonian. She is on the staff of Sonoma State University.

More on Caitlin’s biography will be posted when received.

Please join in extending to Caitlin the Society’s greeting to members: “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”

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The Society Welcomes Benoit Guilielmo to Charter Membership

The Society extends warm welcome to Benoit Guilielmo as a Charter Member of The John H Watson Society. M Guilielmo, or Ben as he refers to himself, is an eminent member of the French Sherlockian and Watsonian world and is our first European member and the first member of the Society from France. Well-published, we look forward to his scholarly contibutions to The Watsonian in future.

Ben’s biography follows:

Benoit Guilielmo is an amateur Watsonian, a partisan of the growing block universe  theory and a  fervent admirer of PG Wodehouse. He’s an active member of the Société Sherlock Holmes de France and of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London.

He is interested in many aspects of Dr. Watson’s life and works: Watson’s pawky humour; Watson’s skills as a popular fiction writer; Watson as a detective; and many other aspects of the Watsonian personality.

Fascinated by Sherlockian speculation since his first reading of Ronald Knox’s Studies in the Literature of Sherlock Holmes, his main interest is the investigation of the methods, topics, issues and disagreements of Sherlockian criticism since its beginnings. He is currently working on minor and major figures and studies of Watsonian scholarship of the late 1920s and early 1930s.

He lives on the lovely French Riveria at Nice.

Bibliography:

– “A Note on the Disappearance of Watson’s memory in LADY,” The Serpentine Muse, Vol. 27 n°1, Winter 2010.

– “Prolegomena to a Basic Invisible Holmesian Library,”The Serpentine Muse, Vol. 27 n°2, Spring 2011.

– “Sénèque contre les Holmésologues,”Mémoires et Documents n°13 (2011), Société d’études Holmésiennes de la Suisse Romande.

– “Eugène Piff-Pouff: Forerunner of French Holmesian Scholarship,” The Sherlock Holmes Journal, Vol. 30 n°2, Summer 2011.

– “The Sources of Ronald Knox’s Satire: A Reappraisal,” The Sherlock Holmes Journal, Vol. 30 n°2, Winter 2011

– “Desmond MacCarthy and The Chronological Problem,” The Saturday Review of Literature, January 2013

– “L’Holmésologie: silly questions et vérificationnisme,”Ironmongers Daily News, n°7333, Société Sherlock Holmes de France.

– “Le gai savoir holmésien de Ronald Knox,” (Forthcoming 2013), Société d’études Holmésiennes de la Suisse Romande.

On behalf of the Founding Members and the Charter Members of The John H Watson Society, we extend the traditional welcome to members: “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”

Please join in welcoming Ben to our fold by leaving your personal welcoming greeting in the Comments.

“Nous prolongeons notre accueil chaleureux et que vous sommes très reconnaissants pour votre soutien de The John H Watson Society.”
— le garçon en boutons.

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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.”

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The Watsonian Blog: Its Purpose and Potential

We would hope that members of the Society–and non-members–would wish to check this blog regularly for news of the Society. That is why it was created.

But, there is a much more interesting potential to be explored that relies upon all interested Watsonians asking questions and presenting intriguing thoughts about Dr. Watson to be explored by all who care to participate.

The process is straight-forward:  Just click on “Add Comment” and post a comment, question, idea, thought, or bit of arcane Canonical mystery or research. You are only limited by your own creativity and willingness to start a dialogue.

As an example, in some of Dr. Watson’s most elegant writing, in The Hound of the Baskervilles, he describes, “One great grey bird, a gull or curlew, soared aloft in the blue Heaven.” Three distinct but interesting questions arise from this one sentence. Was the bird a gull or a curlew? What does the use of “Heaven” imply, if anything, about Dr. Watson’s religious beliefs? What are the Canonical supports for the possible answers to these questions?

Thoughts, all?  These questions, alone, can spur pages of replies.

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The Society Welcomes Alexian A. Gregory, BSI to Charter Membership

The Society is pleased to welcome to Charter Membership Mr. Alexian Avebury Gregory, BSI. Mr. Gregory is a member of a number of Sherlockian groups and has become a Charter Member of the John H Watson Society on this date. Mr. Gregory’s biography is below, reprinted from Sherlockian Who’s Who:

Al Gregory first read the Canon at the age of seven. He immediately fell in love with Sherlock Holmes and his Victorian world. He collects Strands and foreign editions of the Hound.

He became active in the Sherlockian world in 1984. He was invested in the BSI in 2003 as “The Grimpen Postmaster.” In January of 2008 he was one of 19 men invested in the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes as “The Coptic Monasteries of Syria and Egypt.”

Al collects all types of Sherlockian artifacts, but his favorites are the foreign editions of the Hound of the Baskervilles which he now has in 36 languages.

Al is convinced that the “H” in Dr. John H Watson stands for Habakkuk, the Old Testament prophet. He bases his thesis on the similarity of Watson’s name with that of J. Habakkuk Jephson, the title character in an early Doylean short story.

He retired from work as a postman in NYC where he delivered mail to another BSI, Judge Andrew Peck.

Please join in the Society’s member’s welcome to Mr. Gregory:

“You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”

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The Society Welcomes the First Charter Member: Mr. Andrew Solberg, BSI, “Professor Coram,” SHSL

The Society extends warm greetings and welcome to its first Charter Member, the distinguished and well-published Sherlockian, Mr. Andrew Solberg. Mr. Solberg’s biography is found on Sherlockian Who’s Who and is reproduced below.

Andrew Solberg has published the following articles:

– A History of Norah, Arthur, and Robert,” BAKER STREET JOURNAL, 59, No. 2, (Summer, 2009)
– “Chair à Canon,” IRENE’S CABINET, a publication of Watson’s Tin Box of Ellicott City, 2008
– “How to Read REDH Like Professor Coram,” SERPENTINE MUSE, 24, No. 3,
(Summer 2008) 10-13
– “The Press, Watson, Is a Most Valuable Institution,” IRENE’S CABINET, a publication of Watson’s Tin Box of Ellicott City, 2007
– “A Suggested Sherlockian Library” IRENE’S CABINET, a publication of Watson’s Tin Box of Ellicott City, 2006
– “Les Relations Holmésiennes Franco-Américaines” IRENE’S CABINET, a publication of Watson’s Tin Box of Ellicott City, 2005
– Report on Trip to Gillette’s Castle BAKER STREET JOURNAL, 55, No. 1, (Spring, 2005)
– “The Case for Oxford,” IRENE’S CABINET, a publication of Watson’s Tin Box of Ellicott City, 2004
– The Case of ‘J’ – A Psychoanalytic Case Study with Particular Attention to ‘Marriage Neurosis’, with Donald K. Pollock, BAKER STREET JOURNAL, 53, No. 3, (Autumn, 2003) 25-34 – Winner of the Morley-Montgomery Award for 2003
– “The Second Mrs. Watson” (verse) IRENE’S CABINET, a publication of Watson’s Tin Box of Ellicott City, 2003
– Under The Influence BAKER STREET JOURNAL, 53, No. 1, (Spring, 2003) 28-32
– Sherlock Holmes: Anti-Semite? BAKER STREET JOURNAL, 51, No. 1,(Spring, 2001) 35-41
– Prisoner of his Profession – (Or An Anachronistic Socratic Dialogue on Holmes’s Conservatism) BAKER STREET JOURNAL, 49, No. 4, (December,1999) 42-49
– The Importance of Petrarch and Meredith in Boscombe Valley BAKER STREET JOURNAL, 47, No. 4, (December, 1997) 35-37
– Ode d’Hounds, The Hounds Collection, Volume 1, (April, 1996) 59
– The Funny John H. Watson, BAKER STREET JOURNAL, 46, No. 1, (March,1996) 35-42
– What Were Catullus and the Origin of Tree Worship Doing in the Empty House BAKER STREET JOURNAL, 45, No. 1, (March, 1995) 18-23
– The Intertwining Chronologies of The Illustrious Client and The Red Circle BAKER STREET JOURNAL, 44, No. 1, (March, 1994) 28-32
– Sherlock Holmes’ Existence: The Ontological Proof, BAKER STREET JOURNAL, 43, No. 1, (March, 1993) 50-56 (DC8508) (Cited by DeWaal in his Introduction to The Universal Sherlock Holmes, For those skeptics who doubt Holmes’s existence, I refer them to Andrew L. Solberg’s article in the March, 1993 issue of The Baker Street Journal… )
– Musings, (poetry) SERPENTINE MUSE, 8, No.1 (Fall, 1987) 17-18 (DC13718)
– The Philosophy of Sherlock Holmes, BAKER STREET JOURNAL, 26, No. 4, (September, 1976) 197-202 (DC9148 – DB1446).

Member of the following societies:
» The Beacon Society
» The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes (Professor Coram)
» Watson’s Tin Box of Ellicott City
» The Baker Street Irregulars (Professor Coram)
» The Red Circle of Washington, D.C.
» The Sherlock Holmes Society of London
» The Pondicherry Lodgers of 44th Street

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The Watsonians . . .1994 . . . Ah, Youth!

A recent gift from Bruce Taylor, “The Baker Street Journal” of June 1994, reveals the following announcement listed in From the Editor’s Commonplace Book, a bit choice in its imaginative elements and its culinary and Spiritus Fermenti ambitions, as well as its Watsonian celebration of enthusiasm and expansiveness of activity. To  quote:

“The Watsonian Weekend III will be held in Arlington Park, Illinois on July 8, 9, and 10, 1994. Events include: Reception and V.R. Pistol Competition will be Friday night; an escorted tour of the backstretch of Arlington International Racecourse, and the Watsonian Collegium at the Radison Hotel, the Royal Berkshires/Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers Regimental Dinner, all on Saturday; and the 35th running of The Silver Blaze, hosted by Col.  Ross, featuring a prime rib buffet and a four hour open bar.”

Now, those Watsonians knew how to party back in ’94. And what better celebration of true Watsonian personality and verve than a Regimental Dinner, a V.R. pistol contest, a scholarly Collegium, a four hour open bar, and a half-pension punter’s particular past-time, a bet on Silver Blaze at a great racecourse!

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Society Listed on Sherlockian Who’s Who, Sherlockian.net and Sherlocktron

Thanks to the respected Sherlockian, Alexis Barquin of Sherlockian Who’s Who, The John H Watson Society has taken its place among the many U.S. Societies listed on this extremely helpful Internet website for identifying Sherlockians and Sherlockian societies and clubs. Truly a labor of love, the site features countless organizations and individual Sherlockians and their numerous affiliations. To view the Society’s page, please see:  http://www.sh-whoswho.com/index.php

Thanks to Mr. Chris Redmond, the Society has been listed on Sherlockian.net
http://www.sherlockian.net/, one of the most comprehensive Internet sites for all things related to Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes. If one explores the depth of Sherlockian.net, one rapidly comes to realize the enormous efforts Mr. Redmond and others are making in providing an aggregate hub for all things Sherlockian. The Society can be found on the Societies page, under the category “Special-Purpose Societies.” The Society extends its appreciation and admiration to Mr. Redmond, a renowned and long-time Sherlockian for his courtesy.

And, thanks to the legendary Mr. Willis G. Frick, the Society has been listed among the vast resources found on one of the oldest of Sherlockian Internet sites, Sherlocktron: http://www.sherlocktron.com/. Here, you will find access to Peter E. Blau’s Scuttlebutt, the pre-eminent monthly newsletter of all things Watson-Holmes-Doyle and 1895.

These three websites are invaluable resources for not only the Society members, but all those interested in the Sacred Canon and the activities surrounding our many and varied interests. We salute the faithful “Keepers of the Game” who publish these in-depth, informative websites and who spend countless hours sifting, synthesizing and presenting the Baker Street news and developments from around the world.

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Transatlantic Introductions

The boy in buttons has been sent around to introduce the Society to the Baker Street Irregulars, The Sherlock Holmes Society of London, the Friends of Dr. Watson, and The Watsonians, all venerable organizations in the U.K. and the U.S. with acute interest in John H Watson, M. D.

Notes were delivered to Mr. Roger Johnson, Editor of “The Sherlock Holmes Journal,” Mr. Steven Rothman, Editor of “The Baker Street Journal,” Ms. Susan Diamond, President of The Watsonians, and Mr. Nino Cirone, President of The Friends of Dr. Watson, providing full particulars on the John H Watson Society founding and extending the courtesies of the Society to its fellow Watsonian organisations.

Having completed his rounds, the boy in buttons is to be found at his usual perch outside the Consulting Rooms awaiting replies and further instructions whilst lunching on a meat pasty and a pint.

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The First “Consultation”

The Society’s first Consultation was held at the home of Don and Joanne Yates on Saturday, April 13, 2013, from 12 noon to sometime after dark. Five of the Founding Members were present and a quorum was called. By-Laws 1 and 2 were, at all times, respected and By-Law 5 was given very adequate exercise.

The Chair, Prof. Yates, officially welcomed into Founding Membership Peter Blau, Michael Kean, Donald Pollock and Bruce Taylor. Appropriate toasts were made to each Founder.

The first “Consultation” was held as a part of a large gathering to celebrate the birthday of Don Yates. “The Woman,” Dr. Joanne Yates, prepared a sumptuous feast of authentic Argentine deliciacies, some specially flown in from the long, pointy country to the south, including chorizo, grilled sweetbreads (delicious), empanadas (beyond delicious), and Argentine beefsteak, grilled to perfection. A selection of Napa Valley wines rounded out the participants.

Much discussion was devoted to Watsonian and Sherlockian topics and speculation. Later, after feasting and liberal tastings, naps were noted.

A memorable day; a wonderful gathering; a singular and very special feast; an historic “Consultation.”

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Birthday Wishes to Prof. Don Yates

The Founding Members of the Society extend their warm good wishes to Prof. Don Yates, BSI and Founding Chair, on the date of the official formation of the Society, April 11, 2013, during a celebration of Don’s birthday. Many more years and the joys of Watsonian and Sherlockian explorations! By-Law 5 was honored.