Bertram Fletcher Robinson

Bertram Fletcher Robinson[5] (affectionately referred to as either 'Bobbles' or 'Bertie') was born on 22 August 1870 at 80 Rose Lane, Mossley Hill, Liverpool. In early 1882, he relocated with his family to Park Hill House at Ipplepen in Devon. His father, Joseph Fletcher Robinson (1827–1903),[6] was the founder of a general merchant business in Liverpool (c. 1867).[7] Around 1850, Joseph travelled to South America and was befriended by Giuseppe Garibaldi. Thereafter, he fought in the Guerra Grande alongside Garibaldi and the Uruguayans against the Argentine dictator, Juan Manuel de Rosas. Robinson's uncle, Sir John Richard Robinson (1828–1903), was the long-time editor-in-chief of the Daily News and a prominent committee member of the Liberal Reform Club.[8]

Bertram Fletcher Robinson went to school at Newton Abbot Proprietary College (1882–1890)[9] alongside the future geographer, artillery officer, cartographer, archaeologist, and explorer of South America, (Lieutenant Colonel) Percy Harrison Fawcett. Later, their mutual friend, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, would use Fawcett's Amazonian field reports as the inspiration for his popular novel, The Lost World.[10]

Between 1890 and 1894, Robinson attended Jesus College where he studied both History and Law. During this period, he won three Rugby Football Blues and, according to his obituary in the Daily Express (22 January 1907), he would have played rugby union for England but for an "accident". Robinson also rowed for Jesus College and he was a member of the crew that won the Thames Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta on 7 July 1892. On 12 February 1894, The Times reported that Robinson was tried for the position of fourth oar with the Cambridge 'Trial Eight' ahead of the fifty-first annual Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. Robinson was awarded a Second Class History Tripos Bachelor of Arts degree (1893), Part I of the Law Tripos Bachelor of Arts degree (1894) and a Master of Arts degree (1897). He became a barrister in June 1896 but never practised that profession.

Robinson's signature (1902).

On 3 June 1902, 31‑year‑old Robinson married 22-year-old Gladys Hill Morris[11] at St. Barnabas Church, Kensington, London. Gladys was an actress and a daughter of the noted Victorian era artist Philip Richard Morris (1833–1902). The Robinsons had no children of their own but they did act as godparents to Geraldine Winn Everett, the daughter of Sir Percy Everett. Geraldine later worked as a General Practioner in Essex.[12]

The Chronicles of Addington Peace (1905).

Bertram Fletcher Robinson held editorial positions with The Newtonian (1887–1889), The Granta (1893–1895), The Isthmian Library (1897–1901), Daily Express (July 1900 – May 1904), Vanity Fair (May 1904 – October 1906),[13] The World (journal) (October 1906 – January 1907), and The Gentleman's Magazine (January 1907).

Between 1893 and 1907, Robinson wrote or coauthored at least nine satirical playlets, fifty-four short stories, four lyrics, forty-four articles (for fifteen different periodicals), one hundred and twenty-eight bylined newspaper reports, twenty-four poems and eight books. He also made contributions to the plots of two Sherlock Holmes stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle and edited eight books about various sports and pastimes for The Isthmian Library (1897–1901).[14]

In July 1900, Robinson and the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle, 'cemented' their friendship whilst they were aboard a passenger ship that was travelling to Southampton from Cape Town. The following year, Robinson told Doyle legends of ghostly hounds, recounted the supernatural tale of Squire Richard Cabell III[15] and showed him around grimly atmospheric Dartmoor. The pair had previously agreed to co-author a Devon-based story but in the end, their collaboration led only to Doyle's celebrated novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles.[16] Robinson also contributed an idea to the plot of a Sherlock Holmes short-story entitled The Adventure of the Norwood Builder, for which Doyle paid him a fee of £50. This story was first published in Collier's Weekly on 31 October 1903.[17]

Doyle is sometimes seen as downplaying the importance of Robinson's contribution to The Hound of the Baskervilles. The literary scholar and critic, Professor William Wallace Robson[18] wrote that it is 'impossible to determine' the precise extent of Robinson's role, but in all probability he merely acted as a 'creative trigger'. He adds that once the element of Sherlock Holmes was added to the original idea, the novel evolved beyond the joint project that was originally posited. Robinson himself conceded that his part in the collaboration was restricted to that of an 'assistant plot producer'.[19] Nevertheless, Doyle paid Robinson a 1⁄3 Royalty payment, which amounted to over £500 by the end of 1901[20] and he also wrote the following note that featured in the first of nine monthly instalments of this story, which was first published in The Strand Magazine in August 1901:

Between December 1902 and August 1903, Robinson wrote seven short stories of Adventure fiction with Captain Sir Malcolm Fraser, 1st Baronet. In February 1904, six of these stories were published in a book titled The Trail of the Dead by Ward, Lock & Co. During 1998, the seventh story, titled "Fog Bound", was republished as "Fogbound" in a compendium of short stories, which was edited by Jack Adrian and titled Twelve Tales of Murder.[21] In April 2009, all seven tales were included and republished in a book titled Aside Arthur Conan Doyle: Twenty Original Tales by Bertram Fletcher Robinson, which was compiled by Paul Spiring.[22]

Between December 1903 and January 1907, Robinson (‘Bobbles’) and his friend and fellow Crimes Club member, P. G. Wodehouse (‘Plum’), co-wrote four playlets that were published in three different periodicals. Each playlet is written in the style of a pantomime and they parody the debate within Edwardian era Britain surrounding the Tariff Reform League and proposed changes to tax law. During July 2009, these playlets were compiled and republished in facsimile form by Paul Spiring in a book, which is titled ‘Bobbles and Plum’.[23] This book also features an introduction by the prominent Wodehouse scholars, Lieutenant-Colonel Norman Murphy and Tony Ring, and text annotations by W.S. Gilbert scholar, Andrew Crowther.[4]

In June 1905, Robinson's most popular fiction book titled The Chronicles of Addington Peace was published by Harper & Brothers. During 1951, this book of Detective fiction was listed in the highly influential Ellery Queen's Quorum: A History of the Detective-Crime Short Story as Revealed by the 106 Most Important Books Published in this Field Since 1845.[24]

Robinson's grave at St. Andrew's Church in Ipplepen.

Bertram Fletcher Robinson died aged 36 years on 21 January 1907, at 44 Eaton Terrace, Belgravia, London. The official cause of his death is recorded as 'enteric fever (3 weeks) and peritonitis (24 hours)'. Others with a bent for the occult attributed his death to a curse linked with an Egyptian artefact called the Unlucky Mummy, which would later be linked to the sinking of RMS Titanic[25] Robinson was buried beside his parents at St. Andrew's Church, Ipplepen, near Newton Abbot in Devon.[26]

Obituaries were published in The World (journal), The Times, Daily Express, The Western Guardian, Western Morning News, The Sphere, The Athenaeum (British magazine), The Illustrated London News, The Mid-Devon and Newton Times, Vanity Fair (British magazine), The Book of Blues and the Annual Report of the Jesus College Cambridge Society (1907). The English poet and journalist, Jessie Pope also wrote the following eulogy to Robinson, which was published in the Daily Express newspaper on Saturday 26 January 1907:

Alfred Harmsworth employed Robinson until shortly before his death.

At 3:30pm on Thursday 24 January 1907, a funeral service was held for Robison at St. Andrew’s Church in Ipplepen. Robinsons friend, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was unable to attend either the funeral service, or the subsequent memorial service because he was at that time, busily campaigning for the release from prison of one George Edalji. Conan Doyle did however send a floral tribute to the funeral service, with a handwritten message, which read as follows:

In loving memory of an old and valued friend from Arthur Conan Doyle.

At 4:00pm on Thursday 24 January 1907, The Reverend Septimus Pennington conducted a memorial service for Robinson at St. Clement Danes, Strand, London.[12] According to a report in the Daily Express newspaper (Saturday 26 January 1907), the congregation included the following notable figures: Arthur Hammond Marshall,[27] (Sir) Owen Seaman, (Sir) Max Pemberton, (Sir) Cyril Arthur Pearson, (Sir) Percy Everett, (Lord) Alfred Harmsworth, (Sir) Joseph Lawrence, Sir Felix Semon (Physician to the King),[28] Sir William Bell (former member of the British Iron Trade Association & tax-reform campaigner), (Sir) Anthony Hope, Clement King Shorter,[29] Gerald Fitzgerald Campbell, (Author),[30] (Sir) Leslie Ward ('Spy'), Thomas Anstey Guthrie, (Sir) Evelyn Wrench[31] and Henry Hamilton Fyfe.[32] The congregation sang a hymn entitled Peace, Perfect Peace (hymn), which was written by (Bishop) Edward Henry Bickersteth in 1875.

During January 1908, and just one year after Robinson's death, his friend and fellow Crimes Club member, the popular English novelist, Max Pemberton had a story titled Wheels of Anarchy published by Cassell (publisher). This book includes the following book dedication in the form of an 'Author's Note':[33]

The Wheels of Anarchy is an adventure tale about anarchists and assassins, which is set across Continental Europe. The novel's hero, Bruce Driscoll, is a recent graduate of Jesus College, Cambridge and he appears to be modelled upon Robinson. In December 2010, Wheels of Anarchy by Max Pemberton was compiled, introduced and republished in facsimile form by Paul Spiring and Hugh Cooke.[34]

In 1909, Gladys Robinson sold both Park Hill House and 44 Eaton Terrace and she then appears to have moved to France. During World War I, Gladys met Major William John Frederick Halliday (Distinguished Service Order), a Royal Artillery officer born in London in 1882 and affectionately referred to as "Fred". The couple got married at the British Diplomatic mission in Paris on 7 January 1918 and thereafter, they relocated to Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire.[35]

In October 1912, Conan Doyle's novel The Lost World was published. This story is narrated by a character named Edward E. Malone. It is possible that Malone is modelled upon Robinson, because like Robinson, Malone was raised in the West Country, exceeded six-feet in height, became an accomplished rugby union player, worked as a London-based journalist, and he loved a woman called Gladys.[36]

During 1998, both Robinson's collaboration with Sir John Malcolm Fraser, which is titled, The Trail of the Dead and perhaps his most notable work, The Chronicles of Addington Peace, were republished as a single volume by the Battered Silicon Dispatch Box (Ontario, Canada).

In September 2008, Brian Pugh and Paul Spiring had a biography about Bertram Fletcher Robinson published, which is titled Bertram Fletcher Robinson: A Footnote to The Hound of the Baskervilles. This book includes an extensive and factual account of the circumstances, which surrounded the literary collaboration between Arthur Conan Doyle and Robinson, over the novel of this same name.[37]

A plaque that commemorates Robinson at Caunters Close, Ipplepen.

During January 2009, Ipplepen Parish Council gave permission for a commemorative plaque and bench to be situated outside Caunters Close in Ipplepen.[38] Later that same year, Paul Spiring had a book published, which is titled The World of Vanity Fair by Bertram Fletcher Robinson. This book features nearly two-hundred items of chromolithography that were originally published in Vanity Fair and were created by artists including Leslie Ward and Carlo Pellegrini (caricaturist). Spiring's book is a facsimile of fifteen articles that Robinson wrote for The Windsor Magazine, under the title of Chronicles in Cartoon, whilst he was the Editor of Vanity Fair (1904-1906). In these articles, Robinson reviews the most prominent caricatures, which appeared in Vanity Fair between 1868 and 1907, and collectively they offer an insight into high society during the mid to late Victorian era.[13]

In June 2010, Brian Pugh, Paul Spiring and retired Psychiatrist, Doctor Sadru Bhanji (brother of the acclaimed international actor, Sir Ben Kingsley), had a book published, which is titled, Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes and Devon. This book contends that the success of Sherlock Holmes is partly attributable to Bertram Fletcher Robinson and two other former Devon residents called Doctor George Turnavine Budd (medical doctor) and (Sir) George Newnes (Doyle's original publisher).[39]

On 1 September 2011, Short Books Ltd. released a novel titled The Baskerville Legacy by the respected British journalist, John O'Connell. The book presents a highly fictionalised account of the circumstances that led Arthur Conan Doyle and Bertram Fletcher Robinson to conceive The Hound of the Baskervilles.[40]

On 8 January 2012, the BBC broadcast The Hounds of Baskerville, which is the second episode of the second series of the crime drama series Sherlock and which, follows the modern-day adventures of Sherlock Holmes. This series was written by co-creator Mark Gatiss, who also portrays Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's brother in this series, which was directed by Paul McGuigan. This episode is a contemporary adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles and it features a character called ‘Fletcher’, which is based upon Bertram Fletcher Robinson, and was played by the actor, Stephen Wight.

• Works by or about Bertram Fletcher Robinson at Wikisource
• Works by B. Fletcher Robinson at Project Gutenberg
• Works by Bertram Fletcher Robinson at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Works by or about Bertram Fletcher Robinson at Internet Archive
• Bertram Fletcher Robinson tribute website
• Bertram Fletcher Robinson Chronology