Keeping The Sacred Flame Burning.

Keeping The Sacred Flame Burning.

The young doctor got to his feet. Surveying his audience of 250 people he began his lecture. Titled ‘The Arctic Seas‘, it was one of a series of lectures that was put on by the Portsmouth Literary and Scientific Society.

The speaker on that cold December night in 1883 was Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle had joined the PLSS just a few months before. But he knew his subject well; he had been ship’s surgeon on the whaling ship the Hope on a six month long voyage to the Arctic in 1880.

Arthur Conan Doyle used some props during his lecture. He later recalled this in his autobiography, Memories and Adventures, (1924): “…I borrowed from a local taxidermist every bird and beast that he possessed which could conceivably find its way into the Arctic Circle. These I piled upon the lecture table, and the audience, concluding that I had shot them all, looked upon me with great respect. Next morning they were back with the taxidermist once more.“

Formed in the late 1860s, Portsmouth Literary and Scientific Society was an intellectual organisation for professional men. It focused on discussions, lectures, and academic papers. The lectures included such subjects as ‘The Stage of Shakespeare‘, ‘Some Early Lyrists‘, and ‘Our Knowledge of the Brain‘.

Membership of the PLSS was certainly beneficial to Arthur Conan Doyle. In Memories and Adventures he wrote; “It was there I learned to face an audience, which proved to be of the first importance for my life’s work.“ (This is presumably a reference to his many later talks on spiritualism.) 

Doyle said of his own character at that time; “I was naturally of a very nervous, backward, self-distrustful disposition in such things.“ However, he courageously rise to the occasion; “But once up I learned to speak out, to conceal my trepidations, and to choose my phrases.“

By 1887, Arthur Conan Doyle was Honorary Secretary of the Portsmouth Literary and Scientific Society. He spoke at the 18th Annual Report of the PLSS. This was held at the Penny-street Lecture Hall in Portsmouth. Arthur Conan Doyle urged; “…a removal to the Victoria Hall or some other equally suitable place easily accessible by tramway.“ Doyle also, “…entirely agreed with the admission of ladies.“ 

After some debate, a vote was taken on the admission of women to the PLSS. This was carried by a vote of eight to five. The next year it was stated that; “The past session is a memorable one as marking the removal of the Society from their room in Penny-street to the Guildhall which offers a more central and commodious position,“

In 1886, Arthur Conan Doyle gave a second lecture to the PLSS. Titled ‘Thomas Carlyle and his works,‘ it was held in the Small Hall of the Soldiers’ Institute in Portsmouth. A report on the talk was published in the Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle on 23rd January, 1886. 

Arthur Conan Doyle delivered his third and final lecture to the members of the PLSS in 1888. His subject on that occasion was another writer - the poet and novelist, George Meredith. Born in Portsmouth in 1828, Meredith’s novels include The Egoist, and Diana of the Crossways. 

A report about Arthur Conan Doyle’s lecture appeared in the Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle. Doyle noted that George Meredith; “…had been writing since 1853 but yet his name was less familiar to the public than that of the author of the latest 'shilling shocker.' In a great town like Portsmouth there was not a single private library which contained more than two of his works.“ 

However, the lecture, titled ‘ The Genius of George Meredith, ‘ concluded on a more positive note; “Dr. Doyle said there were signs that his reward was at hand.“

A Dr. James Watson was another of the speakers that evening. His name has been put forward as a possible inspiration for Doctor Watson in the Sherlock Holmes stories. 

Arthur Conan Doyle gained much from being a member of the Portsmouth Literary and Scientific Society. Many years later he wrote in his autobiography, Memories and Adventures: “I have many pleasant and some comic reminiscences of this Society, of which I had been Secretary for several years. We kept the sacred flame burning in the old city with our weekly papers and discussions during the long winters.“

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