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Charles Altamont Doyle self portrait while in Montrose Lunatic Asylum (Sunnyside) in 1889. From Michael Baker, The Doyle Diary: The Last Great Conan Doyle Mystery (1978). |
This month, we look at a deeply personal work that Conan Doyle suppressed for almost thirty years before reissuing in heavily redacted form, ‘The Surgeon of Gaster Fell’ from 1890.
You can the original 1890 version here: https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/The_Surgeon_of_Gaster_Fell
Or listen to a Librivox recording of the 1918 version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PouWLBMO0E
(starts at 3:27:50).
And listen to the episode below:
The episode will be uploaded to our YouTube channel soon,
where you can listen with closed captions. In the meantime, subscribe to our
YouTube channel for updates here: https://www.youtube.com/@doingsofdoyle
Synopsis
Following a life of adventure, James Upperton, whilst still
only in his late thirties, has decided to retire to a quiet and secluded corner
of North West Yorkshire where he intends to pursue a course of abstruse
philosophical studies. His plans and his peace are however disarranged by the
arrival of a mysterious young woman and the disturbing presence near his
woodland retreat of a disparate and strange male duo, the younger of whom
introduces himself as the Surgeon of Gaster Fell…
Writing and publication history
After years suffering from alcohol addiction, Charles
Altamont Doyle lost his job at the Edinburgh Works in 1876. Five years later,
in 1881, he was admitted to Blairerno, a home for ‘dipsomaniacs.’ He was
subsequently moved to the Montrose Lunatic Asylum in 1885, Morningside in 1891,
and finally the Crichton Royal in Dumfries in 1892. He died in October 1893.
While Charles Altamont Doyle was unable to support his family,
financial aid came from Conan Doyle, his older sister Annette, and Bryan
Charles Waller, the Doyle family lodger, who contributed to their rent from
1877. In 1883, while Charles was in Blairerno, Mary Doyle and her two youngest
children moved to Masongill, Waller’s North Yorkshire family estate, where she
resided until 1917. Conan Doyle married his first wife in nearby Thornton in
Lonsdale in 1885, with Waller his best man.
‘Gaster Fell’ was written in May 1886 but was not
immediately picked up by publishers. It was eventually published by Chambers’s
Journal in four parts in December 1890. The story then passed into
obscurity for almost thirty years until, in 1918, Conan Doyle included it in
his anthology Danger! and Other Stories. But the version that appeared
was significantly curtailed. It is the shorter version of the story that is commonly
found in modern anthologies, e.g., Darryl Jones (ed) Gothic Tales.
Textual variations
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| Sir Joseph Noel Paton's The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania (1849) |
Upperton’s theosophical interests owe much to Conan Doyle’s
own. He was introduced to theosophy by fellow Southsea resident, Maj Alfred
Wilks Drayson, formerly of the Indian Army, probably in 1884.
Upperton’s elaborately decorated room contains numerous
gothic and faerie works, including by Noel Paton. These are very much in the
taste of Charles Altamont Doyle and may well have been in the Doyle family
house. The room also appears in another form in Conan Doyle’s early novel The
Narrative of John Smith (2011) and is repurposed for Thaddeus Sholto in The
Sign of the Four (1888).
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| Col Sir Percy Wyndham |
Bryan Charles Waller (1853-1932) and Masongill
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| Masongill House in 2024 |
Waller lodged with the Doyles in three houses in Edinburgh:
2 Argyle Park Terrace, 1875-77 (where the rent was paid jointly by Charles
Doyle and Waller); the upmarket 23 George Square, 1877-81 (rent paid by Waller);
and 15 Lonsdale Terrance, 1881-2 (rent paid by Waller). From 1882, he resided
at his family estate, Masongill, in North West Yorkshire. Mary Doyle joined him
there in 1883.
Conan Doyle initially sought (or at least received) input from
Waller on his early fiction, and there are fleeting references to him in several
stories including ‘Uncle Jeremy’s Household’ and ‘The Winning Shot.’ Conan Doyle however did not reference him in
his autobiography, merely mentioning that his mother had taken in a lodger,
which had disastrous consequences. In April 1882, Conan Doyle and Waller appear
to have come to blows over an undisclosed matter.
The exact natures of Waller’s character and influence are hard
to pinpoint, but there is a general sense that Waller was “a cuckoo in the nest.”
He may have harboured unrequited feelings for Arthur’s older sister, Annette.
Whatever the case, the description and brusqueness of the Surgeon of the title
seems to match what we know of Waller’s personality.
Charles Altamont Doyle (1832-93)
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| Charles Doyle and Arthur |
Charles was not only severely addicted to alcohol, but also appears
to have suffered from memory loss and potentially brain damage as a consequence.
The family does not appear to have visited him much, if at all, while in the
various institutions to which he was admitted.
One question that Beveridge resolves is who signed the medical
certificates that saw Charles Doyle admitted to Montrose. It had been supposed
that Waller and Conan Doyle, as practicing physicians, may have signed them,
but the papers were made out by Dr James Ironside and Dr James Duffus.
Once admitted to Montrose, Charles Doyle started to suffer
from severe epileptic fits. The first of these came in January 1886, the second
in April 1886, just as Conan Doyle was concluding A Study in Scarlet and
immediately before he put pen to paper to write ‘The Surgeon of Gaster Fell.’
Conan Doyle signed the admission papers that saw his father
transfer to the Crichton Royal in Dumfries in 1892. Arthur paid the boarding
fee of £40. He did not attend his father’s funeral.
Eva Cameron
As well as being a deeply personal work, ‘The Surgeon of
Gaster Fell’ is an example of Conan Doyle’s emerging skill as a Gothic writer.
The passage when Eva Cameron appears during a lightning storm is especially evocative,
with a touch of Jane Eyre about it (although Conan Doyle was not a fan
of the Brontes…)
One of the story’s weaknesses is the character of Eva, who appears
to have been considered as a love interest for Upperton. Once the Surgeon
appears, Eva disappears from the narrative, only to add a ‘P.S.’ to the final
letter of explanation.
Nevertheless, Eva demonstrates behaviour that implies she
has inherited her father’s condition. Atavism and hereditary illness are common
themes in Conan Doyle’s work, most likely arising from his own fear of taking
on his father’s madness.
Next time on Doings of Doyle
We jump forward to 1921 to enter ‘The Nightmare Room’…
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Acknowledgements
Thanks to our sponsor, Belanger Books (www.belangerbooks.com), and our
supporters on Patreon and Paypal.
Image credits: Thanks to Alexis Barquin at The Arthur Conan
Doyle Encyclopaedia for permission to reproduce these images. Please support
the encyclopaedia at www.arthur-conan-doyle.com.
Music credit: Sneaky Snitch Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.
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