The Red-Headed League
Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
Class: 7th Standard | Type: Supplementary Reader | Syllabus: SCERT New Syllabus
About the Author
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) was a British author and physician, best known for creating the legendary detective character Sherlock Holmes. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Doyle studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and later drew inspiration from his professor, Dr. Joseph Bell, whose remarkable powers of observation and deduction became the basis for Holmes. Doyle wrote four novels and fifty-six short stories featuring Sherlock Holmes, making him one of the most celebrated fiction writers in the English language. "The Red-Headed League" is one of the most popular Sherlock Holmes short stories, originally published in 1891.
Detailed Summary
Dr. Watson visits his friend Sherlock Holmes and finds him talking to a client named Mr. Jabez Wilson, a red-haired pawnshop owner. Wilson tells them an unusual story: his assistant, Vincent Spaulding, showed him a newspaper advertisement for the "Red-Headed League," which offered a salary of four pounds a week. Spaulding urged Wilson to apply, and Wilson was accepted by Mr. Duncan Ross, the head of the League. Wilson's job was simple — he had to come to an office every day from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and copy the Encyclopaedia Britannica by hand. Wilson did this for eight weeks until one day he arrived to find the office closed with a notice saying the Red-Headed League had been dissolved. Feeling that someone had played a practical joke on him, Wilson came to Holmes for help.