"The Adventure of the Priory School", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in Collier's in the United States on 30 January 1904, and in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in February 1904.[1] Doyle ranked "The Adventure of the Priory School" tenth in his list of his twelve favourite Holmes stories.
Holmes receives a visit from Dr. Thorneycroft Huxtable, the founder and principal of a preparatory school called Priory School in Northern England. He beseeches Holmes to come back to Mackleton with him to look into the disappearance of one of his pupils, the ten-year-old Lord Saltire, whose father is the very rich and famous Duke of Holdernesse. Huxtable explains that not only the boy has disappeared, but also the German master, Heidegger, along with his bicycle.
Once in the North, the Duke says to Holmes that he does not think that his estranged wife has anything to do with his son's disappearance, nor has there been a ransom demand. Holmes establishes that the boy and his kidnappers could not have used the nearby road without being seen, suggesting that they went cross-country. As if to confirm this, the police find the boy's school cap in some gypsies' possession. They swear that they simply found it on the moor, but the police lock them up.
Holmes and Dr. Watson go hunting for clues. They find a bicycle track, but it is not Heidegger's; it does not match his tyres. Holmes observes that one tyre has a patch on it. Almost everything observable has been obliterated by cow tracks (which are the only marks on the ground anywhere). Eventually, Heidegger's bicycle tracks are found, and they end where he lies, dead. After that, Holmes and Watson arrive at the Fighting Cock Inn, and meet the innkeeper, Reuben Hayes, who seems startled indeed to hear that Holmes wants to go to Holdernesse Hall, the Duke's nearby house, to tell him news of his son. The two men have lunch there, and Holmes suddenly realises that he and Watson saw many cow tracks out on the moor, but never at any time did they see any cows. Furthermore, the patterns of the hoof prints were quite unusual, suggesting that the cow in question trotted, cantered, and galloped. Holmes and Watson sneak out to Hayes's stable and examine the horse's hooves. As Holmes has expected, there is evidence of recent shoeing, but with old shoes and new nails. Examining the nearby smithy, Holmes and Watson are rather belligerently asked to leave by Mr. Hayes.
Holmes examines James Wilder's bicycle, 1904 illustration by Sidney Paget
Shortly afterwards, the two men hide as a cyclist comes along the road from the direction of the Duke's. It is James Wilder, the Duke's personal secretary, and he looks agitated. He arrives at the inn. Soon afterwards, a trap pulls out of the stable yard and goes along the road towards Chesterfield. A while later, someone else – it is getting dark and only a fleeting glimpse of the new visitor is caught – arrives at the inn. Coming closer, Holmes observes Wilder's bicycle tyres and notes that they are the same make as the first ones encountered on the moor.
The next morning, they go to Holdernesse Hall, where they find that the Duke is not well. Nevertheless, Holmes demands from him a cheque for £6000 (equivalent to £822,777in 2023[2][3]), saying that he has earned the reward. His son is at the Fighting Cock, and the accused is the Duke himself, but the actual mastermind of this crime is James Wilder, who has a terrible secret: He is the illegitimate son of the Duke. He conceived a plan to kidnap Lord Saltire to force the Duke to change his will, knowing very well that his father would not call the police on him, as he abhorred the very idea of scandal. The plan had begun to unravel when Wilder hired Hayes – who has now fled, but been caught on Holmes's information – to do the actual kidnapping. Hayes had killed Heidegger, and when Wilder heard the news, he confessed all to his father. So anxious had been the Duke to avoid scandal, he agreed to let his younger son remain confined at the inn for another three days, and to keep quiet, so that Hayes could flee justice.
All ends well, except for Hayes, who faces the gallows. Lord Saltire is brought home from the inn and the Duke writes to his estranged wife asking her to reconcile with him. This he feels she will be willing to do, for the source of the friction between them is going away: James Wilder is being packed off to Australia to seek his fortune. As for the cow tracks, they were accomplished by shoeing the horses with special shoes shaped like cow's hooves. The shoes were from the Duke's collection of family memorabilia.
Publication history
"The Adventure of the Priory School" was published in the US in Collier's on 30 January 1904, and in the UK in The Strand Magazine in February 1904.[1] The story was published with six illustrations by Frederic Dorr Steele in Collier's, and with nine illustrations by Sidney Paget in the Strand.[4] It was included in the short story collection The Return of Sherlock Holmes,[4] which was published in the US in February 1905 and in the UK in March 1905.[5]
The story was dramatised as part of the Granada TV Holmes series starring Jeremy Brett. Set in 1887, however, the revelation of Wilder's parentage and the ending were changed. In the dramatisation, Holmes deduces that Wilder is the illegitimate son of the Duke of Holdernesse after comparing his features with those of each ancestral portrait in the Hall. Also, in this version, Wilder takes Lord Saltire as a hostage in a chase led by Holmes, the Duke and Watson through a cavern under the moor, known as the "Cathedral". Having climbed to the top of a cliff-like structure with the boy, Wilder slips and falls to his death, while Lord Saltire is rescued. Later, the Duke volunteers a reward of £6,000 early on, but in the end, writes Holmes a cheque for £12,000 (equivalent to £1,685,516in 2023[2]).
Radio
"The Priory School" was dramatised by Edith Meiser as an episode of the American radio series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The episode aired on 4 May 1931, with Richard Gordon as Sherlock Holmes and Leigh Lovell as Dr. Watson.[7] A remake of the script aired in April 1933.[8]
"The Adventure of the Priory School" was adapted as an episode of CBS Radio Mystery Theater titled "The Vanishing Herd". The episode, which featured John Beal as Sherlock Holmes and Court Benson as Dr. Watson, first aired in January 1981.[13]
"The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone" is one of 12 Sherlock Holmes short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle in The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927). It was first published in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in October 1921, and was also published in Hearst's International in the United States in November 1921.
"The Adventure of the Lion's Mane" (1926), one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes. It is notable for being narrated by Holmes himself, instead of by Dr. Watson.
"The Problem of Thor Bridge" is a Sherlock Holmes short story by Arthur Conan Doyle collected in The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927). It was first published in 1922 in The Strand Magazine (UK) and Hearst's International (US).
"The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" is one of 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the seventh story of twelve in the collection The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in The Strand Magazine in January 1892.
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"The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor", one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the tenth of the twelve stories collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The story was first published in The Strand Magazine in April 1892.
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"The Adventure of the Copper Beeches", one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the last of the twelve collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in The Strand Magazine in June 1892.
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"The Adventure of the Norwood Builder", one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the second tale from The Return of Sherlock Holmes. The story was first published in Collier's (US) on 31 October 1903 and in The Strand Magazine (UK) in November 1903.
"The Adventure of the Naval Treaty", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in October and November 1893, and in Harper's Weekly in the United States on 14 and 21 October 1893.
"The Adventure of the Three Students", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905). It was first published in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in June 1904, and was also published in Collier's in the United States on 24 September 1904.
"The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905). It was originally published in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in August 1904, and was also published in Collier's in the United States on 26 November 1904.
"The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge" is one of the fifty-six Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. One of eight stories in the volume His Last Bow, it is a lengthy, two-part story consisting of "The Singular Experience of Mr. John Scott Eccles" and "The Tiger of San Pedro", which on original publication in The Strand bore the collective title of "A Reminiscence of Mr. Sherlock Holmes".
"The Adventure of the Red Circle" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. It is included in the anthology His Last Bow.
"The Adventure of the Devil's Foot" from 1910 is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. It is one of eight stories in the cycle collected as His Last Bow.
"The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier" (1926) is one of 12 Sherlock Holmes short stories by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle included in The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in the US in Liberty in October 1926, and in the UK in The Strand Magazine in November 1926, and is one of 56 short stories in the canon of Sherlock Holmes. This story is one of only two narrated by Holmes rather than Doctor Watson, the other one being "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane". Dr Watson does not appear in either story.
"The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire", written by British author Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 Sherlock Holmes stories collected between 1921 and 1927 as The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in the January 1924 issues of The Strand Magazine in London and Hearst's International in New York.
"The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place" is the last of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. The story is part of the short story collection The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes. It was first published in the US in Liberty in March 1927. It was published in the UK in The Strand Magazine in April 1927. The original title "The Adventure of the Black Spaniel" was changed before publication.
↑ This calculation assumes that the story takes place in 1901, which is suggested by Leslie S. Klinger in Volume I (p. 768) of The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes (W. W. Norton, 2005).
↑ Payton, Gordon; Grams, Martin Jr. (2015) [1999]. The CBS Radio Mystery Theater: An Episode Guide and Handbook to Nine Years of Broadcasting, 1974–1982 (Reprinteded.). McFarland. p.370. ISBN9780786492282.
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