The South African War field doctor, Arthur Conan Doyle is born

The author of Sherlock Holmes and field doctor in the South African War of 1899-1902, Arthur Conan Doyle, was born at Picardy Place, Edinburgh in 1859. The son of Charles Altamont Doyle and Mary Foley-Doyle, he studied medicine at Edinburgh University where he graduated as a doctor in 1885. After graduation Doyle practiced medicine at Southsea near Portsmouth in Hampshire until 1891. During the South African War, Doyle served as a doctor in a field hospital. It is during this period that he wrote The Great Boer War. In 1902 Doyle returned to England.  On 7 July 1930 Doyle died of heart disease.