Dr. Joseph Bell


1837 - 1911

Dr. Joseph Bell
©2022 Gazetteer for Scotland

Dr. Joseph Bell

Surgeon. Educated at the Academy and University in Edinburgh. Bell worked in the Royal Infirmary in the city, and there started the first training course for nurses in Scotland. However, Bell is best known for providing the inspiration for Arthur Conan-Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. While a medical student in Edinburgh, Conan-Doyle was impressed by Bell's deductive powers, particularly the part he had played in the application of scientific methods to the solving of crimes.

Bell made his home at Mauricewood by Penicuik (Midlothian).


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